Surviving as a Vegetarian in Japan

This page is aimed at vegetarians planning to visit Japan and Japanese people trying to understand the dietary requirements of vegetarians. Vegetarianism does exist in Japan but it is not as common as in other parts of the world.

Being a vegetarian in Japan is not impossible, but it is difficult. I am a strict vegetarian and I've travelled to Japan many times, sometimes for as short as a couple of days, the longest continuous stay was just over 3 months. I am currently living in Japan so I need to know what I can and cannot eat.

Basic Definitions

Vegetarians cannot eat:

meat, fish, poultry, stock (dashi) made with those things.

Vegetarians can eat:

vegetables including spring onions (negi) and garlic (ninniku), beans (mame), tofu, milk, cheese, butter, eggs.

Note that some vegetarians don't eat eggs and some don't eat milk, butter or cheese. For the rest of this page I will refer to things that vegetarians cannot eat as meat but I mean all the things on the "cannot" list above.

Vegetarians do not eat foods from the "can" list that have been mixed together with things from the "cannot" list, even with only a tiny bit of meat. It may seem helpful to suggest that they "pick out what they can eat" but this is an extreme faux pas and should be avoided. It is unnecessary to make suggestions about what foods are sources of protein or be concerned about protein, vegetarians are well educated on eating a balanced diet.

Japanese Foods Suitable For Vegetarians

There are some great Japanese foods that vegetarians can enjoy. Many types of vegetables not available in other countries such as Lotus root (renkon), Japanese radish (daikon) and other vegetables prepared Japanese style such as bamboo shoots and sweet potatoes. Vegetarians can also sample miso (paste of fermented soybeans or rice used to make soup), seaweed, natto (semi-fermented soybeans) and tofu. There are also sesame seed sweets, glutinous rice cakes (mochi), dorayaki and other manjyu (Japanese cakes filled with sweet bean paste).

At or near temples you may find shojin-ryori (special food eaten by Buddhist priests) that is completely vegetarian.

Eating in a Restaurant

In Japan, most Japanese restaurants specialise in a particular dish, for example, a sushi restaurant or a sukiyaki restaurant. Trying to find vegetarian dishes in an eel restaurant has a very low chance of success. In an okonomiyaki restaurant you may have more luck but perhaps you can only find one dish. Many restaurants have wax models outside in the window but it is not always obvious if a dish contains meat. Menus do not usually indicate vegetarian dishes.

If you want to try to order something not on the menu then you are going to need very good Japanese language skills: see the section "The Language Barrier". If you find an Indian restaurant then often you can find the owner is Indian and speaks English. You would have thought Italian restaurants would have something suitable for vegetarians however, many do not.

It is not guaranteed that all restaurants won't have vegetarian compatible dishes, they may have developed some vegetable variant of a dish because it was tasty not because they wanted a vegetarian dish. They may not realise that such a dish is vegetarian.

Foods to Avoid

Forget about ramen (a big bowl of noodles), they always come with a fish based dashi (stock). You always have to be diligent, even gurin sarada (green salad) will probably have some meat on it. Curry rice (kare raisu), inevitably, is made with meat.

Whenever you order tofu salad (with the silken style of tofu) you will probably get katsuo (flakes of bonito fish) on top. I have ordered tofu in restaurants where they had photos in the menu that clearly showed no katsuo but when I received it I could barely see the tofu there was so much katsuo. The majority of Japanese people love katsuo and it is on almost everything or included in stocks. When you order, say "katsuo wa dame desu" (no katsuo).

Bakeries and Sandwiches

No guide to vegetarian food is complete without a quick mention about this topic. Japan has many small bakeries producing a variety of pastries, cakes and breads; although most of the bread is white and sweet. Many bread products are made with some filling baked inside, such as curry, or bread rolls with bits of ham hidden inside. Fortunately, you can also find anpan (a bun with sweet azuki beans inside) or melon bread. Almost all sandwiches come with a minimum of two ingredients from egg, ham, tuna or chicken.

The Language Barrier

Being able to speak Japanese doesn't always make things easier. Most Japanese people understand the word "vegetarian" if said with a Japanese pronunication (bejitarian) but often don't know what it means. Saishoku-ka is meant to mean someone who is vegetarian but apparently most Japanese saishoku-ka still eat some fish or meat. From talking to Japanese people I have perceived the following opinions:

• Vegetarian means you only eat a bit of meat
• "You must still eat fish, right ?"
• Being vegetarian is an aspiration, not a real, tangible goal
• Stock or sauces can still have a little bit of meat or fish in them...
• "Where does Ham come from ?"

You would not believe the number of times I said I was kanzenna bejitarian (strict vegetarian) and asked if I could order a version of something (e.g. pizza) with vegetables only; to be later asked if ham or beef were OK. This was not an isolated incident! I have even had Japanese colleagues and friends who clearly understand my diet spend 15-20 minutes explaining to a waiter only for him to bring something which is obviously not vegetarian. If you want to try ordering something without the meat yourself, you will have to say no meat, no ham, no beef, no chicken, no fish etc etc.

In many restaurants all the food is prepared in advance so it is not possible for the waiter to bring you a dish made without meat unless it was prepared that way several hours previously. Perhaps, some waiters and waitresses are college or university students and just don't know or don't care what ingredients went into the food. This is all rather strange for a country so preoccupied with food.

Food Vocabulary