Japan’s Nuclear problem likely to surpass Chernobyl

A global nuclear disaster potentially worse than Chernobyl may be under way in Japan as hundreds of tonnes of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel are open to the sky, and may be on fire and emitting radioactive particles into the atmosphere.

Many countries have advised their citizens in Japan to leave the country.

“This is uncharted territory. There is a 50-percent chance they could lose all six reactors and their storage pools,” said Jan Beyea, a nuclear physicist with a New Jersey consulting firm called Consulting in the Public Interest.

“I’m surprised the situation hasn’t gotten worse faster… But without a breakthrough it’s only a matter of days before spent fuels will melt down,” said Ed Lyman, a physicist at the Union of Concerned Scientists and an expert on nuclear plant design.

Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant was damaged by a powerful earthquake and tsunami on Mar. 11. It has an estimated 1,700 tonnes of used or spent but still dangerous nuclear fuel in storage pools next to its six nuclear reactors, according to Kevin Kamps, a radioactive waste specialist at Beyond Nuclear, a U.S. anti-nuclear environmental group.

The storage pools holding 30 to 35 years worth of spent fuel at reactors No. 3 and No. 4 have lost containment and most if not all of their coolant water. They may be on fire, venting radioactive particles into the atmosphere, Kamps told IPS.

On Thursday, Japanese military helicopters protected by lead shielding managed to dump some seawater on the damaged reactors No. 3 and No. 4 in a desperate and very risky last- ditch effort at the highly radioactive site.

“If some of the spent fuel ignites and propagates throughout the rest of the fuel enormous areas of Japan could be contaminated by radioactive caesium 137 for 30 to 50 years,” Beyea told IPS.

Caesium 137 remains radioactive for more than a hundred years and is a known cause of cancer and other health impacts. Once released, it is very difficult to cope with. Caesium is why a large region around the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster remains uninhabitable 25 years later.

A 2010 health study by the University of South Carolina in the U.S. showed that children born after the disaster and living more than 75 kilometres away have long-term problems with their lungs resulting from caesium 137 in dust and soil particles.

“Caesium particles were blown hundreds of miles away during the intense fire at Chernobyl,” Kamp said.

For comparison, Chernobyl held 180 tonnes of nuclear fuel. Fukushima Daiichi has 560 tonnes of nuclear fuel in its reactors along with 1,700 tonnes of spent fuel.

“The nuclear industry in Japan and the U.S. knew the loss of coolant at spent-fuel storage pools would be a big problem but they simply said it couldn’t happen,” said Beyea, who is a co-author of a 2004 study on this very topic for the U.S. National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences.

Having worked in the industry, Beyea says it is run by overconfident engineers who minimise or ignore low- probability disasters even if they might have huge consequences.

Nuclear reactors generate enormous amounts of heat and must be constantly cooled to keep the metal fuel casing from catching on fire and the fuel from melting. Since a nuclear reaction cannot be turned off, when spent fuel is removed from a reactor it still generates a great deal of heat and must be cooled underwater for five to 20 years. All reactors have storage pools with thick reinforced-concrete walls and are about 15 metres deep, containing around 1.5 million litres of water. This water soon warms and must be constantly replaced with cooler water.

The loss of electricity and failures of backup generators at Fukushima Daiichi has meant little water has been pumped through the storage pools or into the reactors. Radiation levels inside the plant have now climbed so high that it is hazardous for workers to try to keep jury-rigged pumps pumping sea water. Normally only fresh water is used because sea water contains salts that eventually degrade the metals.

Radiation levels are deadly when there is not enough water to cover a spent fuel pool, said Kamps. “It will be very difficult to get close enough to cool these pools down,” he noted. “If the worst happens, and the six pools burn, it will be an unimaginable disaster. It could be worse than Chernobyl.”

The amount of caesium that could be released at Fuskushima is many thousands times that from the Hiroshima atomic bomb during World War Two, acknowledged Beyea. However, it was the bomb blast that killed over 120,000 people in the immediate months afterwards, he said.

“Japan is facing enormous potential impacts on its economy, its society and on the health of its people,” he said, adding that people will be worried sick about the potential impacts on their health for decades to come.

“We recommended that the nuclear industry move spent fuel into dry storage containers after five years to reduce this risk but they said a loss-of-pool coolant event would never happen,” said Beyea.

The status as of Thursday, 4 pm EST according to Tokyo Electric, the owner and operator of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant:

Reactors No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 nuclear cores have partially melted as they lost cooling functions after the quake.

Reactor No. 2 containment vessel suffered damage and has been breached.

The buildings housing the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 reactors and storage pools have been severely damaged by apparent hydrogen blasts.

Water levels and temperatures at storage pools of the Nos. 1 to 4 units are unknown.

Temperatures at storage pools at No. 5 and No. 6 are climbing.

Muslim specialist introduces tours to Japan

SINGAPORE-based TM Fouzy Travel & Tours, which specialises in the Muslim market, will lead four tour groups to Japan for the first time this December.

The introduction of these tours comes on the heels of the Japan National Tourism Organization’s plans to tap the South-east Asian Muslim market (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 8, 2012), following a rebound in visitor numbers from Malaysia and Jakarta over the past 12 months

“Japan is a completely novel destination for Muslim consumers. Not many Muslim tourists (from Singapore) have ventured (to Japan) as there’s a misconception that there’s a lack of halal dining options and facilities that cater to Muslims in Japan,” said the company’s general manager, Abdul Rahim.

“However, I firmly believe that there’s a lot of pent-up demand. Japan offers something very different from other Asian destinations in terms of culture and landscape, making it highly appealing to Muslim travellers.”

TM Fouzy Travel & Tours currently retails two separate seven-day group tours to Japan. One encompasses the Golden Route, taking travellers through Tokyo, Osaka, Mount Fuji and Hakone; while the second combines Tokyo and Hokkaido.

Priced at S$2,025 (US$1,655) per pax, the tours include flights with Garuda Indonesia, four-star accommodation, as well as all entry fees to attractions and halal meals. Malay- and English-speaking guides will lead the tours, comprising of an average of 30 pax each. Travellers will also have the opportunity to meet Muslim families and imams in Japan to find out more about the Islamic way of life there.

“If these tours are successful, we will market them to other Muslim specialists in Singapore. We are looking to sell B2B free-and-easy packages to Japan in the near future, and also offer itineraries to Yokohama, Kanagawa, Okinawa and Kyushu,” said Rahim.

He projects that this arm of the business will generate around 500 customers a year.

First Arab-Muslim sumo wrestler faces challenges in Japan

With legs resembling tree trunks and packing the body weight of two average-sized men, sumo wrestling’s ‘Great Sandstorm’ would seem a good fit for the wildly popular Japanese sport.

But Egypt’s Abdelrahman Ahmed Shaalan, the first professional sumo wrestler from both the African continent and Arab world, faces some mighty challenges as he embarks on a quest to become a yokozuna, or grand champion.

The man known by the ring name Osunaarashi, which translates as Great Sandstorm, prays five times a day as a devout Muslim, a tough routine given the intense daily training schedule required for sumo’s highly ritualized contests.

Small in number, foreigners are vital members of tradition-bound sumo as more Japanese youngsters with high athletic abilities tend to choose baseball, football and other lucrative or more high-profile sports with less rigid conventions.

Mongolians have been a dominant force in the top ranks for years, although Shaalan is among the sport’s first Muslim competitors.

As such, the 20-year-old does not touch the deep-fried pork cutlets loved by millions of Japanese or drink vast quantities of beer and rice wine sake, staples of a diet that sumo wrestlers rely on to bulk up, since Muslims avoid pork and alcohol.

But Shaalan, who quit his university accounting degree to enter sumo’s professional ranks, is undeterred, and brushing aside the challenges presented by the holy month of Ramadan when he cannot eat or drink during daylight hours, knowing that regular sumo tournaments are held in the afternoon.

“I am confident that I can overcome my challenges,” the burly wrestler told Japanese media last month after winning his first two professional-level matches at a tournament in the western city of Osaka.

Shaalan, a native of Giza, which is home to Egypt’s pyramids, insisted he was able to train for at least four hours in the daytime during the Islamic celebration.

“I want to become a wrestler who represents Arab and African nations… My dream is to become a yokozuna,” said the Egyptian, who stands at 189 centimeters and weighs 145 kilograms.

He did, however, concede: “I am a little bit worried. But no problem.”

Japan’s sumo association could not say whether the Great Sandstorm is the sport’s first Muslim competitor. There have been unconfirmed reports of Muslim sumo wrestlers in the past.

His coach, a former wrestler known as Otake, has promised he’ll keep his new recruit in top shape, even changing the recipe for a meat, vegetable and fish stew known as Chankonabe which wrestlers devour on a daily basis.

“When we serve pork cutlet, we prepare chicken cutlet for him. When we use pork for Chankonabe, we let him eat something else,” the coach said.

“But I want him to get used to the customs and traditions of the sumo world otherwise.”

Shaalan’s coach is most concerned about keeping his young apprentice focused amid the media storm sparked by the newcomer’s spectacular debut, which included dumping his Japanese opponent with a powerful arm throw.

“It was very exciting,” declared the novice, who was not allowed to do a one-on-one interview under sumo association guidelines for new recruits.
Otake was less enthusiastic about the victories that earned Shaalan a coveted spot in the sport’s bi-monthly tournaments, although he will start at the bottom of the rankings at the next meeting in May.

“He needed to crouch lower in exchanging thrusts,” the sumo master said, adding that his apprentice was not flexible enough to do the splits.
“I will teach him to become more humble as his ranking rises.”

Shaalan’s arrival in the pro ranks came after he won an open-class bronze medal at the 2008 world junior sumo championships and an over-100 kilogram bronze at the 2010 edition.

Despite its popularity, the sport has suffered in recent years with a hugely damaging bout-fixing scandal that infuriated the public and forced the resignations of about two dozen wrestlers and a stable master.

Sometimes brutal training methods and allegations of illegal drug use have also come under the microscope.

None of that is likely to turn off the determined Shaalan, whose love affair with sumo began at the age of 15 when he was invited by a friend to a practice session.

“I was impressed by the strength of sumo wrestlers who behaved as if nothing had happened even after they lost or got tired,” he said.

“I want the world to understand sumo.”

Japanese Muslim brings life to Arabic calligraphy

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Fuad Koichi Honda, a native of Japan, is known round the world as one of the world’s top contemporary Arabic calligraphers. His works show a level of artistic …
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Japanese wrestling legend Antonio Inoki becomes Muslim, works for peace

Hall of Fame wrestler Antonio Inoki is remembered by many for his physical prowess and his legendary 1976 battle against the great Muhammad Ali. But now, years after retiring from his beloved sport, Inoki is making a new name for himself — quite literally.

Last month, the Japanese wrestling legend, who reportedly converted to Islam in the 1990s, announced that he’s changed his name to Muhammad Hussain Inoki. Under the banner of his new moniker, Inoki is now making his mark outside the wrestling ring by championing worldwide peace and “international brotherhood” on a global stage through sports and investment in youth.

Long known for his passion for peace-brokering on behalf of his native Japan, Inoki — who, in 1990, was sent as a special envoy to Iraq to negotiate with Saddam Hussein over the release of Japanese hostages — visited Pakistan in December to take part in an international peace wrestling competition and to celebrate 60 years of sporting relations between Japan and the South Asian nation.

Inoki, who identifies himself as a “peace ambassador,” was also in Pakistan to set up a government-backed wrestling academy, Pakistan’s The Nation reports.

Inoki, who says he practices both Islam and Buddhism, has also become an emblem of religious tolerance, garnering support for his faith from all corners of the globe.

According to Press TV, Inoki received a “hero’s welcome” when he arrived in Pakistan recently. The wrestler first visited the country in 1976 to battle in the ring with famed Pakistani wrestler Akram Pahalwan, while a stadium brimming with nearly 50,000 spectators looked on. (Inoki not only beat Pahalwan that day, but he famously dislocated his opponent’s arm.)

Earlier that same year, Inoki had faced off with Muhammad Ali, in what the Guardian described as a “prototype mixed martial arts fight” in Tokyo. Ali wore gloves, Inoki didn’t. The two essentially competed for the title of “toughest man on the planet.” The fight ended in a tie.

When Inoki was in Pakistan last month, the Express Tribune reports that he paid homage to his old opponent Pahalwan by visiting his grave. He also talked about his conversion to Islam and mentioned his old foe and fellow Muslim convert, Muhammad Ali (formerly Cassius Clay).

“When I converted, people suggested that I change my name to Muhammad Ali but I turned down the idea as I had already fought against the great boxer Ali,” he said, according to Dawn.com.

During his trip, Inoki — who in 2010 became the first Japanese person to be inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment’s Hall of Fame – also said that he hopes to help further strengthen the diplomatic ties between Pakistan and Japan, and to continue bringing the message of peace around the world.

Muslims provide immediate aid to Japan disaster victims

Survivors of the catastrophic earthquake that hit Japan on March 11, 2011 are still coping with the devastation and heartache caused by the natural disaster, declared as the most powerful in Japan’s history.  According to the Japanese National Police Agency, nearly 9,200 are confirmed dead while over 13,000 are reported to be missing.

Japanese officials assume that these numbers will continue to rise. Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan stated, “In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan.” Over 600,000 people have been displaced by the ravaging quake; 100,000 of these persons are believed by Japanese officials to be children. Around 4.4 million households in northeastern Japan are left without electricity and 1.5 million without water. Muslim relief organizations, such as Islamic Relief, Zakat Foundation, and Helping Hand responded immediately to the humanitarian crisis in Japan with aid, including: food, clothing and fuel for electricity and heat.

The Muslim community is greatly urged to generously donate and ease the suffering of those impacted by the quake and tsunami in Japan. “Natural disasters and other catastrophes, however horrible their impact, serve as a test not just to those impacted directly, but to all the rest of us who are not.  It is a test of how we will respond when our neighbors are in need.  The only way to show true thanks to God for our own blessings from Him is to respond to those in need, such as in Japan, with compassion and mercy,” said ISNA Secretary General Safaa Zarzour. “Righteousness is not turning your faces towards the east or the west. Righteous are those who believe in God, the Last Day, the angels, the scripture, and the prophets; and they give their money, cheerfully, to the relatives, the orphans, the needy, the traveling alien, the beggars, and to free the slaves…” (Q,2:177)

Japan sees big potential in Muslim tourists

GREATER ENTHUSIASM: More travel agencies are going all out to ensure Muslims have a comfortable stay in their country

JAPAN has suffered a traumatic decrease of Chinese tourists since the third quarter of last year, primarily because of Sino-Japan territorial frictions.

Filling the void are the new waves of tourists, notably from Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as Taiwan and other Southeast Asian countries.

The number of Chinese tourists dropped 33 per cent during October, for example, but Malaysian tourists rose 66 per cent and Indonesians 40 per cent, compared with the same month the previous year.

The new trend is driving Japanese enthusiasm in preparing to welcome Muslim visitors so that they can stay more comfortably in accordance with their religious requirements.

More than 130,000 Malaysians visited Japan last year, up nearly 14 per cent from the peak year of 2010, because of the growing Malaysian middle class that can afford to travel abroad and launch of low-cost carriers.

These tourists include increasing Malay Muslims, who previously found it hard to keep their religious practices in Japan.

The Muslim population in Japan is between 50,000 and 100,000, most of them followers from overseas. There are only fewer than 1,000 Japanese Muslims, it is said, in a country of 120 million people.

Allah’s teachings are unfamiliar to most of the Japanese. The new clientele in tourism is quickly educating Japanese travel business about Muslims.

“A major challenge was to ensure space for worship and halal food for them,” says Kazunari Kurosawa of Miyako Kokusai Co. Over the past few years, the travel agency in Osaka has developed environments for Asian Muslim visitors.

He studied about halal food and visited restaurants, accompanied by Japan Halal Association officials, approved by Malaysia’s Jakim (Department of Islamic Advancement of Malaysia), to make sure they served non-alcoholic, pork-free food.

He arranged that Muslim visitors always used new disposable spoons, cups and other utensils taken directly to their mouths so that they are free from cleaning alcohol commonly used in Japan.

He also secured space for musalla in shrines and other tourist spots and announced to his customers the kiblat (direction of the Qaaba)

Kurosawa has since served about 500 Muslim tourists from Malaysia and his spring tours for cherry blossom viewing are fully booked.

Many Southeast Asian tourists would also head for the northern parts of Japan to see snow-covered Japan and enjoy skiing and other “snow experiences” during winter.

Hokkaido, the northernmost island, lately enjoyed an increasing number of Southeast Asian visitors, including Muslims.

In an unsurprising consequence, Chitose Outlet Mall Rera in Sapporo has installed a prayer room so that Muslims can shop for many hours without worrying about a place for prayers.

In October, the Japan Halal Business Association was founded in Tokyo for promoting halal-related business and market by educating businessmen about the traditions and halal requirements through publications, seminars and campaigns.

They invited former Malaysian prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as keynote speaker at the halal forum in November.

The Japanese government is also learning quickly about the potential of the faith-based tourism.

The Japan National Tourism Organisation, the government tourism-promoting arm, plans to create an official halal guidebook for Muslim tourists, listing restaurants and worship places in Japan.

It hopes to increase the number of Southeast Asian tourists to one million, double the number of 2011.

The organisation, in January signed a memorandum with the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents to promote inbound Malaysian tourists.

Also, last month, it held the Japan-Muslim tourism seminar for Japanese businesses interested in promoting inbound Asian Muslim tourists.

Inbound tourists to Japan rose to 8.37 million last year, recovering from the drop in the disaster-tainted previous year but lagging behind the year’s goal of nine million.

“It is not a satisfactory situation yet,” said Land, Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Akihiro Ohta.

Setting a new yearly goal at 10 million for this year, he pledged to promote tourism by all means of all divisions of his ministry, obviously setting a big target for Muslim visitors from Asia and other parts of the world.

Japan’s Nuclear problem likely to surpass Chernobyl

A global nuclear disaster potentially worse than Chernobyl may be under way in Japan as hundreds of tonnes of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel are open to the sky, and may be on fire and emitting radioactive particles into the atmosphere.

Many countries have advised their citizens in Japan to leave the country.

“This is uncharted territory. There is a 50-percent chance they could lose all six reactors and their storage pools,” said Jan Beyea, a nuclear physicist with a New Jersey consulting firm called Consulting in the Public Interest.

“I’m surprised the situation hasn’t gotten worse faster… But without a breakthrough it’s only a matter of days before spent fuels will melt down,” said Ed Lyman, a physicist at the Union of Concerned Scientists and an expert on nuclear plant design.

Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant was damaged by a powerful earthquake and tsunami on Mar. 11. It has an estimated 1,700 tonnes of used or spent but still dangerous nuclear fuel in storage pools next to its six nuclear reactors, according to Kevin Kamps, a radioactive waste specialist at Beyond Nuclear, a U.S. anti-nuclear environmental group.

The storage pools holding 30 to 35 years worth of spent fuel at reactors No. 3 and No. 4 have lost containment and most if not all of their coolant water. They may be on fire, venting radioactive particles into the atmosphere, Kamps told IPS.

On Thursday, Japanese military helicopters protected by lead shielding managed to dump some seawater on the damaged reactors No. 3 and No. 4 in a desperate and very risky last- ditch effort at the highly radioactive site.

“If some of the spent fuel ignites and propagates throughout the rest of the fuel enormous areas of Japan could be contaminated by radioactive caesium 137 for 30 to 50 years,” Beyea told IPS.

Caesium 137 remains radioactive for more than a hundred years and is a known cause of cancer and other health impacts. Once released, it is very difficult to cope with. Caesium is why a large region around the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster remains uninhabitable 25 years later.

A 2010 health study by the University of South Carolina in the U.S. showed that children born after the disaster and living more than 75 kilometres away have long-term problems with their lungs resulting from caesium 137 in dust and soil particles.

“Caesium particles were blown hundreds of miles away during the intense fire at Chernobyl,” Kamp said.

For comparison, Chernobyl held 180 tonnes of nuclear fuel. Fukushima Daiichi has 560 tonnes of nuclear fuel in its reactors along with 1,700 tonnes of spent fuel.

“The nuclear industry in Japan and the U.S. knew the loss of coolant at spent-fuel storage pools would be a big problem but they simply said it couldn’t happen,” said Beyea, who is a co-author of a 2004 study on this very topic for the U.S. National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences.

Having worked in the industry, Beyea says it is run by overconfident engineers who minimise or ignore low- probability disasters even if they might have huge consequences.

Nuclear reactors generate enormous amounts of heat and must be constantly cooled to keep the metal fuel casing from catching on fire and the fuel from melting. Since a nuclear reaction cannot be turned off, when spent fuel is removed from a reactor it still generates a great deal of heat and must be cooled underwater for five to 20 years. All reactors have storage pools with thick reinforced-concrete walls and are about 15 metres deep, containing around 1.5 million litres of water. This water soon warms and must be constantly replaced with cooler water.

The loss of electricity and failures of backup generators at Fukushima Daiichi has meant little water has been pumped through the storage pools or into the reactors. Radiation levels inside the plant have now climbed so high that it is hazardous for workers to try to keep jury-rigged pumps pumping sea water. Normally only fresh water is used because sea water contains salts that eventually degrade the metals.

Radiation levels are deadly when there is not enough water to cover a spent fuel pool, said Kamps. “It will be very difficult to get close enough to cool these pools down,” he noted. “If the worst happens, and the six pools burn, it will be an unimaginable disaster. It could be worse than Chernobyl.”

The amount of caesium that could be released at Fuskushima is many thousands times that from the Hiroshima atomic bomb during World War Two, acknowledged Beyea. However, it was the bomb blast that killed over 120,000 people in the immediate months afterwards, he said.

“Japan is facing enormous potential impacts on its economy, its society and on the health of its people,” he said, adding that people will be worried sick about the potential impacts on their health for decades to come.

“We recommended that the nuclear industry move spent fuel into dry storage containers after five years to reduce this risk but they said a loss-of-pool coolant event would never happen,” said Beyea.

The status as of Thursday, 4 pm EST according to Tokyo Electric, the owner and operator of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant:

Reactors No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 nuclear cores have partially melted as they lost cooling functions after the quake.

Reactor No. 2 containment vessel suffered damage and has been breached.

The buildings housing the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 reactors and storage pools have been severely damaged by apparent hydrogen blasts.

Water levels and temperatures at storage pools of the Nos. 1 to 4 units are unknown.

Temperatures at storage pools at No. 5 and No. 6 are climbing.

Muslims provide immediate aid to Japan disaster victims

Survivors of the catastrophic earthquake that hit Japan on March 11, 2011 are still coping with the devastation and heartache caused by the natural disaster, declared as the most powerful in Japan’s history.  According to the Japanese National Police Agency, nearly 9,200 are confirmed dead while over 13,000 are reported to be missing.

Japanese officials assume that these numbers will continue to rise. Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan stated, “In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan.” Over 600,000 people have been displaced by the ravaging quake; 100,000 of these persons are believed by Japanese officials to be children. Around 4.4 million households in northeastern Japan are left without electricity and 1.5 million without water. Muslim relief organizations, such as Islamic Relief, Zakat Foundation, and Helping Hand responded immediately to the humanitarian crisis in Japan with aid, including: food, clothing and fuel for electricity and heat.

The Muslim community is greatly urged to generously donate and ease the suffering of those impacted by the quake and tsunami in Japan. “Natural disasters and other catastrophes, however horrible their impact, serve as a test not just to those impacted directly, but to all the rest of us who are not.  It is a test of how we will respond when our neighbors are in need.  The only way to show true thanks to God for our own blessings from Him is to respond to those in need, such as in Japan, with compassion and mercy,” said ISNA Secretary General Safaa Zarzour. “Righteousness is not turning your faces towards the east or the west. Righteous are those who believe in God, the Last Day, the angels, the scripture, and the prophets; and they give their money, cheerfully, to the relatives, the orphans, the needy, the traveling alien, the beggars, and to free the slaves…” (Q,2:177)

Japanese tourism now catering to Muslims

Seeking new opportunities in a global market said to be worth over $600 billion, Japanese food and tourism businesses are turning their eyes to Muslim consumers and starting to offer food and other products and services that follow the Islamic rules of halal.

In a dimly lit Japanese restaurant near Tokyo’s Roppongi district, seven Muslim tourists from Malaysia gathered to enjoy “yakiniku” grilled meat that had been specially prepared and served according to Islamic Sharia law.

For those reserving the halal fare at the restaurant in advance, halal beef placed in a separate freezer is served with plates and glasses that are kept in cupboards apart from other dishes to avoid direct and indirect contact with pork and other nonhalal food.

Ahmad Khuzaimi Abdul Rashid, a tourist from Malaysia who visited the Sumiyakiya Nishiazabu eatery, said, “If it were not for these restaurants, I would need to go for vegetarian or Malaysian food” to be certain the food was halal, despite being keen to taste local Japanese cuisine.

Halal means permitted or lawful according to Islamic Law, which forbids consuming flesh of swine and alcoholic drinks as well as charging and paying interest, among other things.

In terms of meat, animals need to be properly slaughtered by following such procedures as severing veins in the neck with a sharp knife to minimize pain and reciting the name of God, or Allah.

Sumiyakiya started offering halal yakiniku in March after obtaining a certificate from a halal consulting firm in Japan. Since then, the shop has been flooded with inquiries and seen the number of Muslim customers rise by 20 percent in about nine months.

“Japanese are keeping their purse strings tight because of economic slowdown. On the other hand, affluent Muslim customers are ready to spend money on meals, but there aren’t places for them to eat out. I think there are good business opportunities here,” said Roger Diaz, a 44-year-old native of Sri Lanka who heads the restaurant.

According to the U.S. Halal Association, the total global Muslim population is estimated at 1.6 billion, or around 25 percent of the world’s population, with the $632 billion halal food market accounting for 16 percent of the global food industry.

The number of visitors to Japan from Indonesia, home to the biggest Muslim population in the world, as well as from Malaysia, where about 60 percent of the population is Muslim, jumped between 2003 and 2010, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.

The JNTO says the number of Muslim travelers to Japan is generally on the rise, although official data on Muslims are not available.

Seeing it as a business opportunity, some Japanese nonprofit organizations as well as private firms have started offering services assisting Japanese businesses to obtain halal accreditation.

Malaysia Halal Corporation Co. based in Tokyo and headed by Akmal Abu Hassan, 42, a Malaysian Muslim, is one of them.

Since its foundation in 2010, the company has issued its own halal certificates for six hotels and eight restaurants in Japan, including Sumiyakiya, by examining whether their food, including seasonings and additives, is prepared in accordance with Islamic law, including the ways in which the ingredients are stored.

Hotels certified by the firm also provide information about “qibla,” the direction of Mecca for prayers, as well as restaurants that serve halal food.

Malaysia Halal Corporation, recognized as an internal auditor of halal by Malaysian and Indonesian government-affiliated bodies, conducts unannounced inspections for all the facilities it has issued certificates to once every two or three months to maintain quality.

“People in Malaysia are aware (of the charms of) Japan, including its world heritage sites and culture, and are eager to visit here, but is it a place where (Muslim) foreigners can easily visit? No,” said Akmal, pointing out complaints from Muslim travelers that they ended up eating at Malaysian restaurants since they were unable to find halal Japanese food.

“Japan should promote itself more aggressively by making its cuisine available for people opting for halal food,” he said, adding Japanese businesses can find new opportunities by exporting their food and cosmetics among other halal products to Islamic countries.

Package tours targeting Muslim travelers have also proved popular. Osaka-based travel agency Miyako International Tourist Co. provides tours with Japanese Muslim tour conductors that include daily prayers and halal restaurants.

Hideshi Matsui, a Japanese Muslim and president of the travel company, said single-use cups and plates are used at restaurants during the tours to avoid possible discomfort.

Destinations are also carefully chosen as some tourists expressed disgust after visiting cherry blossom viewing sites where many local people were drinking alcohol, he said.

“Without understanding Muslim people’s way of life and their beliefs, we cannot gain understanding from them and it could even be dangerous,” said Matsui, adding such tours have received a number of reservations, even though their prices are set higher than average.

Hijab: thoughts from a Japanese Muslima

When I reverted to Islam, the religion of our inborn nature, a fierce debate raged about girls observing the hijab at schools in France. It still does. The majority, it seemed, thought that wearing the headscarf was contrary to the principle that public – that is state-funded – schools should be neutral with regard to religion. Even as a non-Muslim, I could not understand why there was such a fuss over such a small thing as a scarf on a Muslim student’s head. The feeling still persists amongst non-Muslims that Muslim women wear the hijab simply because they are slaves to tradition, so much so that it is seen as a symbol of oppression. Women’ s liberation and independence is, so they believe, impossible unless they first remove the hijab.

Such naivet is shared by “Muslims” with little or no knowledge of Islam. Being so used to secularism and religious eclecticism, pick and mix, they are unable to comprehend that Islam is universal and eternal. This apart, women all over the world, non-Arabs, are embracing Islam and wearing the hijab as a religious requirement, not a misdirected sense of “tradition.”

I am but one example of such women. My hijab is not a part of my racial or traditional identity; it has no social or political significance; it is, purely and simply, my religious identity.

I have worn the hijab since embracing Islam in Paris. The exact form of the hijab varies according to the country one is in, or the degree of the individual’s religious awareness. In France I wore a simple scarf, which matched my dress and perched lightly on my head so that it was almost fashionable! Now, in Saudi Arabia, I wear an all-covering black cape; not even my eyes are visible. Thus, I have experienced the hijab from its simplest to its most complete form.

What does the hijab mean to me? Although there have been many books and articles about the hijab, they always tend to be written from an outsider’s point of view; I hope this will allow me to explain what I can observe from the inside, so to speak. When I decided to declare my Islam, I did not think whether I could pray five times a day or wear the hijab. Maybe I was scared that if I had given it serious thought I would have reached a negative conclusion, and that would affect my decision to become a Muslim. Until I visited the main mosque in Paris I had nothing to do with Islam; neither the prayers nor the hijab were familiar to me. In fact, both were unimaginable but my desire to be a Muslim was too strong (Alhamdulilah) for me to be overly concerned with what awaited me on the “other side” of my conversion.

The benefits of observing hijab became clear to me following a lecture at the mosque when I kept my scarf on even after leaving the building. The lecture had filled me with such a previously unknown spiritual satisfaction that I simply did not want to remove it. Because of the cold weather, I did not attract too much attention but I did feel different, somehow purified and protected; I felt as if I was in Allah’s company.

As a foreigner in Paris, I sometimes felt uneasy about being stared at by men. In my hijab I went unnoticed, protected from impolite stares.

My hijab made me happy; it was both a sign of my obedience to Allah and a manifestation of my faith. I did not need to utter beliefs, the hijab stated them clearly for all to see, especially fellow Muslims, and thus it helped to strengthen the bonds of sisterhood in Islam.

Wearing the hijab soon became spontaneous, albeit purely voluntary. No human being could force me to wear it; if they had, perhaps I would have rebelled and rejected it. However, the first Islamic book I read used very moderate language in this respect, saying that “Allah recommends it (the hijab) strongly” and since Islam (as the word itself indicates) means we are to obey Allah’s will I accomplished my Islamic duties willingly and without difficulty, Alhamdulilah.

The hijab reminds people who see it that God exists, and it serves as a constant reminder to me that I should conduct myself as a Muslim. Just as police officers are more professionally aware while in uniform, so I had a stronger sense of being a Muslim wearing my hijab.

Two weeks after my return to Islam, I went back to Japan for a family wedding and took the decision not to return to my studies in France; French literature had lost its appeal and the desire to study Arabic had replaced it. As a new Muslim with very little knowledge of Islam it was a big test for me to live in a small town in Japan completely isolated from Muslims. However, this isolation intensified my Islamic consciousness, and I knew that I was not alone as Allah was with me.

I had to abandon many of my clothes and, with some help from a friend who knew dressmaking; I made some pantaloons, similar to Pakistani dress. I was not bothered by the strange looks the people gave me!

After six months in Japan, my desire to study Arabic grew so much that I decided to go to Cairo, where I knew someone. None of my host family there spoke English (or Japanese!) and the lady who took my hand to lead me into the house was covered from head to toe in black. Even her face was covered. Although this is now familiar to me here in Riyadh, I remember being surprised at the time, recalling an incident in France when I had seen such dress and thought, there is a woman enslaved by Arabic tradition, unaware of real Islam, (which, I believed, thought that covering the face was not a necessity, but an ethnic tradition).

I wanted to tell the lady in Cairo that she was exaggerating in her dress,that it was unnatural and abnormal. Instead, I was told that my self-made dress was not suitable to go out in, something I disagreed with since I understood that it satisfied the requirements for a Muslimah. But, when in Rome, I bought some cloth and made a long dress, called khimar, which covered the loins and the arms completely. I was even ready to cover my face, something most of the sisters with whom I became acquainted did. They were, though, a small minority in Cairo.

Generally speaking, young Egyptians, more or less fully westernized, kept their distance from women wearing khimar and called them the sisters. Men treated us with respect and special politeness. Women wearing a khimar shared a sisterhood which lived up to the Prophet’s saying (Allah’s blessings and peace on him) that a Muslim gives his salaam to the person he crosses in the street, whether he knows him or not. The sisters were, it is probably true to say, more conscious of their faith than those who wear scarves for the sake of custom, rather than for the sake of Allah. Before becoming a Muslimah, my preference was for active pants-style clothes, not the more feminine skirt, but the long dress I wore in Cairo pleased me; I felt elegant and more relaxed.

In the western sense, black is a favourite colour for evening wears as it accentuates the beauty of the wearer. My new sisters were truly beautiful in their black khimar and with a light akin, to saintliness shone from their faces. Indeed, they are not unlike Raman Catholic nuns, something I noticed particularly when I had occasion to visit Paris soon after arriving in Saudi Arabia.

I was in the same Metro carriage as a nun and I smiled at our similarity of dress. Hers was the symbol of her devotion to God, as is that of a Muslimah. I often wonder why people say nothing about the veil of the Catholic nun, but criticize vehemently the veil of a Muslimah, regarding it as a symbol of terrorism and oppression.

I did not mind abandoning colourful clothes in favour of black; in fact, I had always had a sense to longing for the religious lifestyle of a nun even before becoming a Muslimah!

After another six months in Cairo, however, I was so accustomed to my long dress that I started to think that I would wear it on my return to Japan. My concession was that I had some dresses made in light colours, and some white khimars, in the belief that they would be less shocking in Japan than the black variety.

I was right. The Japanese reacted rather well to my white khimars, and they seemed to be able to guess that I was of a religious persuasion. I heard one girl telling her friend that I was a Buddhist nun; how similar a Muslimah, a Buddhist nun and a Christian nun are! man who would not normally be accustomed to talking about religion.

My father was worried when I went out in long sleeves and a head-cover even in the hottest weather, but I found that my hijab protected me from the sun. Indeed, it was I who also felt uneasy looking at my younger sister’s legs while she wore short pants.

Muslims are accused of being over-sensitive about the human body but the degree of sexual harassment which occurs these days justifies modest dress. Just as a short skirt can send the signal that the wearer is available to men, so the hijab signals, loud and clear: I am forbidden for you.

The Prophet once asked his daughter Fatima, “What is the best for a woman? And she replied: Not to see men and not to be seen by them. Having married, I left Japan for Saudi Arabia, where it is customary for the women to cover their faces outdoors. I was impatient to try the niqab (face cover), and curious to know how it felt. Of course, non-Muslim women generally wear a black cloak, rather nonchalantly thrown over their shoulders, but do not cover their faces; Non-Saudi Muslim women also often keep their faces uncovered.

My first niqab left my eyes uncovered. But in winter I wore a fine eye-covering as well. It is an error of judgment to think that a Muslim woman covers herself because she is a private possession of her husband. In fact, she preserves her dignity and refuses to be possessed by strangers. Observing the hijab from outside, it is impossible to see what it hides. The gap, between being outside and looking in, and being inside and looking out, explains in part the void in the understanding of Islam. An outsider may see Islam as restricting Muslims. Inside, however, there is peace, freedom, and joy, which those who experience it have never known before.

Practising Muslims, whether those born in Muslim families or those reverted to Islam, choose Islam rather than the illusory freedom of secular life. If it oppresses women, why are so many well-educated young women in Europe, America, Japan, Australia, indeed all over the world, abandoning liberty and independence and embracing Islam?

A person blinded by prejudice may not see it, but a woman in hijab is as brightly beautiful as an angel, full of self-confidence, serenity, and dignity.

Japanese style Qasidah Burdah by Sheikh Abu Hakeem Maeno

Japanese Muslim brings life to Arabic calligraphy

Fuad Koichi Honda, a native of Japan, is known round the world as one of the world’s top contemporary Arabic calligraphers. His works show a level of artistic perfection that has taken him decades to achieve.

He has won many awards for his work, including the International Arabic Calligraphy Contest. His most famous works of calligraphic art use passages from the Koran as their basis.

The experience of living in Middle Eastern deserts also served as an influence to Honda, which has been recognized by major traditional Arabic calligraphers. They praise the way in which he combines the Japanese aesthetic of empty space with strictly traditional letter forms.

Today Honda serves as President of the Japan Arabic Calligraphy Association and teaches at Tokyo’s Arabic Center.

Honda has crossed cultural boundaries with his calligraphy, bringing two different cultures – Japanese and Islamic – together in a way which can be appreciated by both – as well as by the rest of the world.

Envoy: Japan keen on drawing Muslim tourists

KUALA LUMPUR: Japan is keen on attracting Muslim tourists and Malaysia is one of the countries with the largest potential, said Japanese ambassador to Malaysia Shigeru Nakamura.

He said Japan had seen steady growth of visitor arrivals from Malaysia, especially following the implementation in September last year of the multiple entry visa for Malaysians travelling to Japan.

“From January to November last year, Malaysian arrivals in Japan totalled about 113,100, an increase of 16.5% from the corresponding period in the previous year.

“Promotion of tourism between Japan and Malaysia will contribute and enhance people-to-people relations,” he said.

Nakamura said MATTA would host a technical visit to Japan from tomorrow to Feb 3.

He said that in conjunction with the visit, the Japan National Tourism Organisation would sign an MoU with MATTA in Yokohama on Wednesday.

The MoU is to promote cooperation and exchange of ideas on inbound tourism between Malaysia and Japan.

“I hope the MoU will provide additional momentum to the Malaysia and Japan tourism collaboration to further promote the Japanese tourism industry,” added Nakamura. — Bernama