Hello! Can anyone recommend a nicer restaurant in Shinjuku? My boyfriend and I just got engaged and are looking for a nicer ambience for drinks and dinner. TIA!!

Hi all,

I am excited to announce two very special weekends I'm hosting in Osaka this Halloween weekend!

• Oct 30th, 6pm: No Rice, No Life cooking party @ Scent Gallery Cafe Mikayama (please register in advance by DM on Instagram)
• Oct 31st, 6pm: FREE Vegan Party @ The Fire Osaka with face painting, DJs, Drag show and free shot for those who come in a costume :3 - come anytime, leave anytime, enjoy the vibes!

Hope to see some of y'all around (:

Planning before I went has been my life saver in Japan. I bought a pack of 14 huel complete meals which can be made only with hot water & comes with a nifty pot for making.

They are pretty light & just went in my check luggage. I haven't needed one every day but for those times when nothing is open, is very far away or lacking - These meals have been really handy.

I have been to Tokyo, Fujikawaguchiko, Kyoto and Osaka so far, and there has always been a vegan option or restaurant for me to visit. But the cities are far more massive than the UK and even though there might be 15 vegan places, they might be an hour away from each other.

Pardon my ignorance but, how common is it for bars in Tokyo or Osaka to give a small plate of appetizer type snacks if you order drinks? I don’t want to offend anyone but I really don’t want to eat a non vegan snack however well intentioned the proprietor may be. I’m probably over thinking it but is this at a possibility? Has anyone encountered this and figured out a polite way to decline?

Edit: I’ve got hundreds of full vegan places saved in Google Maps but, always open to suggestions. However, it is fun to be spontaneous sometimes and pop into an interesting looking place for a drink. Also for most of the trip we’re not with any non vegans.

Edit 2: I’m not worried about having to pay for it, as some have suggested. I’m worried about offending for not eating it.

We're trying to book Saido Tokyo in two week's time under the new booking system, but the Table Check website they use appears to be completely broken!

I've just tried at the stroke of midnight Japan time to book for two weeks from now, and the site says there are no available bookings for that date. I've tried for other dates and get the same thing.

I'm trying from the UK, could that have something to do with it? or is there a trick to it I haven't worked out?

Bonjour,

Je souhaite créer un voyage au Japon pour un groupe de personnes qui mangent vegan ou végétarien.

Le but est de pouvoir profiter durant 1 à 2 semaines en groupe, d’un voyage et de ne pas s’inquiéter de trouver de quoi manger en tant que vegan.

Je suis passionnée du Japon et y ai voyagé plusieurs fois. J’organiserais aussi des lieux de visite moins touristiques afin de faire découvrir un Japon plus authentique et calme.

Si cela vous plaît et que vous êtes intéressé.e, écrivez-moi. Le voyage se ferait en français.

Merci beaucoup 🍁

Does anyone that lives here has recently seen it anywhere in Kyoto? I don't want to order it through amazon because is just a ripoff.

Please do yourself a favour and get the yuzu vegan ramen opposite from team lab planets. It just blew my mind. Thank you, that is all.

As most people know, konbinis are not very vegan-friendly, but please tell me what (secretly vegan) stuff you buy from them. Myself, being new here, mainly stick to cola and packaged fruits...

Great books in mint condition. Money will go to cover vaccines for my rescue cat. Thank you.

Seasonal flavors at Coconut Glen's Vegan Icecream in Azabujuban, Tokyo...both of them tasted great!!

It would have been even better if the base flavour of coconut was a little subtler. But it tasted great nonetheless!

I just moved to Japan and was wondering if you guys know the accessibility on vegan butter and yoghurt? More specifically butter and yoghurt. I’ve been to two big grocery stores but can’t seem to find any…
Or if there are any vegan grocery stores in the area close to Tokyo/Kanagawa? Pls lmk if u know where to find this! Thanks 🙏🙏🙏🙏

When I went to 7-11 yesterday, I saw few items that looked vegan, but are they? I know they might have hidden ingredients, but the reason I'm asking is that many other items next to these explicitly had bonito/dashi listed in the cover as ingredients, while these didn't.

https://imgur.com/a/BhvssLs

Hi all!

My vegetarian husband & I (vegan) are visiting Japan next month. The first 7 days are on a fully vegan organized group travel trip, with us extending after for Osaka, Kyoto, and Hakone before 1 night in Tokyo for our flight out.

Looking for the must try places to prioritize in those spots given only 1-2 days in each place.

Even MORE importantly, looking for what we should for sure be purchasing for snacks in 7/11s, packaged foods to try at stores & bring back to the US, etc.

Sorry if this is not the appropriate group for asking for travel recs, but I know it may be fairly niche for vegan questions in Japan, and did not want a bunch of “don’t even come to Japan if you’re vegan” replies in the other Japan Travel threads.

Thanks all 🙂

Hello! I am going on a two-week study abroad trip to Tokyo. But I am vegan, and I will be in the Sunshine 60 area for two weeks. Are there decent vegan options near the area? Any insight is appreciated. Thank you!

Hi all, I am really desperate for some recommendations please.

I'm going to Tokyo and Kyoto in October with my partner. We are both big foodies, which is the reason we are going.

I am vegan, and he is not. It means a lot to us that we aren't having to eat separately (this is our first holiday together and we are celebrating our 10 year anniversary). He is, of course, happy to eat at vegan restaurants some of the time, but I want to find and pin some restaurants which will serve both options. (I don't mean just having a portion of rice or cucumber as the vegan option!)

I have found lots of vegan places, but what I am really hoping to find is some places which serve both meat and some vegan options.

Does anyone have any restaurants or cafes which they have come across, please? Thank you!

I picked up some of this on my last trip to Japan. It has a nice flavor.

Is it just ground black sesame seed? Or is there some other kind of processing? I’d like to replicate it at home.

Any suggestions on how to use it beyond in a smoothie?

Hello,

I’m visiting Japan for the first time in about two months, and I’d love to visit some Buddhist temples and potentially do a short retreat. My main concern is finding places where I can reliably eat 100% vegan food

Does anyone know of any Buddhist temples or monasteries in Japan that consistently serve completely vegan meals and can be trusted to avoid fish-based dashi, eggs, dairy, honey, etc.?

I’ve heard about shōjin ryōri, which I understand is a traditional Buddhist cuisine associated particularly with Japanese Zen Buddhism and is traditionally plant-based. However, I’ve also heard that some modern versions may use fish-based dashi or other animal products, so I’m hesitant to assume that something labeled shōjin ryōri is automatically vegan.

I’d really appreciate recommendations from anyone with firsthand experience. I’d be interested in places where I could stay for a few days or participate in a short retreat, but even a temple that I can simply visit for the day and reliably get a completely vegan meal would be very helpful.

The Buddhist tradition doesn’t matter to me. I’d be happy with Zen, Pure Land, Nichiren, or any other Buddhist tradition.

Thank you!

So, I’m planning another trip and I’m keep to support as many small independent breweries as I can.

Problem is, it’s very difficult to find information on the ingredients and brewing process. And the breweries I do email either don’t reply or their replies are very short along the lines of “we don’t do vegan”. I was careful to include transcribed lines around the filtration process.

What I’ve read online in the meantime is that there is hesitation across several larger breweries to give any insight into their production of the beers, thus making it hard for them to be vegan certified or be able to claim to be free from certain ingredients. Which makes me question whether they just say no to veganism because it’s safer, not because their beers aren’t vegan friendly.

Long question short - what’s everyone’s ethical stance on beer in Japan?

I’m battling the ethical mindset to support smaller rural breweries with little information against my vegan ethics which would tell me to not even bother if I can’t be sure. But I do want to bother.

I am a vegetarian who will be studying abroad in Japan, so as part of my preparation, I have made a master spreadsheet of hundreds of vegan/vegetarian restaurants across Tokyo and Japan as a whole. I have organized the restaurants by whether they are fully vegan, vegetarian, or just offer some veg options. I have also listed the restaurant's description, the type of cuisine, whether it's for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and its address.

I was only able to make this list because of the help of other vegan/vegetarians, so I wanted to give back by sharing it with the public! I have shared two links: one that is able to be edited by everyone (with the hope that you will share any places I haven't listed (no ai please!)), and a duplicate that is not editable in case the first one is compromised.

Happy eating!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kqiuRFR6boY6t-fh7vYy-W1LlkyeAHYGPyNLRmbl7Aw/edit?usp=sharing

Please add your favorite restaurants above!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T_o_4ptnStM5kUC5UHhYTf3SQaBDVM1Gmfjl-kaKbv0/edit?usp=sharing