Halal Food Diplomacy in Japan and South Korea

This research discusses the comparison of food diplomacy halal strategy conducted by Japan and South Korea. Japan and South Korea were selected in this study as both countries in the last five years showed increased activity in promoting their halal products. This research focuses on answering the question of how to compare the halal strategy food diplomacy Japan and South Korea? This research is a qualitative study with data gathered through interviews and observations of documents and sources of Internet both primary and secondary data. Data in analysis with content analysis techniques. To discuss the results of the study, researchers used two concepts of public diplomacy and gastro diplomacy or food diplomacy.


Introduction
Japan and South Korea have some similarities and differences. Japan and South Korea are categorized as monoculture countries, or countries with a single ethnic majority. In Japan, Japanese ethnic became a majority although there are also indigenous peoples and immigrants from overseas. Meanwhile, South Korea is mostly inhabited by Koreans ethnic and some ethnic groups from China. In connection with this monoculture situation, most Japanese people are Shinto and Buddhist, while South Korean society adheres to Buddhism and Christians. However, people in both countries follows Confucianism philosophy. Moreover, there are also some other religions adopted by the people in both countries such as Islam and Catholicism.
Although it is not a Muslim-majority country, but Japan and South Korea have relations and cooperation with Islamic countries and countries with a majority of Muslims such as Indonesia, Malaysia, or United Arab Emirates. This relationship and cooperation is primarily related to economic and trade relations.
On the other hand, the industry and technology advances in both countries, in addition popular cultures coming from these countries, inviting many foreign tourists to come to both countries, including also from Islamic countries and Also Muslims. Seeing these developments, the two countries strive to improve relations and cooperation, including the influence of rising tourists from the Islamic State and Muslims with the production of halal food. The production of halal food is not only aimed at international trade in the meaning of exports, but also as a service for tourists who come so they want to get the predicate as a country that is Muslim friendly.
The two countries compete to increase the number of Muslim tourists visiting their country. The Japanese government targets the arrival of 60 million tourists in 2030 with Muslim tourists are expected to increase by 1 million per year or an increase of about 8.7% per year (Kunio, 2002). The Government provides support to Japanese Muslim Association (JMA) for halal certification to Japanese products and the certification has been recognized by some halal certification bodies such as JAKIM in Malaysia. and MUI in Indonesia. In addition to the JMA, the institution that provides halal food certification in Japan is Japan Islamic Trust (JIT), an Islamic organization in Japan. In the meantime, specifically to handle halal certification in general, Japan has established the Japan Halal Association (JHA) which is tasked to provide halal certification to Japanese producers both for domestic and foreign markets. JHA also participated in several international exhibitions such as Malaysia 6th World Halal Forum in 2011and 2012, Paris Halal Expo in 2012and 2013  Japan and South Korea are not Muslim-majority countries but have intertwined strategies to become a Muslim friendly country and compete in Muslim country markets that reach 1.7 billion people. One of the steps used is to popularize the halal food industry. Halal labels listed in food products in Japan and South Korea are not only viewed as a trading product or in economic context only, but also as a tool in diplomacy. This research will discuss about the development of halal food industry in Japan and South Korea from the side of diplomacy. Diplomacy conducted by a country involving and or leading to society can be classified as public diplomacy. In addition, because discussing about food products, the research will also explain the development of halal food in Japan and South Korea in the context of gastro diplomacy which focuses on diplomacy by using food.

Literature Review
Islam began to flourish in Japan along with the era of post-disclosure of the Meiji restoration. Previously, during the reign of Tokugawa Shogunat, Japan was enclosed from foreign countries so it was difficult to obtain information and influence from other countries (Suryohdiprojo, 1987). Entering the Meiji era, Japan opened itself and established relationships with the outside world, including with Islamic countries such as Turkey (Olgun 1997). Turkish and Japanese relations have begun in the early 19th century. The relationship between the two countries allows Japanese people to become acquainted with Islam. However, Japanese society had previously known Islam as a knowledge of Western literature that was translated in Japanese during the Meiji period (Ishomuddin, 2016).
The inclusion of Islam to Japan was also influenced by external factors, the Bolshevik revolution in Russia which resulted in many refugees from Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan entering Japan (Fathil, 2011), War Japan-Russia where Japan received assistance from several Egyptian soldiers, World War I which resulted in the inclusion of refugees from South Asia, World War II where Japan was concerned to study Islam in order to expand their Asian Southeast. A Muslim community from South Asia, many settled in Kobe and established the oldest mosque in Japan in 1935.
After World War, Japanese Muslims are growing. In 1953 the Japanese Muslim Association was established in Japan and in the year 1966 Japan Islamic Center which consists of non-Japanese Muslim. Both institutions have the same purpose as a Muslim container in Japan and spread the message of Islam to Japanese society. At the same time, Japan established a close relationship with the Islamic countries of the Middle East, especially when the oil crisis occurred in the 1970s. This relationship also provides support to the development of Islam in Japan (Dowty, 2000). The next development was when Japan opened for foreign workers in the 1980s where many foreign workers came from Islamic and Muslim countries such as Bangladesh, Iran, Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as students from those countries ( Fathil, 2011). Currently, the Japanese Government is increasingly aware of the importance of Muslims in the country and abroad so that they issue a policy to support the Muslim community. Some of these policies include worship facilities in public places such as Narita Airport in Tokyo and Kansai in Osaka (Yokoyama, 2013), providing visa-free to citizens of Muslim countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Turkey and Saudi Arabia (MOFA, 2017), gave the development permit of Halal restaurant which currently reaches about 896 restaurants, as well as doing halal certification (Halal Gournment Japan, 2019).
As in Japan, Muslims in South Korea are dominated by foreigners. Muslims in South Korea currently reach about 100.000 people and are dominated by foreigners from Pakistan and Bangladesh (Bae, 2007). Among them, the number of Koreans who embraced Islam alone was only about 35.000 people. Again, Turkey also played an important role in spreading Islam in East Asia. The Turkish army was involved as an army of guard reconciliation under the United Nations during the Korean War and the existence of the people also spread Islam in South Korea (Fathil, 2011). In its development, South Korea re-opened itself to Muslims precisely when hallyu or wave of Korean pop culture increasingly popular. The popularity of Korean pop culture invites people from Muslim countries and Muslims to come to South Korea. Meanwhile, from the historical side, the first entry of Islam to Korea was during the time of Koryo kingdom where 100 Arab merchants came to Korea, followed by the arrival of the people from central Asia which they eventually formed the Muslim community (Nam, 2012).
The development of Muslim communities in South Korea is similar to that in Japan. Their development began to appear during the post-World War II. The Muslim community in South Korea established the first mosque in South Korea in Itaewon area in 1976 with the support of the South Korean government. The support of the Government is not without cause, but is associated with the increasingly rapid trade cooperation between South Korea and the Middle East countries (NAM, 2012). Muslims in South Korea also founded the Korean Muslim Federation as an organization that hosted them. South Korea also sees Muslims as a chance both domestically through tourism and abroad as a South Korean product market. The South Korean Government therefore encourages relations with Muslim countries and provides support to the halal food industry.
Japan and South Korea are racing to get the attention of the world's Muslim communities. The Japanese government played an active role in increasing foreign tourists ' visits, including Muslim tourists to Japan by providing some special policies (Handerson, 2017;Resjito, 2017). Halal food strategy is one of the chosen besides providing facilities Muslim tourists and once again the Government provides full support to the tourism business actors where the support is known by the halal boom (Adidaya, 2016). Nevertheless there is a problem where the Japanese people themselves are still lacking knowledge of Islam (YUSOF and Shutto, 2014).
The effort to make Japan as a Muslim-friendly country is carried out by various parties both State and non-state (Septianingrum, 2018). Meanwhile, South Korea utilizes the popularity of their pop culture industry or Hallyu as a tool to improve their economy (Darmawan, 2015). Not only pop culture, but also to their food industry that became popular and become a South Korean power or soft power (Alexandra, 2014) including then penetrated to halal food (Paraswati, 2017). The South Korean government also plays an important role in the internationalization of halal products by working with South Korean Muslims, including as an export product (Riyanti, 2017). While domestically, Muslim concern encourages the emergence of halal tourism policy in South Korea (Kusumaningrum et all, 2017;Megarani, 2016).
Based on some of the above studies, between Japan and South Korea had similarities in their contact with Islam. First, historically, Japan and South Korea have known Islam for a long time, but the biggest developments precisely when the post-World War II. The development of Islam in the next two countries is heavily influenced by immigrants from Islamic countries and Muslim countries as both workers and students. Secondly, the two countries also have a perception and a similar purpose is to see Muslims as a opportunity in the country through tourism and abroad through the marketing of halal products. Both countries also have similar objectives to be Muslim-friendly countries. These equations, in the eye of the researchers impacted the competition of the two countries in gaining attention from the world Muslim community so that the research focuses on the competition of both countries in fighting for the world Muslim market through Halal food strategy in their diplomacy. Thirdly, the government's role appears to be dominant and important in this Japanese and South Korean venture. Therefore, the use of the concept of diplomacy was chosen in this study to demonstrate how the Japanese and South Korean governments used this halal food industry as part of their diplomacy.
Diplomacy is a way for a country to communicate with other countries. In the world of diplomacy, it is known to be a two-lane diplomacy, which is the first route diplomacy focused on diplomacy conducted by state or government actors, and the second-line diplomacy, which is diplomacy conducted by non-governmental actors. Although it is done by non-government actors but the purpose of the activities they do is in the context of the country, or it can also be said that there is a role of state or Government in it either directly or indirectly.
Public diplomacy is a diplomacy undertaken by the Government, but not directly to the Government of other countries, but to the public of other countries. In this context, public diplomacy can be done by the Government such as by conducting exhibitions, scholarships or exchange activities supported by the Government, or by utilizing the public itself, the government, sometimes Use the activities undertaken by the public for diplomacy activities by providing support or facilities. In this context, the public can play a role as an object or a target of diplomacy, as well as the subject or perpetrator of the diplomacy itself (Effendi, 2011).
The main objective of public diplomacy is the creation of understandings and understandings aimed at creating a good image of the country in question. In this context, public diplomacy relates to the country's image or nation branding (Scondi, 2008). The relationship between public diplomacy and nation branding appears in five models i.e. public diplomacy is part of nation branding, Nation branding is part of public diplomacy, public diplomacy and nation branding sharing a particular activity, public diplomacy is completely different from nation branding and the last public diplomacy is the nation branding itself. In the implementation of public diplomacy, Mark Leonard (2002) noted there were four main stages. The first is to create known information about the country or in other words make the country known first. Secondly, it is increasing appreciation about the country in question and when it is doing activities to strengthen relationships such as cooperation, exchanges, scholarships, tourism and others. The last is to influence the investment, and strive to obtain the support of the State Government that is the goal of public diplomacy.
This research uses the concept of public diplomacy due to three main reasons. Firstly, although it analyzes the industrial activities of the halal food industry in Japan and South Korea, the research focuses on how the governments of the two countries use this phenomenon as their diplomatic tool with Use public that is the Muslim community of their country and industry engaged in halal food products, to build a positive image as a Muslimfriendly country. Secondly, in relation to the relationship between public diplomacy and nation branding the position of this research is on the model whereby public diplomacy shares one activity with the nation branding in this research is the halal food industry. Thirdly, the public diplomacy approach is judged to be appropriate for use as it includes two actors at once namely governments and communities. In the halal food industry in Japan and South Korea involving governments and communities.
Nevertheless, because the phenomenon discussed in this study is the use of food as a tool in diplomacy, it needs to be added one more concept related. Another concept used is gastro diplomacy. In general, gastro diplomacy is defined as diplomacy activities using food as its main tool (Wilson, 2015). Some countries have realized that their traditional food, or their typical food has one power to be used as a diplomatic tool.

Method
This research is a qualitative research. The study examined social phenomena by structuring a holistic description of words, conveying information and written in scientific writings (Silalahi, 2009). Qualitative research is an inductive process in which information is then categorized to explain the phenomenon examined based on patterns in theory. In general, qualitative research is a study where the process of collecting and analyzing is done to nonnumeric data and is used to gain a better understanding of what is happening in the world around us, Including an understanding of the ongoing process in international politics (Lamont, 2016).
Based on the above definition, this research is qualitative research because the data used is non-numeric and not conducted statistically. However, based on the research characteristics of international relations which are divided into empirical and interpretive, this study belongs to empirical research because it is used to describe a phenomenon, and not to Explaining the meaning in the phenomenon. The research aims to explain, or rather, compare halal food diplomacy conducted by Japan and South Korea.

Halal Industry In Japan
In building images as a Muslim-friendly country, Japan's country relations with other Muslim countries cannot be ignored. The cooperation between Japan and the countries has led to the implementation of Muslim-friendly policies This agency provides halal certification on Japanese products that will be exported to Muslim countries such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East. In addition, these agencies are also actively participating in promotional activities in the products, exhibitions, international conferences in various countries such as Malaysia World Halal Forum, Paris Halal Expo, Turkey Halal Approval Forum, Japan Halal Expo, and others.
In introducing Muslim friendly branding, the Japanese government through the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) actively promoted Muslim-friendly images in conjunction with the Tokyo Olympic 2020 promotion. With its branch offices around the world, JNTO and JETRO provide information and socialization of halal tourism and also promote trade and investment to maximize the potential export of halal products ' made in Japan '. JETRO also combines the Cool Japan Initiative with Muslim friendly promotions in several events held such as Halal Food Project in Indonesia, Halal Market Fair, and Japan Halal Expo (JETRO, 2017).
The innovative policy continues to be encouraged by the Japanese government both inside and outside the country. Visa-free policy in some countries with Muslim majority increasingly simplifies the arrival of Muslim tourists. In recent years, Islamic images are smudged by the issue of terrorism, Japanese people themselves have a certain skeptic attitude with this issue. However, the Government continues to promote themselves as a Muslim-friendly country for example the integration of halal tourism in several cities in Japan, ranging from the provision of Mushala, Muslim-friendly hotels, halal-certified restaurants are not uncommon Found in Japan. Initiatives are also demonstrated from local governments, such as Kyoto City which has its own tourism promotion office in Dubai.
In the official website of Kyoto City Tourism Association, we can find a guide to halal hotels and restaurants in Kyoto.
JETRO predicts the growth of halal products around 2.53 trillion USD in 2019. Japan was also expected to reach its target exports up to 28 billion USD in 2030 (Maierbrugger, 2015). In order to increase the number of halal product exports, Japanese food retail companies are facilitated by the Japanese government by opening the expansion to countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. For example, in 2014 Japan opened a partnership with Capital National BHD Malaysia, which provides capital assistance for Japanese and Malaysian SMEs in the field of food and agriculture. Japanese food companies also differentiate the products of choice that will be exported to Muslim countries, for example chocolate biscuit Kabaya Food and UCC Ueshima Coffee which get halal certificate from the Emirates Halal Center so that the product can be sold in the UAE. Nippon Beer LTD also releases halal beers which are already sold in the UAE, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, Bangladesh and Singapore under the brand Ninja Lager which has got halal certificate.
In the aspects of halal tourism, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT) provides services that can attract Muslim tourists such as easy access to worship, Muslim-friendly hotels, restaurants serving halal food, and Halal tour packages. One of the halal hotels can be found in Kyoto. Hotel Granvia Kyoto provides accommodations and services that help Muslim travelers to enjoy their journey in Kyoto starting from Mushala, café and restaurant that has registered halal certificate from Malaysia Halal Coorporation (MHC). Applications and websites that provide halal food related information can also be found easily.

Halal Industry in Korea
The popularity of Korean Wave has become one of the major factors of growing number of Muslim tourists visiting South Korea. South Korea became a dreamland for K-Drama lovers and K-Pop fans from around the world. In 2016 KTO recorded a tourist increase of 30.3% from the previous year. The biggest increase of tourists is from countries in Southeast Asia and China. Tourists who donate the highest number come from Muslim countries (KTO, 2017). The rise of Muslim tourists is in line with Korean government targets to attract 1.2 million Muslim tourists to South Korea. The number of tourists of Muslim tourists recorded is increased five times greater during the period of 2012 to 2017.
The Halal Food policy by the South Korean government was released by the Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs in June 2015 focusing on three main points namely Halal industry development policy, second export increase, and last Distribution network. In developing the halal industry sector, infrastructure development is done through the provision of information center services about halal products, construction of animal slaughtering and production facilities. The improvement of halal products to be exported must also be through the halal certification screening process in accordance with the certification standards. To expand the network, the Government established cooperation with the Islamic State and the country with a majority of Muslim population.
The initial implementation by the Korean government in 2015 was to cooperate with the United Arab Emirates with the Korea-United Arab Emirates Business Forum in Abu Dhabi. The main reason for the UAE's selection as a strategic partner is the cooperation of the economic field, especially the export/import of food that has long been established between the two. The cooperation opportunity also continues to be done by South Korea in the field of halal industry with countries that the majority of the population are Muslims, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. This is done as an effort to expand the network of Korean products in these countries. Because of Korean pop culture influences are quite thick in southeast Asia.
The main thing to expand the halal food sector is to have Halal certification issued from a trusted agency. Halal certification is a guarantee to Muslim consumers. The certification process should include all processes ranging from animal slaughtering production, packaging, storage, distribution, and storage (Park, 2017). In halal certification, South Korea is in cooperation with third party, namely state exporting certification agency. Actually, in South Korea itself, there are two authority in charge of giving halal label, namely KMF and KHA (Korean Halal Association).
The Korean Muslim Federation, established in 1967, has been directed by JAKIM Malaysia and MUI Indonesia. The halal certification by KMF has been established since 2010, recorded 148 Korean companies that have been labeled Halal (Rulistia, 2017). Meanwhile, some companies also get halal certification from foreign organizations. The Korean Halal Association which was formed in 2014, not only issued Halal certification but also conduct promotional activities in the form of festivals, exhibitions and international conferences to establish relationships with international Halal organizations such as The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OKI), the Association for the Regional Cooperation of South Asia (SAARC), and United World Halal Development (UNWHD).
Korea Food Research Institute established an agency that has the responsibility of analyzing the standard of halal food in Muslim countries and making guidelines for the producers of Korean halal food. These guidelines are expected to be used by Korean food companies in fulfilling the halal certification standards so as to meet the needs of Muslim consumers in the destination countries.
Large Korean food export companies have generally obtained halal certification. Pulmuone Company For example, has obtained halal certification for its products with halal certification from JAKIM since August 2013. CheilJedang (CJ) also obtained the same halal certification from JAKIM. Nongshim, a company known for its Ramyun (instant noodle) has also exported its products to the Middle East (Park & Lee, 2017). Meanwhile, Daesang company became the first company to set up halal food factory in Indonesia in 1973 with halal certification from MUI (Tempo, 2017).
The distribution of Halal Food Network has been growing since the beginning of the 2000-an. Post-11 September 2001 against immigrants originating from Pakistan and Bangladesh have impacted the rise of Indonesian immigrants who tend to be less religious (Song, 2011). The decline of halal wholesale products from Pakistan and other countries impact on the start of the halal food market by Korean company itself. This is done for the efficiency of products that can be exported to various countries (Song, 2011). Imported Halal food products are the main consumption of Muslim immigrants living in Korea. Coupled with the development of standardization of halal food in the world, the existence of halal retail products from global companies such as Nestle in Korea also encouraged the real Korean food retail company to do the same thing. Year 2015 is the beginning of halal food exports from Korea. Recorded from 2010 to 2014, there was a halal export increase of 69.3% (Park, 2017). Muslim immigrants in South Korea who open the opportunity to grow production and processing Halal food. Initially, these immigrants produced their own food for example by slaughtering their own animals, which brought out some of the slaughterhouses in some cities. To get Halal products, online applications like Yes! Halal! Increasingly facilitate foreign immigrants and students. Although the government business and Korean companies are fairly large enough in the distribution of halal food, the role of immigrants cannot be considered trivial. In Itaewon, several halal food restaurants are also open, the owners are immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, or Turkey. This restaurant has to meet the KMF certification test in the form of paper screening and field inspection. This certificate must be renewed periodically.
The Korea Tourism Organization released its first halal restaurant handbook and Tourism map in 2015. This book contains information on halal restaurants in Korea. In it, KTO divides the restaurant into several categories. This information is quite helpful to Muslim tourists because it is available in Arabic and English and is available on the official page of Visit Korea website.
KTO also periodically holds a series of events such as Halal Restaurant Week Korea and a halal product degree exhibition in collaboration with Korean Food Federation. K-Food Fair is also held in various countries to introduce Korean food products facilitated by Ministry of Agriculture, MAFRA, and Korean Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Cooperation). To facilitate the access to information on halal restaurants and products, KTO and Korean Food Federation also develop the application ' Halal Korea ' supported with complementary features such as location of the mosque, prayer times schedule, and Compass qibla direction.
In cooperation with Indonesia, Malaysia, and the UAE, the Korean government also promoted through short films starring actors Korean and Indonesian, titled Lunch Box which was used as a promotional media of K-Food Fair 2015 in Indonesia.

Conclusion
Japan and South Korea, although not Muslim countries and have a minority Muslim population trying to build imagery as a Muslim-friendly country to bring economic and political benefits. For both countries, Muslim travelers who come is one of the potential things. In addition, to meet the needs of the market, with fewer domestic markets, open the distribution network of halal food to the global market where the world Muslim population market is growing every year.
It can be concluded that the two countries, focusing on the development of the Muslim friendly image in several ways, namely the first efforts of the Government that is innovation and integrase between the tourism sector and the trade and investment sectors. It can be seen from the active participation and collaboration of KTO and JNTO, with MAFRA and JENTRO. Second, Muslim community organizations in both countries are actively promoting and encouraging the creation of halal certification bodies such as KMF in Korea and JMA Japan. Cooperation and mentoring with certification bodies in other Muslim countries such as JAKIM Malaysia and MUI Indonesia also help Japan and Korea to prepare halal standards for their products. Thirdly, the promotion is not only conducted by the central government but also local governments and communities in general. This promotion can be seen from the number of exhibitions and exhibits Halal products and applications and websites that facilitate information about restaurants, places of worship, and Muslim-friendly accommodation.