If you’re a vegan and considering a trip to Japan for your vacation this year you might be wondering about vegan options and how easy it’ll be to feed yourself.
Roll up without doing any research and you’ll find it extremely difficult. You won’t find that many international brands and there might be times that you end up throwing something away because it contains a certain ingredient you don’t eat.
Fortunately, this post is full of useful tips that will make your search for vegan food in Japan much easier. Plus, when you get home you’ll be able to shop at a Japanese online store and recreate some of the dishes you enjoyed during your stay.
Use Technology When You Eat at Restaurants
It doesn’t matter what you’re trying to do, there’s almost always an app that can help.
The following apps and sites will be very useful:
- Happy Cow: This site lets you find vegan food near you with the help of a filter.
- VegeProject Japan: This website is dedicated to finding vegan places across Japan. You’ll find places with vegan options and those that are completely vegan.
- Vegewel: You can use this site for locating vegan/vegan/friendly restaurants in Japan. The site also contains articles to help you find vegan food in convenience and izakaya stores.
Finding Out What’s in Food
“Is It Vegan – Japan” is another useful site to use if you feel like a snack but don’t know if it contains dairy/eggs/meat or anything that isn’t vegan.
The site lists plenty of vegan foods along with useful pictures. Also included are foods that look vegan but aren’t.
The website also has a very helpful Facebook group page. Post a question with a picture of some food item you’re not sure about or take a photo of the ingredients list. You’ll get a response relatively quickly whether it’s vegan or not.
Consider an Apartment Hotel
Find somewhere to stay that’s got a kitchen and you’ll get to experience some amazing fresh tofu, tasty vegetables, loads of baked goods, a wide choice of noodles, and many other types of food suitable for those who don’t want to eat animal products.
Check out the following Supermarkets
There are a few supermarkets you’ll find across Japan where it should be relatively easy to find vegan products. Google one of the following supermarket names and you’ll locate the closest outlet.
- Aeon
- Kaldi
- Gyomu
- Meidi-ya
Products You Can Cook With
- Tofu: Tofu is not the tasteless lump it used to be, especially now you’re in Japan. You’ll find all kinds of tofu and when you buy it at a specialist tofu store it’ll be fresh and tasty.
- Yuba: Yuba is another soybean product and just like tofu it doesn’t have a strong flavor. It’s best eaten in soup or with soy sauce.
- Ofu: This is a gluten product. You’ll find it in different shapes and textures. Fry it, add it to a soup or invent one of your own recipes.
- Miso: If you eat miso soup in a restaurant it normally has fish stock added. However, if you’re making it yourself, leave the fish stock out. Miso soup is just one option. There are various other Japanese kinds of miso. You can add it as a sauce to eggplants, fried onigiri, and lots of other recipes.
- Noodles: You’ll find a wide selection of noodles in Japan: ramen, soba, sōmen, and udon. You can buy them at any supermarket. Make a soup for them to your own taste or try a local recipe.
- Shichimi: This is Japan’s official spice and consists of seven different spices. Normally, you’ll find it added to soup with noodles.
Avoid Hidden Non-Vegan Japanese Foods
One of the best things about traveling to Japan is trying all the amazing local food you find. Just because you’re vegan, it doesn’t mean you have to miss out. There are plenty of plant-based versions of Japanese dishes available.
A couple of ingredients to avoid are dashi and katsuobushi. These both show up a lot in Japanese restaurants.
Katsuobushi is dried fish flakes and they are often used in dashi (soup stock). Aside from soup, katsuobushi is also used to season all sorts of dishes, even those that look vegan. Keep an eye out and if you’re unsure, ask your server.
Memorize Useful Japanese Phrases
The language barrier can be one of the biggest challenges for anyone traveling in Japan If you’re vegan in Japan, there are a few phrases it might be useful to know:
- Is this vegan? これはビーガンですか？ (Kore wa beegan desu ka?)
- I don’t eat meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, or honey. 私は肉と魚、卵、乳製品、蜂蜜が食べられません。(Watashi wa niku to sakana, tamago, nyuuseihin, hachimitsu ga taberaremasen.)
Try Japanese Buddhist Cuisine
Shojin Ryori is a traditional type of Japanese Buddhist cuisine that’s always vegetarian and usually vegan, adhering to the tenants of Zen Buddhism.
Shojin ryori is commonly found in temples, but nowadays, you can also enjoy it in restaurants across Japan. It is traditionally served in multiple small, exquisitely presented courses, using seasonal and local ingredients.
Now you’ve got more of an idea of what to look for, you should be more confident traveling to Japan as a vegan.
