Learning to Embrace The Halal Industry

News From : DagangHalal.com (03 Mar 2016)

The cultural district of Asakusa in Tokyo is packed with tourists from all over the world on any given day of the year. They typically pose for photographs in front of Kaminarimon, the outer entrance gate that leads to Nakamise shopping street and, ultimately, the oldest temple in the capital, Sensoji.

Aware of this situation, Endy Harmoko had already come up with a plan when he chauffeured his visiting Indonesian family around the sightseeing spots of Asakusa on a cold winter's day in February. Harmoko, a graduate student from Indonesia who has been living in Japan for a year to study economics at Yokohama National University, led his family to a halal-certified ramen shop called Naritaya, located just a short walk from the temple. There, the family ordered bowls of piping hot noodles and a plate of karaage fried chicken.

"It's very comforting to find a halal restaurant in Japan," Harmoko says. "I usually have to cook my own food at home."

Naritaya opened in January 2015, looking for all intents and purposes like any other ramen shop aside from the fact that everything used inside the restaurant is permissible for Muslims to eat or drink under Islamic law.

The restaurant's menu is written on the wall in English and Japanese, with dishes including gyoza dumplings made with chicken, beef rice bowls and custard pudding for dessert.

Pork and meat that hasn't been processed according to Islamic law are strictly off the menu, as is alcohol, and none of Naritaya's dishes contains ingredients or seasonings that are forbidden in the Quran.

Naritaya Manager Takuya Seki says the noodles are made to order at a private factory that caters to the restaurant.

"It is difficult to create the taste of washoku (traditional Japanese cuisine) without using regular seasoning, but (through trial and error) we have managed to come up with a recipe that maintains the flavor," Seki says. "These people came all the way to Japan and they want to be able to experience the food culture that they have heard so much about."

Seki was among a number of employees at Fellows Co. - which owns Naritaya and at least one more halal eatery in Ibaraki Prefecture - who was sent to Malaysia between 2013 and 2014. There, at a Japanese restaurant in Johor Bahru, Seki learned how to re-create the taste of washoku using halal seasonings.

He was eventually able to make rice bowls that were topped off with either chicken and egg, or beef. Ramen, however, proved to be difficult to make and the Japanese trainees realized that they would ultimately need to make halal noodles from scratch if they were to open a halal-certified ramen shop in Japan.

Now, more than a year after Naritaya opened, about 80-90 percent of its customers are Muslim, Seki says.

Their nationalities vary, with customers coming from places such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, France, and African countries such as Morocco and Tunisia. Most visitors hear about the ramen shop from other Muslims via the Internet.

"To be honest, it was a lot harder than I thought to get this place going because we first had to earn Muslim customers' trust," Seki says. "We opened this restaurant because we wanted to create a place where everyone, both Japanese and Muslims alike, can eat together."

Times have changed
As of 2010, Muslims make up more than 1.6 billion people, or about 23 percent, of the world's population. It's the second-largest religious denomination in the world after Christianity, which has about 2.2 billion followers, or nearly one-third of the global population.

However, studies by the Washington-based think tank Pew Research Center show that the number of Christians and Muslims are expected to be nearly equal by 2050.

With more and more travelers visiting Japan, there's an obvious need to cater to the growing market of Muslim tourists. There's also an existing demand for halal-certified products domestically in university cafeterias, hospitals and supermarkets.

Saeed Akhtar, head of the Nippon Asia Halal Association, encourages people in Japan to incorporate halal principles into their own enterprises.

"Getting involved in halal business has significant advantages, not only for Muslim residents in Japan, who would have access to halal food, but also for Japan (as a whole), because it covers both inbound (tourism) and outbound (exports)," Akhtar says. "Looking another 20 or 50 years into the future amid Japan's declining population, halal business could represent a great opportunity for the Japanese economy."

Established in 2013, the Nippon Asia Halal Association is one of an estimated 20 or so entities that can issue recognized halal certificates in Japan. It has certified a wide variety of Japanese products, from soy sauce, miso and nattō (fermented soybeans) to tea, ice cream and even hair-care products.

Born in Pakistan, Akhtar moved to Japan in 1996 to complete a doctorate in food science at the University of Tokyo. Akhtar couldn't read or speak Japanese when he first arrived, and never knew if beverages in the supermarket were beer, shochu cocktails, whiskies and soda, soft drinks or oolong tea. He bought all his food at a halal supermarket near his mosque and ate at home. It was impossible for him to eat out.

Times have definitely changed. An estimated 100,000 Muslims currently reside in Japan, and the flow of Muslim tourists shows no sign of slowing down.

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, a record 19.73 million people visited Japan in 2015, a 47.3 percent increase against 2014. While travelers from China topped the list, accounting for 4.99 million visitors last year, Southeast Asian tourists also came to Japan in record numbers in 2015, with 2.06 million being processed by immigration. Tourists from Indonesia, where 90 percent of the population is Muslim, increased from 80,632 in 2010 to 205,100 in 2015.

But in spite of the growing number of Muslim tourists visiting Japan, domestic enterprises are not working hard enough to accommodate them, says Toshiya Takahashi, chairman of the Made in Japan Halal Support Committee.

"The government keeps saying, ‘Come visit Japan,' but the reality is that Japan isn't ready," Takahashi says. "There is no information in English, no (free) Wi-Fi, no food (for Muslims) and the public transportation is like a maze. The government first needs to set up an infrastructure to truly welcome these tourists."

A former advertising expert, Takahashi founded the Made in Japan Halal Support Committee in February 2014. He travels around Japan, holding public lectures and providing consultation services for companies and municipalities interested in creating Muslim-friendly environments.

Takahashi initially wanted to revitalize Japan after the March 2011 disasters, but decided to focus on halal when he realized that many companies and local governments didn't truly understand what was required to accommodate Muslim tourists.

"Many businesses had given up trying because they thought it was going to be too difficult," Takahashi says. "But there is a lot of demand and the local businesses do want to welcome them. Now represents a perfect opportunity for them."

Source: Japantimes.co.jp