I am vegan and applying to the JET program. My grandmother is from Okinawa, Japan, and I have visited three times, so I have a good grasp on the challenges I will face. I was reading about veganism in Japan and learned a little about shojin ryouri and how the traditional diet used to be mostly vegan. I was wondering if there are any areas that are rural or still influenced by Buddhism and maintained some of this diet? While I would love to be placed in Okinawa, it would also be nice to be somewhere where I could eat out and have local Japanese food that accommodates my diet, outside of big cities like Tokyo. Thanks for any answers anyone might have!!
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**Are there areas of Japan where the traditional diet is more prevalent & eating a plant based diet would be better understood & easier to accommodate?**
I am vegan and applying to the JET program. My grandmother is from Okinawa, Japan, and I have visited three times, so I have a good grasp on the challenges I will face. I was reading about veganism in Japan and learned a little about shojin ryouri and how the traditional diet used to be mostly vegan. I was wondering if there are any areas that are rural or still influenced by Buddhism and maintained some of this diet? While I would love to be placed in Okinawa, it would also be nice to be somewhere where I could eat out and have local Japanese food that accommodates my diet, outside of big cities like Tokyo. Thanks for any answers anyone might have!!
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You’ll be able to find pickles, rice and nori anywhere. Tofu and stewed beans will be easy to find as well. Soy milk. Nuts. Most vegetables are boiled or salads. Fresh fruit. I don’t think you need to go anywhere special to have a vegan diet.
Edit: Japan is a carb heavy venue; You’ll be able to find food that you can eat easily.
Tokyo will have the most vegan restaurants and it has more soy based products, especially in convinence stores (Soy ice cream, soy meat, soy cheese)
I live in Fukuoka and there’s a few Jets here that are vegan and there’s a vegan food festival in the spring. I can get soy cheese here, sometimes I find soy meat. But specialized vegan replacements kind of end there. My husband is lactose intolerant so I am always on the look out for these things.
In general you’ll have to be really careful and cook at home A LOT.
99% of traditional meals will have fish in it in some way. Most bread has milk in it. Lots of things use milk emulsifier if you’re really strict. There will be advertisements for soy based dessert but they use milk whipped cream and it’s not listed on the menu.
I’m vegetarian and when I was explaining to an older Japanese person that I don’t eat meat or fish they told me I’m eating a priests diet so maybe try moving to a temple or shrine /s
Really the big cities like Tokyo are going to have the most options if you’re looking to be able to eat out often. I live in a small rural city and I have to cook most of my food. The only places I can really eat out are a local indian food place and a pasta place that has a singular dish without meat in it. In the US it seemed like most restaurants had at least something without meat in it but here I find many restaurants that don’t even have so much as a salad without meat in the menu. i found one grocery store that carries like 5 soy meat products. I can’t find basic fake meat crumbles anywhere near me so I order dehydrated textured vegetable protein from Amazon. I also learned how to make my own seitan. One plus side is tofu is very cheap here. It will be even harder as vegan.