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- Speaker: Ayang Utriza Yakin (Guest Lecturer, Université Catholique de Louvain; Vice Chairman, Advisory Board, Belgium branch of Nahdlatul Ulama)
- Moderator: Takaaki Mizuno (Professor, Kanda University of International Studies)
- Language: English with Japanese subtitles
- Release Date: February 29, 2024
- Organizer: International House of Japan
- Sponsor: MRA Foundation
New Video
Conflicts caused by religious and ethnic differences, such as the wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, are often protracted, highlighting the importance of tolerance and mutual understanding of differences. To deepen our understanding of one of the biggest religions in the world, Islam, and to recognize and celebrate differences, this session welcomes Ayang Utriza Yakin, a member of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), one of the two major Islamic organizations in Indonesia, to talk about contemporary Islam as seen through halal food.
Following the COVID pandemic, the number of inbound visitors to Japan exceeded 20 million in 2023. The country is expected to attract not only more foreign tourists but also immigrants in the future. In this context, the promotion of multicultural and multireligious understanding is an important issue, including an understanding of food, which is closely linked to identity. A better grasp of halal is critical not only from the perspective of promoting peace but also from a business perspective, with global Muslim spending on food and beverages expected to exceed $1.89 trillion in 2027.
In this session, Yakin discusses how halal has evolved over time and how it differs according to whether Muslims are in the majority, as in Indonesia, or in the minority, as in Japan. His presentation promotes a deeper understanding of contemporary Islam.
Ayang Utriza Yakin (Guest Lecturer, Université Catholique de Louvain/ Belgium branch of Nahdlatul Ulama)
is a guest lecturer and research associate at the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Belgium, and Sciences-Po Bordeaux, France. He obtained his Master (2005) and Doctorate (2013) from Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris. Dr. Yakin was a visiting fellow and postdoctoral researcher in Oxford (2012), Harvard (2013), Tokyo (2016), and UCLouvain (2016–2019) and visiting professor in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Ghent University (2019–2021). He (co)-authored numerous articles and books such as Rethinking Halal: Genealogy, Current Trends, and New Interpretation (Brill, 2021), Islamic Divorce in the Twentieth-First Century: A Global Perspective (Rutgers University Press, 2022), Shame, Modesty, and Honor in Islam (Bloomsbury, 2024). He is also the vice chairman of the advisory board of the Belgium branch of Nahdlatul Ulama, currently the biggest Islamic organization in the world. Yakin was the Fellow of ALFP, which was a program coorganized by I-House and the Japan Foundation.
Takaaki Mizuno (Professor, Kanda University of International Studies) joined the Asahi Shimbun, and was based as its correspondent in Hanoi, Washington D.C. and in its New York bureau chief. As a member of its editorial board, he covered international news. He was also a visiting scholar at the East-West Center in Honolulu, and at the Chinese Institute of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing. He graduated from the University of Tokyo, M.A. from the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Relations of the Johns Hopkins University.