Halal Japan Navigator · Starter SheetFree phone edition · works offline
Halal Japan Navigator

The Free Starter Sheet

TOKYO
The Muslim traveller's quick sheet before a first purchase in Tokyo
The red list · 7 products you can eat · 5 famous traps · 3 phrase cards
Free sample of the Halal Japan Navigator Tokyo Pack
Every verdict last verified 1 November 2026

Every verdict below comes from the manufacturer's own ingredient list, checked 2026-11-01.

The one rule

Almost all ordinary store food in Japan is NOT halal. Only licensed / halal-certified items are halal by default. For everything else, assume NOT halal until a label check or a certification proves otherwise.

Why: 7-Eleven, Lawson and FamilyMart do not call any own-brand product halal-certified and publish no full ingredient lists online. And the allergen line cannot save you: 7-Eleven's allergen list does not include pork at all, and mirin, sake and alcohol are not allergens, so they never appear there.

The red list, one screen

Turn the pack over and scan the ingredient list (原材料名). Any red word → put it back.

Japanese Reading Meaning
豚肉 butaniku pork
ポーク pōku pork (incl. pork extract ポークエキス)
豚脂 tonshi pork fat
ラード rādo lard
豚骨 tonkotsu pork bone (broth)
肉エキス niku ekisu meat extract
ゼラチン zerachin gelatin (pork-derived by default in Japan)
コラーゲン korāgen animal collagen
酒精 shusei added alcohol (the most-missed word on Japanese labels)
アルコール arukōru alcohol
酒 / 清酒 sake / seishu sake
みりん mirin sweet cooking sake (~14% alcohol)
洋酒 yōshu Western liquor (premium chocolates, cakes)

Amber words also stop you, because their origin is not printed: shortening ショートニング, emulsifier 乳化剤, flavouring 香料, margarine マーガリン, processed oil-fat 加工油脂. No red but amber present? UNCONFIRMED, do not eat it on a guess.

7 products you can eat

The manufacturer's full ingredient list was checked; no red-list item found. Note: EAT here means the published list is clean, it does not mean halal-certified.

  1. Jaga Pokkuru, salt flavour (じゃがポックル 塩味), potato, named vegetable oil, salt. Salt flavour only.
  2. Unsweetened soy milk, Kikkoman / Marusan (無調整豆乳), soybeans only. Unsweetened type only.
  3. Ito En Oi Ocha (お〜いお茶), green tea + vitamin C.
  4. Pocari Sweat, sports drink; no animal-derived ingredient in the maker's list.
  5. UCC BLACK unsweetened, coffee only. Black unsweetened only.
  6. Plain yogurt, Meiji Bulgaria (plain) / Morinaga Bifidus (plain), milk only. Plain only; fruit and flavoured yogurts are different and often carry gelatin.
  7. Natto (納豆), the beans only. Do not use the sauce packet, natto sauces can contain mirin/alcohol and no brand's sauce could be cleared.

5 famous traps

  1. Tokyo Banana, Tokyo's most-bought souvenir. Gelatin in the cream, on the printed ingredient list.
  2. Nissin Cup Noodle Seafood, a "seafood" cup whose seasoning contains pork; its allergen line declares pork, chicken and gelatin. Flavour names mean nothing in Japan.
  3. Koikeya Karamucho, hot chilli chips with pork + gelatin in the seasoning, per Koikeya's own page. A major halal guide once listed it as Muslim-friendly and had to reverse itself. The label beats any guide.
  4. Royce' Nama Chocolate "Au Lait", Hokkaido's most-gifted chocolate, with liquor (洋酒) in the recipe, per Royce's own ingredient page.
  5. UHA Kororo gummies, marketed on real fruit juice; every flavour checked lists beef + gelatin on the maker's pages.

The ice-cream rule

Do not eat Japanese ice cream unless you have checked that specific product's full printed label and it is clean against the red list. Gelatin, animal-derived emulsifiers and alcohol-based flavourings are common across the whole category. We tried to verify named ice creams and could source zero to our standard, so this sheet has no "safe brand" for ice cream. Soft serve from a machine has no checkable label at all, treat it as out.

3 phrase cards that save you

Show the Japanese line on your phone and let staff answer yes or no.

Card 1
Is this halal?
これはハラールですか。
Kore wa harāru desu ka?
هل هذا حلال؟
Card 2
Does it contain pork?
豚肉は入っていますか。
Butaniku wa haitte imasu ka?
هل يحتوي على لحم خنزير؟
Card 3
Does it contain gelatin?
ゼラチンは入っていますか。
Zerachin wa haitte imasu ka?
هل يحتوي على جيلاتين؟

This sheet is a small sample

The full Halal Japan Navigator, Tokyo Pack holds: 31 verified restaurants in three honest tiers, 20 prayer spaces, verdicts on 29 products from manufacturers' labels, 17 hotels, 4 prayer-routed day plans, 15 phrase cards, and a traps list of places that closed while other guides still send you there.

Get it here
https://payhip.com/b/4A3qT