Hi, I am Fai from Indonesia 😊. I am currently a second year in G30 Automotive Engineering and I am a Moslem.

If you’re a Moslem like me, then finding halal food would be one of our important considerations when we decide where we will continue our life. With the increase in Muslim tourism in Japan nowadays, providing halal food is getting more and more attention from food producers, especially in places with many tourists.

This article is all about finding Halal Food in Nagoya University and Nagoya City.

SCHOOL’S CAFETERIA

Example of menu including halal food being offered at one of the school’s cafeteria

Being one of the universities that admits many international students, Nagoya University tries to cater to the styles of life, including providing Halal menu in the School’s Cafeterias. Focusing mainly on the Higashiyama Campus, a few cafeterias in both the north and south side of the campus provide halal recommended food as shown in the picture. We can just go to one of these cafeterias when we are too busy to cook for ourselves.

COOKING / SHOPS

Save more money by regularly cooking for ourselves. Cooking is also an alternative if we’re bored with the menu provided by the school’s cafeterias. Therefore, it is important to know about where to shop and learn some important kanji for Moslems.

Eggs, vegetable and fruits can be bought from normal supermarket, as well as few other ingredients. But for those who only eat halal-slaughtered chicken and beef, we got your back covered. There is a halal shop just behind the campus! We can reach it in a few minutes-walk from the campus’ south gate. It provides whole and boneless meat, along with sausages with other ingredient products, such as seasonings and snacks. Another supermarket you might also want to note is Gyoumu supaa, as it usually has a halal-corner, providing sliced meat, seasonings and snacks.

One of the convenience stores inside the campus also provides a halal-corner, and you can always go to Halal restaurants around Nagoya, such as Mega Kebab. Just last year, Mega Kebab opened its branch just 1 minute walk from Nagoya University Higashiyama Campus, so it is easy for students to drop by anytime.

Another option to shop for halal food is ordering them online. There are some producers and distributors that have a delivery service for frozen and other products.

LEARNING THE KANJI

I know kanji can sometimes be overwhelming, but in Japan, mastering a small amount of important kanji can help you have a happy full-of-halal-snack life without asking others every time.

Chubu Transportation Department provides a Moslem Support Card when we want to order at a restaurant, which also can be found near the praying room at Chubu International Airport. We can really benefit from it at least for the first few months after our arrival to Japan by showing the card in restaurants or supermarkets.

You can also find the full version of the booklet in this link:

But when we want to shop for snacks, you might want to try to memorize some useful kanjis as provided in the following links.

It might sound like a lot of work, because we might need to look at every ingredient on every product we want to buy. But it’s only for the first few times when we shop. Once we know which brands we can buy, it gets easier. Another thing that can also be useful is following some Facebook pages that reviews snacks by checking the ingredients or even contact the producers, like Halal Japan.

I hope this article can be a useful source of information for you to help on your decision of coming to Nagoya or just on your life in Japan in general. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Farah Fairuz Zahirah

zahirah.farah.fairuz@d.mbox.nagoya-u.ac.jp