Halal Food in Beppu 2026: The Onsen Town With a Mosque, and Halal Versions of Oita's Own Cooking
Quick Answer: Beppu is one of Japan's most Muslim-friendly hot-spring towns, anchored by two resources on the same street in Wakakusa-cho: Beppu Masjid (Wakakusacho 10-19, rated 4.5 across 110 Google reviews) and Yusha Halal Restaurant (Wakakusacho 9-26), which Google classifies as a halal restaurant, operates as a 100% halal kitchen, and rates 4.7 across more than 1,200 Google reviews. Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University's cafeteria is halal certified and seats 900, though it keeps academic hours. Bungo Ramen Ittoryu holds a municipal certification from the city of Beppu for a pork-free, alcohol-free menu, but its main kitchen runs tonkotsu ramen, so order from the separate halal menu specifically. Contact Beppu Masjid directly for prayer times before visiting.
Most Japanese hot-spring towns are difficult for Muslim visitors. Beppu is not, and the reason is worth understanding before you look at the restaurant list.
Beppu is home to Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, where roughly half the student body comes from outside Japan. That has given a provincial onsen town something almost no comparable town has: a resident Muslim community, a mosque, and restaurants that were built for that community rather than adapted for tourists.
The practical result is a mosque with a fully halal restaurant a minute away, and a university canteen that is halal certified — infrastructure built for residents, not for tourists.
Wakakusa-cho: The Mosque and the Curry House on the Same Street
Beppu Masjid is at Wakakusacho 10-19. It rates 4.5 across 110 Google reviews.
Yusha Halal Restaurant (カレーの王国 ユーシャ) is at Wakakusacho 9-26 — the same street, a minute's walk. It rates 4.7 across more than 1,200 Google reviews, the highest-rated halal venue in this guide, and Google classifies it as a halal restaurant.
The story behind it explains why Beppu works. The owner came to Beppu as a student from Bangladesh and could not find food he could eat. He opened a halal grocery in 2008 to solve that, and in 2012 opened Yusha as a 100% halal restaurant — not a halal menu inside a regular kitchen. It builds its curry from a blend of thirty-five spices and imports its own meat and spices. A second branch opened in Nakatsu in 2023.
If you are planning a day in Beppu around prayer times, this is the corner to plan it around: pray, eat, and you have not moved a hundred metres.
Oita's Own Chicken: Still Out of Reach
Oita is chicken country. Its regional dishes — tori-ten (chicken tempura), chicken nanban, and mizutaki (a chicken hotpot) — are what people come here to eat, and they are normally out of reach.
We previously named a Beppu restaurant here as serving halal versions of all three. We have taken it out. The claim rested on a single write-up from 2020 and nothing since; the restaurant's own current listings describe yakitori and say nothing about halal. Six years with no confirmation is not evidence, and we would rather leave a gap than fill it with something we cannot stand behind.
So the honest position is that we do not currently know of a verified halal tori-ten or chicken nanban in Beppu. If you find one, the questions worth asking are which certifying body, when it was issued, and whether the fryer is shared. If you get good answers, tell us — that is the kind of gap we most want closed.
The chicken you can rely on in Beppu is at the halal restaurants below, cooked as Indian, Pakistani or Turkish food rather than as Oita's own dishes.
Ramen: Read the Menu Carefully
Bungo Ramen Ittoryu (豊後ラーメン一刀竜) at Mochigahamacho 1-15 is certified by the city of Beppu and serves a menu made without pork, chicken or alcohol. It rates 3.9 across 532 reviews.
Two things to be clear about before you go. First, the certification here is a municipal one from Beppu city, not from a national halal certification body — a different kind of assurance, and worth knowing which you are relying on. Second, and more important: the restaurant's main business is rich tonkotsu (pork bone) ramen. The halal offering is a separate menu, not the whole kitchen. Order from it specifically.
This pattern — a halal menu inside a restaurant that is otherwise not halal — is common in Japan and is not a reason to avoid a place. It is a reason to be precise when you order.
The Rest of the Map
Purunima Indian Restaurant at Nishinoguchicho 13-20 rates 4.4 across 626 reviews and is the second most reviewed halal-listed venue in Beppu.
AHUJA Restaurant at Motomachi 4-15 was opened in 2005 by an APU graduate, partly to bring life back to the shopping street it sits on. It serves halal naan, curry and biryani and rates 4.1 across 109 reviews. The founding story is the same one as Yusha's, a few years earlier: a former international student staying on and building what was missing.
APU Cafeteria, on the first floor of Building E at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, is halal certified. It seats 900, and it serves halal food alongside vegetarian options and the Thai curry and tandoori chicken it is known for. Around 500 Muslim students study at APU, which is why a university canteen is on this list at all. It keeps university hours and follows the academic calendar, so check before making the trip up the hill. It rates 4.2 across 160 reviews.
One more thing worth knowing: APU graduates and international students produced a Muslim-friendly map of Beppu themselves. If you are in the city, it is worth asking about — a map made by the people who actually eat here is a different proposition from one made for tourists.
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Prayer in Beppu
Beppu Masjid at Wakakusacho 10-19 is the anchor, rating 4.5 across 110 reviews. Contact them directly for prayer times rather than assuming a schedule — we do not hold confirmed jumu'ah times.
Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University also has prayer space on campus. It is a university rather than a public facility, so treat it as a resource if you are visiting the campus rather than a destination in itself.
Beppu is a small city. The Wakakusa-cho cluster, the station area and the seafront are all within a short bus or taxi ride of each other, which makes fitting prayer around a day of onsen-hopping considerably easier than it would be in a larger, more spread-out hot-spring town.
A Note on the Onsen Themselves
Beppu's reason for existing is the hot springs, and public bathing in Japan is communal and unclothed, which rules the standard experience out for many Muslim visitors.
The workaround is the kashikiri-buro — a private bath booked for your group's exclusive use. Many ryokan and some public bathhouses in Beppu offer them, and a number of rooms come with their own open-air bath. This is a question to ask when you book rather than on arrival, because private baths are limited in number and go first.
We are not going to tell you which specific facilities are suitable, because that depends on your own practice and on arrangements that change. Ask the property directly about kashikiri availability and about whether the bath is fully enclosed.
Frequently Asked Questions About Halal Food in Beppu
Is there a mosque in Beppu? Yes. Beppu Masjid at Wakakusacho 10-19 rates 4.5 across 110 Google reviews. Beppu has a resident Muslim community largely because of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, which also has prayer space on campus. Contact the masjid directly for prayer times.
Where is the best halal restaurant in Beppu? By rating and volume, Yusha Halal Restaurant at Wakakusacho 9-26 — 4.7 across more than 1,200 Google reviews, and a minute's walk from Beppu Masjid. It opened in 2012 as a 100% halal restaurant, founded by a former international student who could not find food he could eat in Beppu.
Can I eat Oita's regional chicken dishes as a Muslim? Yes, with a caveat. Bungo Ramen Ittoryu at Mochigahamacho 1-15 is certified by the city of Beppu and offers a menu without pork, chicken or alcohol. But the restaurant's main business is tonkotsu ramen, so the halal offering is a separate menu rather than the whole kitchen — order from it specifically.
Can Muslim travelers use the onsen in Beppu? Public baths in Japan are communal and unclothed. The usual solution is a kashikiri-buro, a private bath reserved for your group, which many Beppu ryokan offer, and some rooms have their own open-air bath. Ask about availability when you book rather than on arrival — private baths are limited.
Why does Beppu have more halal food than other onsen towns? Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University brings a large international student population to the city, so Beppu has a resident Muslim community rather than only visiting tourists. The restaurants here were built for people who live in Beppu, which is also why the halal food extends to Oita's own regional dishes rather than stopping at curry.
Plan Your Halal Trip to Beppu with Halal Navi
Beppu is the rare Japanese hot-spring town where you can pray at a mosque and walk a hundred metres to a fully halal restaurant. For a Muslim traveler who wants onsen Japan without compromising, it is the most workable option in the country — provided you phone ahead on anything you have only read about online.
Download the Halal Navi app from the App Store or Google Play to check what is open today and find the nearest prayer space from wherever you are standing.
About this article
Author: Aisha Rahman, Halal Navi Editorial Team. Aisha Rahman is a pen name used by the Halal Navi editorial team to maintain consistency across our halal verification reporting. Editorial responsibility is held collectively by our Halal Verification Team.
Reviewer: Halal-reviewed by Zeshan Hayat (Lead Halal Auditor, Halal Navi / Founder, HHAJ). Zeshan holds MPJA Halal Auditor, ISO 9001:2015 Internal Auditor, and ISO 19011 Auditor credentials. See our editorial standards for the full review process.
Update policy: We re-verify every claim in this article quarterly. If you spot outdated information, we will review and correct it within 7 days.
Disclosure: Halal Navi receives no payment from any restaurant or hotel in exchange for inclusion, and all recommendations reflect independent editorial judgment based on Muslim-friendly criteria. Some articles contain affiliate booking links (e.g. Trip.com); if you book through one, Halal Navi may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Last verified: 2026-08-04
