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Halal-certified: Malaysian Muslim tourists eat 'yakiniku' grilled food using halal meat at the Sumiyakiya Nishiazabu
restaurant in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Dec. 7. | KYODO

BUSINESS

Tour, food firms see benefits in catering to Muslim clients
Halal-certified eateries particularly see rise in business opportunities
BY MEGUMI IIZUKA
KYODOARTICLE HISTORY DEC 26, 2012

Seeking new opportunities in a global market said to be worth over $600 billion, Japanesefood and tourism businesses are turning their eyes to Muslim consumers and starting to offer
food and other products and services that follow the Islamic rules of halal.
In a dimly lit Japanese restaurant near Tokyo’s Roppongi district, seven Muslim tourists fromMalaysia gathered to enjoy “yakiniku” grilled meat that had been specially prepared andserved according to Islamic Sharia law.

For those reserving the halal fare at the restaurant in advance, halal beef placed in a separate
freezer is served with plates and glasses that are kept in cupboards apart from other dishes toavoid direct and indirect contact with pork and other nonhalal food.
Ahmad Khuzaimi Abdul Rashid, a tourist from Malaysia who visited the Sumiyakiya
Nishiazabu eatery, said, “If it were not for these restaurants, I would need to go for vegetarianor Malaysian food” to be certain the food was halal, despite being keen to taste local Japanesecuisine.
Halal means permitted or lawful according to Islamic Law, which forbids consuming flesh ofswine and alcoholic drinks as well as charging and paying interest, among other things.
In terms of meat, animals need to be properly slaughtered by following such procedures as
severing veins in the neck with a sharp knife to minimize pain and reciting the name of God,or Allah.
Sumiyakiya started offering halal yakiniku in March after obtaining a certificate from a halal
consulting firm in Japan. Since then, the shop has been flooded with inquiries and seen thenumber of Muslim customers rise by 20 percent in about nine months.
“Japanese are keeping their purse strings tight because of economic slowdown. On the otherhand, affluent Muslim customers are ready to spend money on meals, but there aren’t places
for them to eat out. I think there are good business opportunities here,” said Roger Diaz, a44-year-old native of Sri Lanka who heads the restaurant.
According to the U.S. Halal Association, the total global Muslim population is estimated at
1.6 billion, or around 25 percent of the world’s population, with the $632 billion halal foodmarket accounting for 16 percent of the global food industry.
The number of visitors to Japan from Indonesia, home to the biggest Muslim population in
the world, as well as from Malaysia, where about 60 percent of the population is Muslim,
jumped between 2003 and 2010, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.
The JNTO says the number of Muslim travelers to Japan is generally on the rise, although
official data on Muslims are not available.
Seeing it as a business opportunity, some Japanese nonprofit organizations as well as private
firms have started offering services assisting Japanese businesses to obtain halalaccreditation.
Malaysia Halal Corporation Co. based in Tokyo and headed by Akmal Abu Hassan, 42, aMalaysian Muslim, is one of them.
Since its foundation in 2010, the company has issued its own halal certificates for six hotels
and eight restaurants in Japan, including Sumiyakiya, by examining whether their food,including seasonings and additives, is prepared in accordance with Islamic law, including
the ways in which the ingredients are stored.