Halal Food for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Japan's tourism industry sees new business opportunities in the Halal travel market. As Tokyo prepares to host the 2020 Olympics, a district in the city is targeting Muslim travelers by encouraging its food businesses to obtain Halal certification.

Taito Ward, located in the northeast of the metropolis, has been implementing a program since the end of 2015 to provide subsidies for investment in Halal food businesses. Through this program, companies will be reimbursed 50% of the certification fee.

'When you travel, you want to enjoy the food of that country and region, and it would be sad if you couldn't do that in Taito Ward,' said Takuji Kwai, head of the tourism bureau at the Taito Ward office.

'We offer a lot of delicious food. So we decided to create an environment that Muslims can enjoy without any worries.'

Certifiers look to JAKIM-HALAL

This policy helps develop a growing network of Halal certification bodies in Tokyo. One of them, the Japan Halal Foundation (JHF), was set up in Taito Ward last year and now employs three full-time and part-time staff.

'Halal food is a new thing for the food industry, and there are few consumers in Japan. But as the industry understands the Halal system, people are gradually becoming aware of it,' said Faslin Lafir, a food scientist at JHF.

'There are many certification bodies, so there are different standards. From the industry's perspective, companies are a bit confused about whose certification to obtain, which has become a problem. There are more Muslim travelers every year, especially from Malaysia and Indonesia.'

JHF is obtaining recognition from Malaysia's Halal authority JAKIM, which is considered more advantageous than other Halal certification providers.

'JAKIM certification is beneficial for promoting our company's export market—currently mainly for green tea and tofu,' Lafir said.

'When companies want to export to the Middle East and other Muslim countries, it is best to obtain certification, and obtaining JAKIM certification is more valuable to them.'

Muslim travelers surge

Since the government relaxed visa requirements for Southeast Asian travelers to promote tourism in 2013, the number of Muslims coming to Japan has been increasing sharply.

According to data from the Japan National Tourism Organization, in 2016 there were more than 394,000 travelers from majority-Muslim Malaysia, up from 89,000 in 2009. Similarly, the number of Indonesians increased from 63,000 to 271,000 over the same period.

The Olympics are expected to further increase the number of travelers requiring Halal food.

According to a report, more than 20 million travelers are expected to land in Japan in 2020, of which more than 1 million will be Muslim.

In view of this, the Governor of Tokyo met with the ambassadors of 17 Muslim countries to discuss strategies that can be used to cater to Muslim athletes and travelers.