KUALA LUMPUR (Kyodo) — More Japanese companies are aiming to sell food products that are compliant with Islamic rules in a bid to carve a slice of the fast growing and lucrative Muslim consumer market.

A rising number of Japanese food manufacturers are seeking halal certification for their products from Malaysia and setting up factories in the country to produce halal food while some have also started to request for their plants in Japan to be certified.

Halal generally refers to food which is permissible for Muslims, meaning it does not contain anything derived from the pig, which Muslims are forbidden to consume, and that animals such as cattle and poultry have been slaughtered according to Islamic rites. These days however, the halal certification also extends to toiletries and cosmetics, and even to the provision of logistical services such as the storage and transportation of food.

Malaysia has been aggressively promoting itself as a global halal hub in recent years while the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia, better known as JAKIM, is now the world’s biggest governmental issuer of halal certifications.

The big international consumer brands such as Nestle, Unilever and Danone have long obtained Malaysia’s halal mark from JAKIM. The agency has so far certified more than 173,000 halal products, including food, services, cosmetic, healthcare products and logistics services, and there are about 2,273 companies operating in Malaysia, which are involved in these halal business activities.

However, Japanese companies have been slow to tap the halal market, which has so far attracted mainly the big Japanese brands that cater to the global market, such as seasoning maker Ajinomoto, drinks maker Pokka and yoghurt drink maker Yakult.

But that seems to be changing now with the rising demand for halal food, resulting in a surge of interest from other Japanese companies.

“In the past Japanese companies did not see any strong need to get involved with the halal industry because their domestic market did not require halal status,” said Jamil Bidin, chief executive officer of Malaysia’s Halal Industry Development Corp. “Recently Japanese companies have felt the need to do so after they decided to expand their market to Islamic countries such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia.”

He said more Japanese companies are showing interest in halal production with more than 300 firms attending its seminars in Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka last year while seven companies have visited its office to make enquiries so far this year compared with five last year.

Saifol Bahli, HDC’s head of training and consultancy, said that more Japanese companies started to show interest in halal since around 2009, when Japanese mayonnaise maker Kewpie Corp. set up a manufacturing plant in one of Malaysia’s halal industrial parks.

About 10 Japanese companies are now in the process of applying for halal certifications, he said. They include a major Japanese logistics company which would like its international food transportation network to be certified and also a Japanese supermarket chain in Malaysia which would like to be certified halal. In addition a Japanese food enzyme maker has also applied for its plant in Japan to be certified.

Saifol said it should be easy for Japanese companies to adopt the certification because Japanese products are already well known for their high quality and standard, which fits well with the certification’s demand for a high standard of cleanliness and safety.

In fact one of the appeals of the halal mark these days is that it also has a positive image among non-Muslim consumers.

The Malaysian government is eager to attract more Japanese companies to invest in the 21 halal parks that have been set up by the government or the private sector in the country to produce halal food, toiletries and cosmetics.

HDC has been working closely with the Japan External Trade Organization to organize seminars to promote halal production among Japanese companies.

Obtaining halal certification is a process that could take six months to one year, or even three years for bigger companies. The premise has to be inspected, ritually cleansed if it had produced non-halal food before, the list of ingredients used has to be audited, and the company has to employ at least two Muslim workers in their production operation.

Several factors have hindered Japanese food manufacturers from going halal in the past. These include Japanese companies being reluctant to have dedicated halal production lines unless there is a very big market to justify changing their business model. Another factor is the difficulty of getting halal ingredients for manufacturing and concern that the import of halal ingredients will further raise the already sky-high business costs in Japan. Another drawback has been the perceived difficulty of finding Muslim workers in Japan.

“The best way…is for Japanese companies to be open to collaborations or strategic alliances with big Islamic companies so as to change their perceptions and as a catalyst for the start of a halal industry in Japan,” Jamil said.

Currently the global halal market is valued at about US$2.1 trillion per annum, with an estimated 1.8 billion Muslims in the world.

The halal method of killing requires that the animal be killed by a Muslim, using a method whereby the animal’s throat is cut swiftly with a sharp knife to fully severe the two main arteries, windpipe and the esophagus. Besides swift death, it also ensures that blood flows out of the animal, as Muslims believe blood harbors and breeds bacteria and is not good for human consumption, according to a religious official at JAKIM.

(Mainichi Japan) March 13, 2011

Sunday, Nov. 14, 2010

Keeping the faith: Muslims worship in the prayer hall of the Tokyo Camii & Turkish Cultural Center in Shibuya Ward. Tokyo Camii is Japan’s second-oldest mosque, having been originally built in 1938. COURTESY OF TOKYO CAMII & TURKISH CULTURAL CENTER

By ALEX MARTIN and MINORU MATSUTANI

Staff writers - japantimes.co.jp

Noon prayers at Tokyo Camii, also known as Tokyo Mosque, began peacefully with Imam Ensari Yenturk reciting verses from the Quran, while worshippers, who included a middle-aged Japanese man, bowed and offered prayers toward Mecca.

The Tokyo Camii & Turkish Culture Center in Shibuya Ward, notable for its Ottoman architecture and intricate Arabic reliefs, is one of the mosques located across the nation that serve a small but thriving Muslim community estimated to number around 110,000 to 120,000, including roughly 10,000 Japanese Muslims.

The Islamic community was recently offended by leaked counterterrorism files that revealed police have been identifying Muslim residents as “terrorist suspects,” an embarrassing incident that coincided with a heightened police alert for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that wraps up Sunday in Yokohama.

But despite the incident, the Muslim community solemnly embraces its religion while trying to adapt to Japanese society.

“Terrorism is an activity that Islam doesn’t accept,” said Yenturk, who is also the director of Tokyo Camii, an institution that serves as a cultural hub for those interested in Islamic culture.

This sentiment is shared by many Muslim residents in Japan.

“Myself and many Muslims in Japan love this country and consider it our home. Why would we destroy our own home?” asked Ehsan Bhai, a founding member of the Islamic Circle of Japan, expressing displeasure at the recent leak of police documents.

Tokyo Camii, which was built in 1938 and is the second-oldest mosque in Japan, is open to worshippers and visitors of any nationality. It also hosts classes, Islamic “nikah” marriage ceremonies and conversions to Islam, which require two Muslim witnesses.

While relatively few worshippers visit Tokyo Camii to pray during regular weekdays, Yenturk said 400 to 500 Muslims, many from other parts of Asia, including Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia, regularly attend the important Friday noon prayers.

Although Islam is regarded as the world’s second-largest religion after Christianity, Japan’s population remains small compared with their numbers in the United States, where 2.454 million reside, or Britain, with a community of 1.647 million Muslims, according to a 2009 report by the Pew Research Center.

According to studies conducted by Hirofumi Tanada, professor of human sciences at Waseda University in Tokyo, there were 58 mosques in Japan as of April 2009, although he said more were founded recently, bringing the total to around 60.

Most of these mosques do not boast the elaborate decorations and Islamic architecture of Tokyo Camii or the Kobe Muslim Mosque — built in 1935 as Japan’s first mosque — but are funded through donations and situated in nondescript houses and buildings featuring prayer rooms.

Although hard statistics do not exist, Tanada said he believed that besides the mosques, which he defines as being open for services year-round, there are probably over 100 “musalla,” or temporary locations where prayers are performed or congregations held, scattered across the country.

Tanada explained that the first Muslim community recognized in Japan can be traced back to around the early 1920s, when a few hundred Turkish Muslims emigrated from Russia following the 1917 Russian Revolution.

These numbers gradually increased along with the pro-Islam policies of the government of the time, and by the end of the 1930s there were roughly 1,000 Muslims of various origins residing in Japan, Tanada said.

The next influx came in the 1980s, when a wave of migrant workers from nations such as Iran, Pakistan and Bangladesh arrived, significantly boosting the Muslim population.

Tanada, who has conducted much research and fieldwork on the country’s Islamic communities, said that this increase in the Muslim population also led to an increase in the number of Japanese spouses converting to Islam.

Tanada said exchange students are responsible for the bulk of today’s Muslim population in Japan, followed by self-employed workers in businesses such as used-car dealerships and halal food shops, as well as those in professional careers.

However, the Muslim population is currently experiencing a slight decline as some workers decide to return to their home countries amid the economic downturn.

Tanada added that despite the growth of Japan’s Islamic community over the years, some resentment toward Islam persists due to the misconception of it being a “terrorist” religion.

Ehsan of the Islamic Circle of Japan, who has lived in the country for 16 years and has a Japanese wife, said he hopes to raise public awareness that Muslims are peace-loving people and his group is spreading Islamic beliefs for the benefit of future generations.

Muslim children who come to a mosque seem to enjoy themselves because there is no bullying, said Ehsan’s wife, who declined to be named.

“I wish Japanese children and their parents could accept that there are different types of people,” she said.

While Ehsan has adapted to Japanese society, his wife has found the Muslim way of life difficult to follow due to various constraints.

One obstacle is buying halal food, or food permitted under Islamic law. Despite the growing number of halal shops in Tokyo, she said that when she is in a hurry, she occasionally forgoes buying certain products as local supermarkets do not stock halal food.

Pork, pork byproducts, meat from animals that die before they can be slaughtered, meat from animals killed with more than three slashes of a blade or other methods not permitted under Islamic law are not considered halal food.

“For example, if you look carefully at a bag of “sembei” (rice crackers), they include extracts of chicken soup, which may not be halal food,” she said.

She added most Muslim children who attend Japanese public elementary schools do not even bother checking whether they are eating only halal food in school lunches.

Ramadan, the Islamic ritual where one refrains from eating, drinking and being involved in sexual activities from dawn to sunset during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, can be conducted on an individual basis.

However, the customary five-times-a-day prayers may be hard to observe without the cooperation of others. When praying, Muslims kneel down for five to 15 minutes at various times of the day determined by the sun’s movements.

Ehsan said that while some Muslim office workers have obtained permission from their boss or president to pray at the office, others have had to forgo the practice.

Ehsan’s Islamic Circle of Japan, founded in 1997, now consists of 120 volunteers involved in helping organize various activities.

The group has set up eight mosques in the Kanto region, including one in Asakusa, Tokyo, which Ehsan is in charge of.

Ehsan said the word mosque is an insulting term derived from the Latin term “mesquin,” meaning poor and shabby-looking. Muslims prefer to use the word “masjid” when referring to a religious facility, he said.

Tanada of Waseda University said that while many Japanese tend to harbor a slightly negative view of Islam, there are a growing number who have an interest in the religion.

“I believe general interest in Islam is increasing,” he said.

“There are many Muslims who have married and settled with their families in Japan, and they want to deepen exchanges with their communities,” he said.

“And they want more people to understand their religion.”