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Food & Dietary Restrictions

Veganism, vegetarianism, and gluten-sensitivity are not-well known concepts in Japan. Living in Japan with these dietary restrictions will probably be somewhat challenging compared to western countries. But, it is absolutely possible with a bit of knowledge and preparation.  

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Vegan & Vegetarian
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Things to be aware of:

  • Many “meat substitutes''and soy products contain animal ingredients such as eggs, gelatine, and meat extracts. So be sure to always check the ingredients. Companies can be sneaky about this; for example a burger advertised as “100% plant-based burger.” 
    The burger itself might be vegan, but the bread and sauce may contain animal products. 

  • Japanese labeling laws don’t require every ingredient to be listed if it’s in small amounts or as a secondary ingredient. For example, most convenience stores' inari-sushi contains fish dashi even though it’s not explicitly listed - it’s included in the “seasoned tofu.”

  • Even if something is typically vegetarian/vegan in your home country, it might not be in Japan. For example, almost all Japanese bread contains milk and butter. The reverse can also be true; for example most jelly pots in Japan are set with agar or pectin instead of gelatine. 

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Explaining your Diet and Making Requests:

Japanese has the katakana words ベジタリアン (vegetarian) and ビーガン / ヴィーガン(vegan), but even if people have heard of these words, there is a lot of misconceptions. For example, “vegetarian” is sometimes interpreted as someone who loves the taste of vegetables, rather than someone who avoids meat entirely, so you may be served a meal with a smaller meat to vegetable ratio. Food like fish, meat, and soup stocks, bonito flakes, and sometimes even ham and chicken are often not thought of as “meat”. So, it’s important to explain exactly what you do and don’t eat. 

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  • I am a vegetarian / vegan → 私は ベジタリアン / ビーガンです。
    (watashi wa bejitarian biigan desu)

  • I don’t eat fish or meat. → 私は 魚と 肉を食べません。
    (watashi wa sakana to niku wo tabemasen)

  • I don’t eat eggs or dairy products. → 卵も 乳製品も 食べません。
    (tamago mo nyuuseihin mo tabemasen)

  • I also don’t eat katsuo dashi. → かつおだしも 食べません。
    (katsuo dashi mo tabemasen) 

You can find printable cards explaining your dietary requirements here: https://justhungry.com/japan-dining-out-cards

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School Lunch (Kyushoku)

If you work at an Elementary School or Junior High School you will likely be offered school lunches. Kyuushoku always contains meat, fish, and dairy. You should let your school know when you first arrive that you don’t wish to receive kyuushoku and bring your own packed lunch instead. Some Japanese teachers and students may also bring their own lunches because of allergies so this shouldn’t be an issue. 

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Work Parties (Enkai)

Work parties are an integral part of Japanese work culture. There will typically be a formal enkai at the start and end of the school year, and during the new year, as well as smaller informal parties throughout the school year. It’s a good idea to talk to the person in charge of organising the event and ask them to contact the venue ahead of time. Many restaurants are surprisingly willing to accommodate dietary requests if asked in advance. Even if they are unable to create specific dishes for you, most izakaya and restaurants have dishes such as edamame, fries, rice, chilled tofu etc. so at least you won’t starve. 

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Grocery Shopping

All supermarkets stock essentials including rice, noodles, basic seasonings, soy milk, a wide range of tofu, mushrooms, and of course fresh fruit & vegetables. Larger supermarkets such as Aeon and Gyomu may also sell vegan cheese shreds, mayo, soy meat, soy yogurt, almond milk, and oat milk. 

Import stores such as Kaldi and Seijoishi stock a wide range of “gourmet” and international foods including some vegan-friendly foods such as instant curries, chocolate, vegetable stock, nuts, seeds, etc. 

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Below are some useful online stores: 

  • Tengu Natural Foods https://store.alishan.jp
    A vegetarian health-food store that sells a wide range of vegetarian and vegan staples such as beans, grains, nutritional yeast, veg-meats, vegan butter, etc.

  • Greens Vegetarian https://greens-vegetarian.com 
    A vegetarian store that sells meat substitutes, frozen and ready meals, ice-cream, etc. 

  • Kobe Spice https://kobe-spice.com
    This is an Indian import store that sells dried beans and spices at a cheaper price than supermarkets and amazon. There are also some physical store locations in Osaka and Kobe.

  • Ambika https://www.ambikajapan.com/index.aspx
    Another vegetarian Indian import store that sells dried beans and spices at a cheaper price than supermarkets and amazon. 

  • Slices https://veganosaka.com/collections/vegan-options
    A canadian restaurant with a vegan menu in Osaka. You can order their homemade vegan meats, cheese, and meal kits online. 

  • I-herb https://jp.iherb.com 
    An international health food store. that sells supplements (gotta get that b12!) as well as various foods and vegan-friendly toiletries and cosmetics.

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Reading Labels

Vegetarian and vegan labels seldom exist in Japan. There are certified vegetarian and vegan labels given out by VegeProject (see the picture below) but only a few products have these.

Reading ingredient lists full of kanji can be daunting, but you’ll soon be able to scan an ingredient list and quickly pick out the animal ingredients. The photo function on the google translate app is fairly accurate in translating ingredient lists. You can find an index of animal ingredient terms here: https://isitveganjapan.com/dictionary/

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Vegan & Vegetarian Restaurants in Nara

The nearby cities of Osaka and Kyoto have a wealth of veg restaurants, but Nara also has its fair share!: 

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Celiac & Gluten-Sensitive
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Less than 0.2% of the Japanese population has Celiacs, as such, awareness of gluten allergies is relatively low in Japan. 

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Things to be aware of:

  • Wheat (小麦 - komugi) is one of the 7 allergens legally required to be listed on labels, but rye (ライ麦 - raimugi) and barley (大麦 - oomugi) are often not listed. Barley is quite common in Japanese foods and drinks (e.g. mugi-cha).

  • Soy sauce contains wheat and is one of the most common Japanese seasonings. Any brown coloured sauce or broth will contain soy sauce. It is also used in marinades, glazes, salad dressings, tamagoyaki omelets, and to simmer vegetables. It’s likely that it wouldn’t occur to most people that soy sauce contains wheat, so if you ask “does this contain wheat?” they will answer “no” even if it contains soy sauce. So make sure to ask specifically about soy sauce. 

  • Mizuame is another common ingredient in foods. It is a sugar syrup made from either potato or barley malts, and unfortunately it's not usually stated which.

  • Many misos are made with wheat or barley, so look for miso that is just soy and rice. Also, some sushi vinegars are a blend of rice and malt vinegars, so be sure to buy 100% rice vinegar.  

  • Other products that contain wheat include; katsu, tempura, gyoza, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, curry roux, fu (a traditional japanese ingredient made from wheat gluten), some types of miso, some vinegars, and most noodles. Soba noodles are traditionally made from buckwheat, but most are a mix of buckwheat and wheat so make sure to find 100% buckwheat soba noodles. 十割 (jūwari)

  • Some common wheat/gluten-free Japanese food options include: Sashimi without soy sauce. Sushi (but check the vinegar is 100% rice vinegar). Yakiniku or yakitori seasoned with just salt and no tare. Onigiri. Many “wa-gashi” sweets. Yaki-imo. 

  • Gluten-free bread and pastries are not common in regular supermarkets and bakeries, but may be available in specialty health and import stores such as Seijoishi. 

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Explaining your Diet and Making Requests:

When dining out, or informing your school of your dietary requirements, you can find a printable card explaining Celiacs disease and what you can’t eat here:  https://www.celiactravel.com/file_uploads/cards/japanese-gluten-free-restaurant-card.pdf

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Gluten-Free Restaurants in Nara

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*Some chain restaurants such as CoCo-Ichibanya, Bikkuri Donkey, Gusto, Mos Burger, and KFC have “Low Allergen” options.

The patisserie chain Chateraise has a series of wheat-free cakes made with rice flour. https://www.chateraise.co.jp/onlineshop/campaign/allergy

These “low allergen” options do not contain wheat but there’s no guarantee that they don’t contain other sources of gluten such as barley and rye. There is also a possibility of contamination. 

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Useful Links:

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Last Updated: June 2022

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