Abstract
The development of Halal has recently spread in Japan and become a new trending topic in Muslim tourism and Japanese businesses. But Halal in Japan is not that new. It is said that Halal first spread along with the Japanese economic bubble in the 1980s, where foreigners from Muslim countries come to Japan for work and created the demand for consuming Halal. However, the topic of Halal is becoming a new hot issue in Japan because of the increasing number of Muslims tourists from Southeast Asian countries after the Japanese government enacted the regulation exempting visas for tourism purposes for most ASEAN countries. This has caused the number of inbound tourists from Indonesia and Malaysia (which is known as a Muslim majority country) to increase significantly during the past few years, and has created a new unique opportunity for many Japanese industries, especially those related to tourism. The expanding Halal business in Japan has also led to the emergence of Halal certification bodies. According to Masayuki Numajiri, this phenomenon is referred to as the “Halal boom”. However, the development following the Halal boom is not as smooth as expected. My findings reveal that the spread of Halal in Japan has caused problems, because some Japanese business persons regard Halal only as a tool with which to make as much money as possible from Muslim consumers. Problems such as inauthentic Halal marks (fake Halal), different standards of certification, the confusing terms of “local Halal” and “Muslim friendly”, Halal slaughtering issues and the anti-Halal movement are said to be things that can impede Halal from spreading more widely in Japanese society. In this research, I focus on how the Halal boom mentioned by Masayuki Numajiri has affected Japanese society and industry in general. I also focus on the problems of the development of Halal in Japan following the Halal boom. In this Master’s thesis, I employ qualitative methodology based on fieldwork, interviews and questionnaire.