Is Japan Comfortable For Muslim Travelers? – ipadguides

Japan is one of my favorite countries to travel to.

He is always the number one choice to experience the four seasons, unique culture and of course meet his very warm people.

Especially after the visa waiver which makes it easier for Indonesian tourists to arrive. More and more often I make mistakes when there is a promo ticket to Japan.

Unfortunately, Japan is not a Muslim-majority country. As a Muslim, I certainly had to adapt a little to the conditions there.

The good news is that more and more Muslims are coming to Japan. Tourists from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, China, and the Middle East have become a market that is taken into account by Japan.

Therefore, facilities for Muslims in Japan are increasingly being added. Halal and Muslim friendly food places are easier to find. Until places of worship are also provided in several public facilities.

Only at Narita and Haneda Airports. We’ve been able to findprayer room‘. It can be used by everyone, not only Muslims. The location is not in the basement or parking lot like in Jakarta malls. The ones I’ve seen in Haneda are located in the main check in area. While in Narita what I saw was in the arrival area.

In prayer room Usually there is a place for ablution and pray mat (prayer rug). For women, it is better to bring their own prayer tools because they are usually not available.

Mosques in Tokyo and Surroundings

There are quite a number of mosques in Tokyo and they are spread over several areas. For Friday prayers, look for a mosque that is quite large, such as the Tokyo Camii Mosque (this is the largest mosque in Japan) in Shibuya or the Assalaam Mosque in Asakusa.

Mosques such as Assalaam even hold two groups for Friday prayers starting in February 2018. Due to limited space and congregations, the number of congregations is increasing day by day.

In other tourist attractions such as Tokyo Disneyland, Aeon Mall Makuhari Chiba, Sano Premium Outlet, to Tobu World Square there are also places to worship.

There are several places that have created special spaces for worship, such as Aeon Mall Makuhari. There are also “on request” ones like the Sano Premium Outlet. There is no special place for us to pray. But if we ask the information center there. They will provide an empty room (usually a meeting room) that we can use. Hello!

Halal food place

For food, you don’t really need to worry. If you want to make sure the food is really halal or not. Look for restaurants that do have halal certification.

Read also : Halal food place in Tokyo!

In the Asakusa area, it is the easiest area to find restaurants that have halal certification. Such as Sushi-Ken, Panga Yakiniku, Naritaya ramen, and others. In this place also usually provides a small prayer room for us to pray.

However, there are several restaurants that provide halal menus, but do not have certification. Because of course taking care of this certification takes a lot of time and money.

It could also be because the food place still provides liquor. So even if their food is halal, it will still not meet the requirements of a halal-certified restaurant.

An example is the Matsumune restaurant in Chiba. This restaurant provides a halal sushi menu, unique vegetarian sushi and uses vegetables instead of fish. This restaurant does not have a halal certification, but provides a halal menu. In fact, he has a special place that can be used for prayer.

However, this restaurant still sells sake and other liquors. Because their guests are not only Muslims, but also local people who incidentally have no problem with the drink. So for the sake of the continuity of his business, he still sells this ‘illegal’ drink. What do you think? Do you still want to eat at this restaurant?

Actually, for food, we are smart enough to choose the composition of the food. But it really depends on the ‘tolerance’ of each individual. Sometimes I buy a bento on the roadside which only contains rice and fish. It was much better than just finishing on the onigiri bought in sevels.

For a menu that is clearly non-halal such as pork, of course it is easy to avoid. Also other meats that we don’t know the slaughter method for.

What is really difficult is the use of ingredients such as mirin or sake that have been mixed. Because this is one of the spices in Japan. For example, sushi, which if we don’t understand it, we think it’s 100% halal. Yes, it’s just rice and fish, right?

But it turns out, an authentic Japanese sushi rice recipe must be mixed with mirin. That’s why in Japan there are restaurants that provide halal sushi. They replace mirin with other substitute ingredients that comply with halal standards.

Anyway, I conclude that Japan is not difficult at all for Muslim travelers. Just prepare an appropriate itinerary so that during the day you can stop at a suitable place for worship.

The facilities I mentioned above are still in the Kanto region (Tokyo, Chiba, Nikko, Tochigi, and others). So it’s still in a big city and it’s still easy to find a Muslim community.

However, if we go to other cities, such as in the Tohoku Region, we have to be more patient to find facilities for Muslims. I also sometimes ‘ride’ prayer in a place to eat. After explaining with a little difficulty, I was given a little space to be able to carry out worship. They are very kind.

random thought : If these Japanese people were Muslims, I think they would be the best Muslims in the world. This is an ignorant observation, I’m just paying attention hablum minannas they. They are such a trustworthy & obidient people.

So, do you think Japan is comfortable enough for Muslim travelers?

Thank You!

Note : On this trip to Japan, I was invited by the Kanto region government to tour and evaluate facilities for Muslim tourists. All opinions are personal property.