Viral Video of Indonesian Citizens Performing Sahur Wake-Up Tradition in Japan

A video clip showing a group of Indonesian citizens (WNI) performing a sahur wake-up procession in Japan has gone viral on social media.

The video attracted widespread attention after being reposted by the X account @harukaawake on Sunday, 22 February 2026.

The footage shows dozens of people walking along dark streets whilst dancing and appearing to play musical instruments, resembling the traditional sahur wake-up rounds commonly practised in Indonesia during Ramadan.

The accompanying caption stated that the activity took place in a suburban area of Japan. The poster also suggested the behaviour was considered disruptive to local residents.

“In Japan, a group of Muslims are celebrating Ramadan by dancing and shouting in the streets in the middle of the night in a suburb. Extremely annoying behaviour. I feel sorry for the people living nearby,” read the post’s narrative.

However, according to VIVA’s investigation, the video is not recent. The same footage was first uploaded by the TikTok account @damensawah on 23 March 2023.

After recirculating, the video triggered various reactions from netizens. Some social media users left negative comments, whilst others questioned the authenticity of the situation depicted in the video.

Several comments pointed out inconsistencies between the audio and visual elements of the footage. A number of netizens observed that the sound in the video was not synchronised with the movements of the people shown, leading to speculation that the content was either staged or a recording without its original audio.

“Don’t go causing problems again,” commented one netizen.

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do — don’t forget that, folks,” added another.

“If your hearing works properly, you can clearly tell that the audio doesn’t match the video. Use your ears. And if your eyesight isn’t impaired, you can clearly see that they aren’t even actually hitting the drums. It’s staged content performed without sound,” wrote one commenter.

“Just an ordinary scene… nobody is actually beating any drums… they just used a TikTok sound overlay,” wrote another netizen.

To date, there has been no official statement regarding the precise location or full context of the video’s production. However, the fact that the footage was first uploaded in 2023 indicates that the content, which has gone viral again, does not depict a recent event.