it can be done: you can eat vegan in Japan. and even like it. for a week, anyway. I imagine long term veganism in Japan requires a very strong sense of adventure, determination, and direction to find all those tiny little gems tucked away on streets with no names. however, I not only ate Japanese food without breaking xvegan edgex but ate Japanese food that was pretty damn good.
before leaving for Tokyo, I asked everyone I knew for advice because I knew that nintendo island was going to throw as much fish at me as possible and likely be too polite to tell the truth when I asked if something had meat in it. I received warnings that ranged from “get ready to eat nothing but white rice” and “make sure you bring everything you intend to eat” to “don’t trust any waitstaff or ingredients lists” and “you will starve.” christ, you’d think the entire nation was filled with ex-PETA anti-vegan types who wear shirts that say “for every animal you don’t eat, I will eat three.” I didn’t starve, and I didn’t even eat sushi while I was there. here’s how I did it:
I researched.. using sites like Happy Cow and asking vegans who had visited Japan for advice. I was told I’d find certain foods in convienence stores (open 24 hours on practically every corner) that were dependable vegan options and given tips on how to look for and ask about certain foods in restaurants that held the most promise. I stumbled across this site, and asked my brother in Tokyo to pick up a copy of the Vegan Restaurant Pocketguide described there. it contains several vegetarian and vegan friendly restaurants in Tokyo (and Kyoto and Osaka) that I would have loved to try.. but I only had the chance to hunt down two: Half Sweets and Nataraj. both were excellent, as were many of the snack foods and other unique things I ate. so here, for your palate pleasure, is my foodie review of vegan Japan.. we arrived armed with a box of instant oatmeal, protein and fiber rich cereal, enough clif bars to feed an army, and were promptly pwned by vegan Japan.
breakfast: because I live a luxurious life and never settle for less than the best, (actually we just lucked out), the hotel room provided an electric kettle and mini-fridge.. so we were able to buy and keep fresh fruit and soy milk in the room and boil water for tea and oatmeal. most mornings, I had some combination of oatmeal, cereal with soy milk, fruit and green tea. by the way, I don’t know if it was the magic of Japan or simply bioengineering, but the Fuji apples and peaches that I ate there were both absolutely ginormous and possibly the best tasting fruit I’ve ever had. I was so caught up in eating them I forgot to take pics.
afternoon/evening meals: obviously more difficult.
on our second day, my brother helped us hunt down the Half Sweets cafe, which advertised itself as “half organic, half raw” and seemed to take the “eat healthy because it makes you beautiful” angle over any kind of ethical or religious (Buddhist) stance. fine with me, just promise there’s no fish in it. here is what we ordered:
the “green soup” consisted of a creamy soy milk base and fresh veggies and spices served warm with a side salad; chilled tomato soup was served in a cup and had a nice, thick consistency; and the tea was tea. additionally, we noticed on our way out that they also served vegan ice cream and so enjoyed two cups of fantastic vanilla, but I was too busy eating it to take a picture.
later in the week, we were able to find Nataraj, a vegetarian Indian restaurant in Ginza. I didn’t take pictures, but it was standard Indian fare, and, though pricey, was worth trekking a bit out of the way to find.
we also tried out an Indian restaurant and Mexican restaurant in the hotel, figuring they were familiar cuisine and more likely to provide vegan options, (both true); unfortunately, neither dining experience was worthy of a description, let alone pictures.
aside from some surprisingly good udon with bean curd we ate in a little airport cafe before the flight home, we didn’t eat any other restaurant food; instead we depended on..
snacks: oh Japan! how I wish I could I read the tiny pictures of houses, ghosts and xylophones you call kanji and try everything you offer me without demanding that my brother scan ingredients lists before every purchase.. on the first day in Japan, I discovered onigiri, which is basically a rice ball with nori (seaweed) wrapped around it and something (e.g. fish, pickled plum, salty vegetables) in the middle. I had been told to hunt these down as convienence store staples and expected an actual ball. instead, I found this:
look at those instructions! like magic, you remove the wrapper to find yourself holding this:
as I did.. wondering if I’d regret my selection.. onigiri umeboshi. umeboshi are a type of pickled plum that my mother had tried earlier that morning at breakfast and almost spit out for its sour taste. I, however, can’t resist trying strange foods and dug right in.. and to my delight found this:
words cannot express how much I am in love with umeboshi. yes I even want to marry them. from that moment on, I made sure to carry onigiri with me on our travels so I’d never be far from my new snack buddy when hunger struck. I did try a few other varieties that contained other pickled and spicy vegetables, but ultimately returned to my beloved umeboshi.
we also snacked on other more familiar junk food, including edamame (which in some ways is the Japanese analog to shelled peanuts), arare (smallish crackers) and senbei (larger rice crackers, which I particularly love with a matcha/green tea icing). apparently, these foods are popular in bars, the way pretzels and peanuts are in America. I suppose it figures.. the straight edge kids flock to another country’s beer food.
we spent one day traveling to and visiting temples in Kamakura, a town located an hour away from Tokyo by rail. as we walked down the street, we stopped for fresh yokan at my brother’s suggestion. I’ve had Japanese sweets before, when he mailed them home at Christmas, and thought they tasted like paste.. not bean paste, which they are.. but the paste you eat in elementary school. since I never cared for Elmer’s, I didn’t care for the Japanese desserts either. I am told that Japanese palates enjoy more subtle flavoring and prefer less sweetness than the sugar laden American diet has trained me for. however, this particular piece, a combination of pumpkin and adzuki bean paste with sugar and flour and enjoyed on a nice walk that concluded with a nicer view, was fresh, still warm, and very very good:
we also bought popsicles from the monks at one of the temples in Kamakura; the left is plum and right is green tea, which also contained those sugared adzuki beans:
I’d have brought a case of these home if I could..
and finally, I have to include one last item, though I don’t have much to say. it’s a candy (well, I found it in the candy aisle) and the main ingredient is “mushroom,” accompanied by sugar and what my brother makes out to be some preservatives. I picked it up and said “vegan?” he said “yep..” and I asked “what is it?” to which he answered, “beats me. made from mushroom. looks like candy. who knows.” and I still don’t know what it is, but it tastes awesome. looks like dog food, though:
looking stupid but tasting awesome is the best part of foreign foods. duh.
