Since the country’s Oct. 19 reopening last year, international visitors have returned in droves to savor its popular washoku cuisine, experience unique cultural traditions and revel in the charm of its natural landscapes.

Over 3.8 million visitors arrived in Japan in 2022, and nearly 1.5 million more followed suit last month, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO).

But these figures paled in comparison to prepandemic levels, when the country posted all-time highs in foreign arrivals for seven straight years. In 2019 alone, Japan posted a total of 31.88 million visitor arrivals.

In a bid to further bolster its tourism sector, Japan is now proactively catering to the significant Muslim population in Southeast Asia, especially from Indonesia.

Meinarti Fauzie, a media and sociocultural counselor at the Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo, said international travelers had flooded Japan since restrictions were lifted. Among the arrivals were Muslim tourists from Indonesia.

“There was a significant increase in Indonesian tourists coming to Japan. There is also an increasing number of places of worship in tourist spots and Muslim-friendly food,” she said at a recent reception for visiting journalists.

According to data from JNTO, Indonesians made up the ninth-largest group of foreign arrivals to Japan last year, some 119,800 visitors. In Southeast Asia, however, Indonesia is still sending fewer visitors than Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines.

This is, in part, the result of many Muslims’ concerns over whether they will be able to observe their religious obligations when traveling abroad.

For instance, Meinarti said, Indonesian Muslims usually worried about the availability of places of worship and halal food during their stays in Japan.

Alcohol and pork are some of the basic components of Japanese cuisine and can be found in many stocks and condiments, making it difficult for Muslims trying to keep up with dietary restrictions.

However, some restaurants in Japan have already started to exclude such ingredients from their dishes to cater to Muslims, or even seek out halal certification.

The Indonesian Ulema Council’s Food and Drug Analysis Agency (LPPOM-MUI) has been awarding Indonesian halal certifications in Japan since January 2020, in support of the country’s campaign to attract Muslim tourists.

The appointment was stipulated in an agreement with Japan-Indonesia Economic Halal Consultant Management Co. Ltd. (JPI) in Jakarta and entered into force when Japan hosted the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Interior appeal

Most Indonesians touring Japan tend to choose big cities as their destination, such as the capital Tokyo or the second-largest metropolitan area of Osaka and Kyoto, famous for its numerous classical Buddhist temples, Meinarti says.

But there is much to experience in the lesser-known and remote regions of Japan, which are also looking to benefit from the federal government’s push to attract Muslim tourists as a means to bounce back from pandemic struggles.

One such place is Hakuba in Nagano prefecture, a village in the foothills of the Japanese Alps located in the interior of Japan’s main island of Honshu.

Hakuba is famous for its sports tourism, which includes skiing in the winter and paragliding in the summer. Most of the villagers work in the tourism industry, with at least 700 guest houses operating in and around the mountains.

But Yoshizawa Hirokazu of the Hakuba village tourism commission said the pandemic had hit the village hard, resulting in a significant decline in visitor numbers.

Before the pandemic, Yoshizawa said, business had been buzzing, so much so that tourism operators had to juggle wave after wave of visitors.

However, once COVID-19 swept through the country, tourists all but disappeared, leading to layoffs of at least 60 percent of the workforce in the sector.

“Hakuba tourism hasn’t fully recovered,” he told visiting journalists from the Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths (JENESYS) program.

Not willing to capitulate, a number of the village’s residents have joined the Japanese government’s push to attract more Muslim tourists by making their businesses Muslim-friendly.

Sato Bunsei, 64, is one of the proponents of this new model of business.

As secretary-general of the Hakuba-Goryu tourism association in Nagano, Sato helps ensure the availability of halal, vegan and vegetarian food on the menus of restaurants in the village.

He is also seeking to set up prayer rooms and other worship spaces at tourist spots such as temples and ski resorts.

“We try, but we have yet to build specific accommodations for Muslim tourists,” he told reporters.

“Nevertheless, we try our best so that Muslims can enjoy their time here.” (tjs)