Over the past two years, plant-based food consumption has grown by 49% across the EU, reaching a total sales volume of €3.6 billion.
More and more halal foods are emerging in the Japanese market
2025-05-15
In a humble, 70-year-old restaurant in a northern city about two hours' drive from Tokyo, owner Dainari Goka serves piping hot bowls of ramen and gyoza dumplings.
These dishes use halal meat and halal chicken in their broth base, and soy products and vegetables instead of the pork found in regular dumplings.
Mr. Goka, 40, is the third-generation owner of Nikkoken Restaurant in Sano City, and has been providing Muslim-friendly dining since 2000.
"I met an African drummer from Guinea who was in town and asked me what Muslims eat," he said in a recent interview with The Straits Times. "That really got me thinking about what I was interested in, which for me was foreign cultures and religions."
He now offers two menus - a regular Japanese menu and a Muslim menu, and uses different cutlery and utensils to prepare halal meals.
He serves at least 1,000 Muslim customers a year from countries including Indonesia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, all of whom leave their mark on the message stickers on the walls of Mr Goka's restaurant.
Businesses are working harder to cater to Muslim travelers
When Ms Khamisah Salamat first visited Japan decades ago, she said it was difficult to get halal food as there "didn't seem to be any Muslim restaurants" in the country.
"But Japan has changed a lot now," said X-Trekkers, a 50-year-old Singaporean who works as a Japan expert at Singapore Boutique Travel Agency.
Ms Khamisah, who now speaks fluent Japanese, has visited 47 regions in Japan, customising travel packages for Muslim clients.
Several travel agencies also regularly offer Muslim-friendly packages to Japan to facilitate Muslim travel. For example, the Chan brothers have three more trips planned to Okinawa this year, while the Muslim organization Shahidah Travel will run an eight-day tour to Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka next month.
Ms. Khamisah has also worked with local and global agencies on Japan tour packages. She has 27 years of experience in the travel industry, having previously worked for the Japanese agency JTB.
She told The Straits Times that businesses have become aware of the needs of Muslim customers and are doing more to cater to them.
She cited the example of a mountaintop lodge on a mountain at an altitude of 1,984 meters in Yamagata Prefecture in northeastern Japan, which asked her for advice on how to take care of Muslim customers.
For independent Muslim travelers, there are halal Japanese restaurants with ramen and yakiniku (grilled meat) dishes.
Ms Khamisah said: "My friends always say they think it's difficult... maybe it's hard to travel for seven days and eat only salad, salad, salad." However, she added: "But traveling in Japan is not difficult for Muslims.
Walter Sim's restaurant is one of many businesses under his name, including hotels and karaoke parlors, that span rural Japan and cosmopolitan cities, and increasingly caters to Muslim patrons as Japan sees a growing number of Muslim residents and tourists.
It is estimated that the number of Muslim tourists will reach one million by the time Tokyo hosts the 2020 Olympics.
The latest data from the Japan National Tourism Organization shows that the number of Muslim tourists from Muslim countries is growing.
In the first nine months of this year, Malaysia had 249,800 tourists, up 33.4 percent from the same period last year, while Indonesian tourists saw a 27.7 percent increase to 184,