Interview with Muslim-friendly Japanese Restaurant WAKABA in Sano City, Tochigi

Japanese curries, tempura, sashimi, soba, sushi, and chicken teriyaki are available

Written by Hafizah Khusni san

As Sano city is making its effort towards being a Muslim friendly city, few restaurants in Sano have started to serve Muslim friendly menus. This time we were had an interview with the owner of the ‘Muslim Friendly Japanese Restaurant Wakaba’, Mr. Wakabayashi Tatsuya.

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Interview with Mr. Wakabayashi Tatsuya, Wakaba’s owner

Hafizah: Please describe Muslim Friendly Japanese Restaurant Wakaba shortly.
Mr. Wakabayashi: Our restaurant location is just a 3-minute walk from Kuzuu Station while 20 minutes by train from Sano Station (Tobu Sano Line). We mainly serve authentic Japanese food.

Hafizah: Why you decided to start serving Muslim friendly menu?
Mr. Wakabayashi: I knew about Halal a long time ago but didn’t think anything about it. But then one day, I was asked by Mr. Dainari Goka, the owner of Nikkoken to start serving Muslim friendly menu in my restaurant. Since that, I want to help Muslims in Japan to have outside meal without worries.

Hafizah: When did you start to serve Halal menu in your restaurants?
Mr. Wakabayashi: Our restarurant start serving Halal menu on November 2015.

Hafizah: What kind of Muslim customers are coming to your restaurant?
Mr. Wakabayashi: Most of our Muslim customers are from Malaysia and Indonesia, whether they are living in Japan or come to Japan for sightseeing. We also have non-Muslim customers from overseas such as Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia, Pakistan and America.

Hafizah: What is the Halal menu available at your restaurants?
Mr. Wakabayashi: We serves variety of Japanese curries, tempura, sashimi, soba, sushi, chicken teriyaki and a lot more of Japanese cuisines with reasonable price. We also have limited seasonal menu, for example we have Unagi menu during summer and oyster menu from autumn to winter season. Besides serving halal menu for our Muslim customers, we also offering ‘Making Sushi Experience’ especially for Muslim tourists.

Hafizah: What is the most ordered menu by Muslim customers?
Mr. Wakabayashi: Most of our Muslim customers ordered 4,000 yen course Kaiseki Ryouri when having meal at our restaurant. (Kaiseki ryouri is sophisticated traditional Japanese cuisine brought in courses)

Wakaba

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