NEWS

On June 17, 2015, a kickoff event was held for the establishment of the Research Center for Muslim Affairs (RCMA) with over one hundred and twenty participants from around forty companies, organizations and municipalities.

The event opened with a spectacular performance of traditional "Saman dance" by students from Indonesia. To continue, congratulatory speeches were presented by Beppu City Mayor Yasuhiro Nagano and Takanori Achiwa, the General Manager of Corporate Banking Supporting Division at Oita Bank.

For the keynote address, President and CEO Takatsuki Ryosuke of Inspire Corporation presented a lecture titled, "Hospitality towards Muslim People-opportunities for the future" which discussed the current state of support for Muslims in Japan and the future growth potential of the inbound market.

Additionally, undergraduate student Arshad Azad (Sri Lanka) introduced the Muslim Friendly Project which is run by students in Beppu. Factory Manager Tomeo Sakai of Fundokin Shoyu Co.,Ltd. also presented a lecture on " History of Fundokin Shoyu Co.,Ltd. and Development of Halal Soy Sauce" which described their future halal soy sauce efforts based on actual examples of making soy sauce.

In conjunction with this kickoff event, faculty members introduced five research projects. Going forward, research projects will soon begin on the topics of "Industry-government/Industry-academia-government collaboration", "Serching for a Multi-Culture Society", and "International finance (Islamic finance)".

Following the conclusion of the event, a meeting was held to exchange information between the participating companies, organizations and APU faculty members.

We hope that you look forward to the future initiatives from the RCMA.