Japan Hosts First Int’l Halal Expo
“This Expo aims to contribute to the development of a domestic Halal environment and the cultivation of Islamic markets by Japanese companies,” a statement on Japan Halal Expo 2014 website was seen by OnIslam.net.
Themed of “Global expansion of Made in Japan Halal and development of a domestic Halal environment”, the halal expo is scheduled to be held on November 26-27.
Called “Japan Halal Expo 2014”, the expo will include trade fair of “Made in Japan” Halal products and services, forum featuring domestic and international corporate stakeholders, Halal experts, and certification organizations, according to the website.
Muslim visitor arrivals in Japan grew at an average of 7.2% from 2004-2013.
According the CrescentRating, this pace is likely to accelerate to an average 18.7 percent in the next seven years.
Japan's rank in Islamic tourism has jumped from the 50th place to the 40th within a year, a recent survey showed.
“The number of foreign tourists visiting Japan exceeded 10 million for the first time in 2013 and the resulting economic effect is attracting a great deal of attention,” the website said.
Islam began in Japan in the 1920s through the immigration of a few hundreds of Turkish Muslims from Russia following the Russian revolution.
In 1930, the number of Muslims in Japan reached about 1000 of different origins.
Another wave of migrants who boosted the Muslim population reached its peak in the 1980s, along with migrant workers from Iran, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Japan today is home to a thriving Muslim community of about 120,000, among nearly 127 million in the world's tenth most populated country.
Halal Food
Japan has announced earlier several steps to guarantee a larger share of the thriving halal tourism industry.
“Many Muslims have complained upon arrival that they don’t know where to go for a prayer, or that scant information is being made available about ingredients on food labels,” chief organizer Yoshichika Terasawa, executive managing director of Makuhari Messe, told The Japan Times on Thursday, September 25.
“I hope an event like this will help make us aware of the needs of Muslims, the same way we are today regarding vegetarians, for example.”
Last December, international airports in Japan opened new prayer rooms and started offering halal food for Muslims, amid a wider plan to make Japanese ports more Muslim friendly.
The new steps followed Japan’s decision to relax the rules for issuance to visas to visitors from Indonesia, Malaysia and three other Southeast Asian nations in July.
The expo also aims to boost the number of halal-certified restaurants in Japan.
“I don’t think it will be much difficult for Japanese restaurants to learn how to make their meals halal-certified,” said Hj Burhanuddin Md Radzi, the expo’s co-organizer and president of the Malaysian animation production company Les’ Copaque Production Sdn Bhd, agrees.
“Take Tokyo Banana, for example,” Radzi continued, referring to the famous souvenir sweet.
“It’s very famous and has a strong following (among tourists), but it’s non-halal because the ingredients include gelatin.
“But you can make it halal-certified by making the ingredients vegetable-based. I’m sure Japanese companies will be able to figure out a solution using their know-how.”
Muslim travelers globally are expected to reach $200 billion by 2020, or 13.5 percent of the global total, up from $140 billion in 2013.
A recent study, conducted in 47 countries, found that spending by Muslim tourists is growing faster than the global rate and is forecast to reach $192 billion a year by 2020, up from $126 billion in 2011.
Source: On Islam
