A Heart Touching Essay of a Japanese Junior High School Student About Muslims
Nikko-ken in Sano city, Tochigi Prefecture, is one of frontier of muslim friendly restaurant serving ramen, who is frequently receiving award and recognition of its efforts and activities in muslim friendly service.
The owner of Nikko-ken, Mr. Goka, want to help Muslims to escape from difficulties in finding eating in Japan, by providing halal yet delicious foods, from the popular halal Sano ramen until halal gyoza.
This sincere effort of Mr. Goka not only affect him, but also his son who is now a Junior High School student, who wrote heart-touching essay below that describe his pure opinion. A must-read essay on how Japanese child think and feel on meeting Muslims.
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Hello everyone.
Did you know “halal”?
Recently we often hear this word from television or newspaper.
Why I’m talking about Muslims?
Because, my house is a ramen shop and we have a lot of Muslim customers.
Muslims have food they can and cannot eat due to religion teach.
That’s why, Muslim tourists as well as Muslim residents are facing difficulties in eating in Japan.
So, my father started to make ramen that Muslims can eat.
And now, Muslims across the world come to eat our ramen.
Why I’m talking about Muslims?
Because they got bad image of terrorist on news.
But all Muslim customers coming to our shop are kind and friendly.
I was scared at first, as I was unfamiliar with them, but when I greet and talked to them, all of them are very friendly.
My father has many friends that is working together to let more people know about Muslims.
What I learned from them is, there are many Muslims that is having trouble in eating in Japan and I want them to get released from it.
I think it’s about having many people know Halal.
I think we can help as we can without straining oneself or listen to their story, rather than pretending to not know because thinking that it has nothing to do with ourselves.
When we do so, we’ll know about a person by ourselves.
Moreover, as I’m doing cricket, there are Muslims athletes in the opposing team and seniors.
All of them is also kind and friendly.
They love to explain me kindly anything I don’t know.
So, I think, it’s not good to prejudice or discriminate and let them have terrible thought just because they are Muslims.
One day my father went to an elementary school to teach ramen. There is a Muslim student in the class that looked bored, as Muslims can’t eat common ramen. Then my father said “today is halal ramen”, and it put a smile on muslim student’s face.
That student always have different meal at school, but that day, the student can eat same meal together with classmates, and again, it put a smile on muslim student’s face.
I heard the story from my father and I was very happy hearing it.
Although everyone in the class do not mind, but I think, even one person pay attention to muslim student, it will turn muslim student into smile.
Even that small thing can erase discrimination to Muslim people.
My father often says “don’t judge people by television or internet news”.
Recently, I got the meaning of the words.
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Judge by see and confirm by own eyes.
Increasing of such people will lead Japan to be more Muslim friendly in the future.
