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Visiting Japan

and worried about the food!

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Tink Tink QLD • Posts: 100
1 21 Jun 2011
I am visiting Japan in September & i'm starting to worry that I will struggle to find Vegetarian food. I have looked on the Happy Cow website & found a few Veg/Veg Friendly places, but Japan is a big place & I won't be able to just stick to those.

I've had quite a few friends (both Japanese & non Japanese) tell me that it will be a struggle, mainly because alot of their Veg foods are cooked in animal fat. Seafood is also a big thing over there.

Has anyone been to Japan and can give me recommendations? I plan to travel to Tokyo, Osaka & Kyoto at this stage.
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xMISSMONSTERx xMISSMONSTERx WA • Posts: 2582
2 21 Jun 2011
Tink said:
I am visiting Japan in September & i'm starting to worry that I will struggle to find Vegetarian food. I have looked on the Happy Cow website & found a few Veg/Veg Friendly places, but Japan is a big place & I won't be able to just stick to those.

I've had quite a few friends (both Japanese & non Japanese) tell me that it will be a struggle, mainly because alot of their Veg foods are cooked in animal fat. Seafood is also a big thing over there.

Has anyone been to Japan and can give me recommendations? I plan to travel to Tokyo, Osaka & Kyoto at this stage.
My girlfriend said while travelling there she had difficulties, and stuck to salads and subway.

Try your best to learn japanese words for vegan, and a few different ways of saying it to help you out. Just try not to beat yourself up if there's issues because of the language barrier.

http://www.lisadempster.com.au/?p=2223 < that link is also helpful
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rottweiler rottweiler SA • Posts: 1907
3 21 Jun 2011
Watashi wa vegetarian desu.
(I'm a vegetarian)

show-zine ryo-ree
(vegetarian cuisine, usually Buddist style)

Watashi wa ..*insert one of the following words here* o itadakimasen.
(I don't eat ......)

niku (nee-koo) (meat)
sakana (sa-kah-nah) (fish)
tori (tor-ree) (chicken (or any type of poultry))
tamago (tah-margo) (egg)
gyunyu (giu-new) (milk)
nyu seihin (new say-hinn) (dairy products)

[NOTE: for many people the English word "vegetarian" is already a familiar, well-known word; but in the rural areas or if you talk to an old person, please use the word "Saishoku shugisha" [sigh-shoh-koo hoo-gee-sha], a Japanese word for vegetarian. (Don't worry about this word if you are just visiting Tokyo -- just say "vegetarian".
The people in Japan don't know well the concepts of being a vegetarian since it is still a strange thing. Besides, it is considered very rude if you refuse to eat what your host gives you.

And it is very, very hard to find vegan foods there. My suggestion is:

find a local Seventh Day Adventist Church for info;
look for some large Bhuddist temple and ask:
Shoujin ryori wa yatte imasuka? (Do you serve vegetarian foods?)]
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Tink Tink QLD • Posts: 100
5 21 Jun 2011
Thanks for those links! The Lisa Dempster one is really good.

As for learning some basic phrases, i'll have to ask my Japanese friends for help. I sound like a bogan when I try to pronounce some of those words! LOL!
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rottweiler rottweiler SA • Posts: 1907
6 21 Jun 2011
Lol if i was you. Even though it sounds tacky and stupid, i'd just right down what you need to tell them and flash it where ever you go haha
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katherooni katherooni SA • Posts: 209
7 21 Jun 2011
I went to japan as a vegetarian and found it almost impossible to eat! which was a shame because it was my first time overseas and was really looking forward to the cuisine. I couldnt even find sushi.
I pretty much only ate soba noodles at the 7/11 (actually tasted pretty good). I tried going around to a few different restaurants with the phrases that rottweiler posted but they honestly look at you like you are crazy, and laugh... not to dishearten you! sorry.
Are you going with a japanese person? or someone who can speak japanese? that would help you a lot.
We had a friend there who took us out to a restaurant one night. He suggested that we have these savoury pancake things (made with egg tho) and while he was trying to order the vegetarian ones, the guy was so confused...it was actually pretty funny. Like, no beef? no. No chicken? no. No pork? no.....No beef?...uh...no...No fish? no. No Chicken?   NO!!! then after all that he got out a big bit of lard (still pink) and rubbed it all over the hotplate on the table...we just looked away..we were so hungry! THEN he put dried shrimp on the top!!  we picked off the shrimp and ate it anyway. It tasted really good, we just had to turn a blind eye lol

uhhh just re-read that, hope it doesnt put you off...ashamed2
Japan is amazing I absolutely loved it
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Tink Tink QLD • Posts: 100
8 22 Jun 2011
katherooni said:
I went to japan as a vegetarian and found it almost impossible to eat! which was a shame because it was my first time overseas and was really looking forward to the cuisine. I couldnt even find sushi.
I pretty much only ate soba noodles at the 7/11 (actually tasted pretty good). I tried going around to a few different restaurants with the phrases that rottweiler posted but they honestly look at you like you are crazy, and laugh... not to dishearten you! sorry.
Are you going with a japanese person? or someone who can speak japanese? that would help you a lot.
We had a friend there who took us out to a restaurant one night. He suggested that we have these savoury pancake things (made with egg tho) and while he was trying to order the vegetarian ones, the guy was so confused...it was actually pretty funny. Like, no beef? no. No chicken? no. No pork? no.....No beef?...uh...no...No fish? no. No Chicken?   NO!!! then after all that he got out a big bit of lard (still pink) and rubbed it all over the hotplate on the table...we just looked away..we were so hungry! THEN he put dried shrimp on the top!!  we picked off the shrimp and ate it anyway. It tasted really good, we just had to turn a blind eye lol

uhhh just re-read that, hope it doesnt put you off...ashamed2
Japan is amazing I absolutely loved it
Oh dear!! I'm in for a tough trip! sad  I'm going with my partner (omni) and will spend the first week with two (very omni) friends. One of my friends can speak a few basic Japanese phrases, but i'm not sure I want to rely on that.

Are there many italian/indian/western restaurants over there? Surely i'd find something in those?
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katherooni katherooni SA • Posts: 209
9 22 Jun 2011
Oh thats good that you will have some help at least! I couldnt really find any..I'm not sure if you could try the "i'm buddhist" thing so they dont give you animal products? If you do some research before you go, you could probably find some places. I didnt do anything like that cos I thought it would be easy!
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rottweiler rottweiler SA • Posts: 1907
10 22 Jun 2011
I looked at a website and it said there's 110 fully vegan resteraunts in Japan.

http://www.happycow.net/asia/japan/

That link there will take you to vegan/vegetarian resteraunts, health food stores, and vegetarian friendly resteraunts.. You click by city- and I looked to see if the cities you mentioned you were going to are there, and there's a fair few in all of them. Goodluck
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