Some people say this halal slaughterhouse in Miyazaki is justified because it’s export support for Japanese Wagyu farmers.
I get that argument. Helping farmers sell more beef overseas sounds reasonable on the surface. But here’s the thing — this isn’t a normal export facility.
It was built specifically to meet Islamic halal standards. No pig farms within 5km, animals slaughtered facing Mecca, and all the other religious requirements.
And the Japanese government put in 1.25 billion yen of taxpayer money to make it happen.
So the question is: Is this really just “supporting Japanese farmers,” or is it using public money to adapt Japanese industry to someone else’s religious rules so we can sell them meat?
If it was just building a regular processing plant to increase exports, that would be one thing.
But once you start changing the way you operate to follow Islamic law and asking taxpayers to pay for it, it stops being simple “export support” in my opinion.
What do you think? Is this acceptable as long as it helps farmers make money?