Kirk here. This was on the national broadcast of NHK's morning news program, Ohayo Nippon, today. The pace at which malicious rumors about foreigners are spreading on the internet far exceeds anything we saw in 2016. Fortunately, NHK and other media has been publishing stories to set the record straight.

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Unfounded Claims Spread That “Muslims Complained About Emergency Food Distribution” After Kumamoto Earthquake

August 25, 2026, 8:05 a.m.

Following the July Kumamoto earthquake, unfounded claims spread on social media alleging that Muslim evacuees, who cannot eat pork for religious reasons, had complained about meals at evacuation shelters and caused trouble. However, interviews with Kumamoto Prefecture and local municipalities found no evidence of any such incidents, and officials said there had been no confusion. A Muslim organization said, “It saddens us to see things that are not true being spread.”

After the earthquake that registered a maximum seismic intensity of 7 in Kumamoto Prefecture, unfounded claims spread on social media platforms including X and Threads, such as that “Muslims complained about the tonjiru [pork miso soup] served at an emergency meal distribution.”

The claims spread through X and online aggregation sites and were viewed more than 16 million times in total. However, the post that became the source of the claims had actually been posted on X before the earthquake occurred.

NHK also contacted Kumamoto Prefecture and all 38 municipalities in the prefecture that had opened evacuation shelters. None reported any trouble involving foreign nationals or complaints about food distributed to evacuees.

In reality, an organization made up of Muslims living in the prefecture, along with international NGOs and other groups, had delivered relief supplies intended for Muslims. An official with Kumamoto Prefecture’s International Affairs Division said, “We have not heard a single report from the affected areas of anyone saying, for example, that they were having difficulty because they could not eat the tonjiru. There was no major confusion.”

Marlo Siswahyu, an Indonesian-born representative of the Kumamoto Islamic Center, said, “It is sad that this is being spread because there are people who will believe it, but there is nothing we can do, so we have no choice but to ignore it. I have lived in Japan for 25 years, and recently I feel that discrimination has been increasing. If there is something we are doing wrong, I would like people to tell us. And if there is anything they want to know about Islam, I hope they will feel free to ask us at any time.”

False information about foreign nationals tends to spread easily during disasters. It is important not to casually share information from uncertain sources and to respond calmly.
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