In Japan particularly, the food labels are written in Japanese kanji, so it's difficult to know what are the ingredients. Before I came to Japan, I thought it would be easy to find halal food here since I love seafood so much. But I didn't know that Japanese lurrrrve their "SAKE" or traditional alcoholic drink so much they would add it into everything. (sushi, desserts, sweets, etc). And when the menu says vegetable spaghetti or vegetable curry, you would easily find pieces of PORK in the dish as well. Even after living in Japan for 2 years this still traumatizes me, like what the phish??!! I ordered a vegetarian menu!! Haha, no they didn't do this on purpose. It's just that majority of the people in Japan don't really understand vegetarian food let alone halal food.
Groceries
You could always find halal stuff in the international grocery shop in Kyoto (Ex: Jupiter Kyoto (https://www.kyotostation.com/porta-underground-shopping-mall/ ) but for shopping in the normal supermarket or 7-E, it is advisable to memorize some simple kanji characters such as below :
豚肉 (buta niku) : pork
牛肉 (gyu niku) : beef
鳥肉 (tori niku) : chicken
お酒 (sake) : Japanese alcohol
味醂 (mirin) : Japanese sweet cooking wine (contain alcohol)
醤油 (syou yu) : soy sauce (*most Japanese soy sauces contain alcohol)
乳化剤 (nyukazai) : food emulsifier (normally derives from animal unless stated as soy-based大豆 or plant-based 植物
ショトニング : shortening (normally derives from the animal)
ゼラチン : gelatin (normally derives from the animal)
ラード (la-do) : lard
There are many more, but basically, I will stay away from products with these kanji written on the packages. I think the most difficult part is the 'nyukazai' thing because they use it in almost everything, especially in their bread and cookies.
On the other hand, if you do not want to go through all those hassles, then you can just shop from below halal online markets. They will deliver everything to your doorsteps in just 2 days, and you can pay them by COD (着払い @ ちゃくばらい@ cyakubara-i) or credit card. The downside is, you need to shop for more than JPY7000 to get free shipping costs.
www.baticrom.com
http://halal-food.jp/
Eating Out
If you are eating outside (other than a halal restaurant), it would be impossible to confirm these details. So what I normally do is I would just tell the restaurant please don't add any meat, animal oil and alcohol AT ALL inside the dish （肉、動物油やアルコールぬき）. Other than this, I will leave it to God (tawakkal), because Allah knows best. I have done what I could.
Fast food chain (vege and seafood menu)
In case you cannot find Halal restaurants, some of the menus at the fast-food chain restaurant below can also be consumed by Muslims, but they are NOT halal certified. You can find the shops almost everywhere in the Kyoto area.
Sushi-Ro : http://www.akindo-sushiro.co.jp/en/ (kaiten sushi, super cheap! I personally won't take the soy sauce because the ingredient on the bottle shows it contained alcohol)
First Kitchen : http://first-kitchen.co.jp/ (shrimp burger)
Lotteira : http://www.lotteria.jp/index.php (shrimp burger)
Gusto : http://www.skylark.co.jp/gusto/menu/index.html (corn pizza)
Saizeriya : http://www.saizeriya.co.jp/menu/grandmenu.html
(vege & seafood menu. But you have to ask carefully. They often added pieces of meat/ham in the dishes..)
Vie De France : http://viedefrance.co.jp/index.shtml (bread and pastries, but only the plain types)
Manneken Belgium Waffle : http://www.manneken.co.jp/ (delicious waffle, but some contained alcohol so please ask)
Also, this website was shared by my Japanese colleague. List of Muslim Friendly Shop around Kyoto (NOT Halal certified) http://kyotomuslimfriend.jp/en/ I have yet to try it though.
But if you do have a choice, I suggest that you go to the halal restaurants where you can just eat heartily and peacefully. Below are very useful website with a list of halal restaurant around Kyoto:
http://kyoto.travel/muslim/en/hotel.html
http://www.mikansjapan.com/food/halal-kyoto.html
Coffee
For those who know me, I am a coffee JUNKIE like big time! I could drink coffee for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But to know that most canned coffee in Japan contained 'nyukazai' is just mind-boggling! What am I supposed to drink then? Well actually the 'nyukazai' comes from the dairy product, added into the coffee. So if it is black coffee or no milk coffee it's not a problem to drink. But I love my milk coffee so much I'll go crazy without them. Luckily there are some coffee brands that omit the use of 'nyukazai' or substitute it with fresh cow milk instead. There aren't many, but I've managed to survive my daily life thanks to them. Some of the choices are as below:
Coffee shops: Tullys, Doutor, Starbucks.
Canned coffee: DYDO, Blendy, Nescafe, Wonda (caffe au lait), Kirin (Cafe latte), 7-E Hikitate (Esspresso and cafe latte).
Halal Apps/Websites
It's pretty difficult to remember all these things so what we normally do is download halal apps on our smartphones. There are also some volunteer groups on Facebook surveying halal products in Japan to help those who can't read kanji. I normally refer to these two:
http://halalminds.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Halal-Japan/503821533010825
https://www.facebook/com/Serijaya-Indonesia
Prayer Apps
I believe nowadays most people would download prayer apps on their smartphones. I did that too when I first came to Japan (I never owned a smartphone in Malaysia!) and it is very helpful especially when I'm on the go. Some of the common apps are Athan and Muslim Pro. You can download it from below:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.athan
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bitsmedia.android.muslimpro
Where to pray?
Whenever I'm on the go (traveling or business trip), I would try to do jamak or qasar prayer as much as possible if I have the chance. However, when I'm out shopping or hang out with friends on the weekend, normally I would use the below tips.
1. Fitting room
Just find any shopping mall, grab a pair of shirts and go straight to the fitting room. Nobody will disturb you there unless you are taking too much time. Malls with Uniqlo or GU shop is much preferred. :D
2. Garden or park
When we go out for a picnic or sightseeing, this is what we normally do. We would find a spot under the trees or near the resting area and perform our prayer here. It's a bit open, so there will be a lot of curious Japanese lookers, but if you are with friends it's less awkward.
3. Stairs
Whenever I couldn't find a fitting room at the mall, I would go to the stairs area, spread my praying mat and pray. Big space, fewer people (or no people at all).
4. Breastfeeding room
Haha. I know!! It's not appropriate, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.
5. Kyoto Masjid
Actually, there is one Masjid here in Kyoto, managed by the Kyoto Muslim Association. It is located in Koujinguchi and you can access it by taking buses no 7, 14 and 205 from Kyoto Station. I normally would go there like once a month. They have a masjid, halal shop, and a halal restaurant (Kyoto Rose Cafe) just a few steps away from the masjid. Please drop by when you visit Kyoto later okay! Here is the website: http://kyotomuslim.net/access/index.html
Wudu' (Ablution)
This could be a problem too because it can be a bit uncomfortable to take wudu' in a public toilet in Japan. The sink will get wet with splashes of water here and there, so I need to dab a whole bunch of tissues for it. Washing my feet while everyone is watching is also, err..uncomfortable.
Nowadays, I will make sure to take my wudu' BEFORE I go out. So when I need to renew it later, if the situation doesn't permit me to take wudu' as per normal, I will not take off my shoes but just splash some water on it instead. This is called 'khuf', one of the 'rukhsah' for us which I read in this book 'Mengenai Solat' written by Ustaz Rohidzir Rais. This blog's explanation is also very helpful:
http://fiqh-sunnah.blogspot.jp/2007/11/055-bagaimanakah-berwudhu-dengan.html
You don't have to splash gallons of water all over your body like we normally practice in Malaysia when taking wudu'. Just spreading the water slowly & evenly onto the skin surface is enough. When I'm at work, I even fill up water into a spray bottle to take my wudu'. Really useful and worry-free! Then again, some of us could care less about Japanese people's opinions, but being the only Muslim in the company with 2000 over employees, I am not that carefree. (May Allah have mercy)
That's it. Finished this post, finally! I hope my humbling experience could be a help to you too. Now I can go and enjoy my Doutor coffee. Mata kondo ne!
P/S: All of this informations are based on my PERSONAL checking and information I got from senpai (senior) who lived in Japan for many years. If you are not satisfied, please contact the shops directly or do your own reconfirmation.
