Travel Tips
For Muslim Travelers
Message from Kyoto Muslim Association (KMA)
Assalaam alaikum (Peace be upon you).
Welcome to Kyoto, the Capital of Peace (Heian-kyo).
The Kyoto Muslim Association (KMA) welcomes you from the bottom of our hearts, and wishes you a pleasant stay in this wonderful city with its rich historical and cultural resources.
KMA was established in 1987, and since then we have been actively engaged in promoting the understanding of Islam as a universal religion and world civilization, and in developing friendship between Muslim countries and Japan. We operate the Kyoto Mosque and Islamic Cultural Center, and perform the Juma and Eid prayers in addition to the 5-daily prayers. You are most welcome to visit our Mosque.
KMA has been keen to provide halal food for its members, and to inform Japanese citizens about Islamic teachings and dietary rules based on Sharia. Every year during Ramadan we hold an important event called the Islamic World Festival and Iftar Party, when we invite Kyoto citizens to enjoy the various cuisines of Muslim countries. Around one thousand people, Muslims and non-Muslims, participate in this annual event, and it is regarded as the largest international friendship gathering of its kind in Japan.
Useful information
Free Spaces for Muslims to Perform Prayers
The following agencies (shops / restaurants) kindly offer spaces, free of charge, for Muslim visitors to Kyoto to perform their prayers.
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Finding Halal Food
On the website of Muslim Friendly Kyoto, we wish all Muslim visitors and guests to enjoy their stay in Kyoto in peace and safety. With this in mind, we will provide you with information about hotels and restaurants which offer halal food and other Muslim-welcome services. The Kyoto Muslim Association (KMA) and Kyoto Council for Sharia and Halal Affairs supervise these hotels and restaurants as well as this website to ensure the required Sharia standards are maintained. The restaurants and hotels of all categories have been rigorously checked by the experts of the Council and have been certified according to their conditions.
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Muslim Friendly Accommodations
These hotels and inns provide Muslim guests with a qibla compass, prayer mats, a map for Kyoto Mosque, and other useful items. We are also encouraging more hotels and inns to serve halal food.
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Qibla in Kyoto
Qibla (Direction of the Sacred Kaaba in Makkah) in Kyoto: 69 degrees from true north (geodetic north) anticlockwise. It is WNW.
If you use the Qibla compass below, you should set the north to No. 8, then you will get the correct direction of Qibla (Please make sure that there are no electric instruments which may give magnetic influence near the compass).
This compass is made in Japan with superb craftsmanship, and has been circulated in Muslim countries for four decades. We provide this compass to hotels cited in Muslim Friendly Kyoto. Please ask the concierge if you want to borrow one.
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