Allergic to MSG, 2 weeks in Japan

I'm going to Japan for 2 weeks and am very sensitive to Monosodium Glutamate. I know it will be hard to avoid entirely but it would really help if someone could tell me how to say ''I'm allergic to MSG'' in Japanese or at least how to ask if it is in the food I'm ordering. If anyone can also post it in kanji / katakana, etc. so I can print and take with me I'd REALLY appreciate it. Thanks!

Just say you're allergic to "kagaku-chomiryo."

kagaku-chomiryo ni arerugi ga arimasu.

Monosodium Glutamate can be avoided by sticking to health food restaurants, authentic restaurants and natural food shops.

But be sure to have this translation double-checked by a native speaker you can trust, such as the airline attendant, professional tour guide or hotel concierge. You don't want to trust anonymous internet posters like me on something as serious as this.

MSG - ƒOƒ‹ƒ^ƒ~ƒ“‚³‚ñƒiƒgƒŠƒEƒ€
gurutamin san natoriumu

allergy - ƒAƒŒƒ‹ƒM

The safety concerns about MSG that are common in the US are also well-known in Japan. As a result, MSG is not often used as an explicit food additive in sit-down restaurant cooking.

You may still encounter it in as a seperate ingrediant in food served at authentic Chinese restaurants (it seems that it's still a fairly popular additive in some Chinese cooking).

That said, small amounts are often present in other seasonings, gelatins, and products used for cooking -- but in most cases the chef isn't aware of the chemical makeup of everything they are serving. Furthermore the product isn't usually possible to isolate and remove without a great deal of trouble on the part of the chef.

If you are sensitive to even small amounts, then it may be best to avoid instant and frozen foods, items made with soup stocks, fast food products, batter fried meats and stick, when possible, to restaurants which prepare meals from fresh ingredients. Seafood restaurants, sashimi, yakiniku, okonomiyaki, etc. are all probably safer choices though you may want to read the labels on sauces or toppings before diving in (many, including most soy sauces, contain msg).

On another note -- Be careful with seaweed, MSG is a seaweed product and even when not added, seaweed may cause a reaction.

ƒOƒ‹ƒ^ƒ~ƒ“Ž_ƒiƒgƒŠƒEƒ€

in hiragana:‚®‚邽‚Ý‚ñ‚³‚ñ‚ȂƂ肤‚Þ

but I don`t think that everybody can understand it. In Japan it is often called as "aji no moto"�i–¡‚Ì‘f�j.

hope I could help you a little bit.

Thanks everyone! You've really helped me out. If anyone else out there has another way to say it or write it please let me know. I'll print and take with me any and all posts on the subject. Thanks again to all of you for taking the time to help me out. I really appreciate it!

ajinomoto is the japanese food company that invented monosodium glutomate. so it is often referred to by this name.

It's not easy to be allergic to MSG. Do you get just shortness of breath and hives or actually bad enough to go into ER in anaphylactic shock?
I used to work in a Chinese restaurant in Japan. We added Ajinomoto to everything whether the waitress said the customer requested "no" to it.
Surprising to many people, MSG is the chemically isolated compound of something actually found in nature. It's that in large concentrated amount, it can cause problems.
Japanese, Chinese, and Korean foods contain tons of MSG. Sorry but I'm not trying to just scare you. Stick to natural food as Tsurara wrote. Fresh sashimi, sushi, seafood restaurants and Yakiniku may be safe but be careful with the dip sauces.

Good luck.

Chad, (M.D.)

Hi, my mom is also highly intolerant to MSG. She was fine in Japan for a week, but while in Kyoto every restaurant seemed to have something without MSG or other "chemical seasonings", our first night in Tokyo we must've gone through literally 15 restaurants with each one saying no, everything they had used that. I am unsure whether this was a problem with translation of the term I was using that existed in Tokyo but not Kyoto, or whether there was really a difference, but I thought I would pass on the info.

Also there is a website that sells allergy cards: http://www.selectwisely.com/

I have not used them but I just saw it recently so I thought it might be helpful to you. I think you can send the cards to your email to print out if you don't have time to ship. Not sure.

Yakiniku? I just can't believe Chad is an M.D.

Meat does not contain MSG. It's the dip sauce that does. I mentioned Yakiniku because the above post by Tsurara list it. I'm not sure of Tsurara's list of Okonomiyaki and others.

By the way, I'm listed on the AMA but not under my nickname Chad. Look for Dr. Peterson MD. Keio University, then Stanford University School of Medicine, Internship & Residency in Cardiovascular Surgery. Few years at Seibo Byoin in Tokyo.
Impressed! You don't have to believe it. I don't care.

If Uco tells me he's the President of Bridgestone Tire of Japan, I will believe him. That's because my first girlfriend in Japan was the daughter of the Bridgestone Tire's president.

Chad

I'd just like to mention that the OP should be aware that most dishes including most raw meat at yakiniku restaurants are marinated in sauce which may contain MSG depending on their recipe. The sauce for marinating is what makes yakiniku so special.

You are right. Some are marinated. But the one at Teikoku Hotel (Imperial Hotel) in Tokyo was not. They brought the best raw meat to cook at your table. The only drawback, it cost 20,000 yen per person.

Chad

You are right. Some are marinated. But the one at Teikoku Hotel (Imperial Hotel) in Tokyo was not. They brought the best raw meat to cook at your table. The only drawback, it cost 20,000 yen per person.

Thus, your advice is not really good - you should not make a general statement based on just one exceptional case...
When it comes to allergy, your advice can be even dangerous!