A vegetarian in Japan.

If you like Indian food...go to indian restaurants and they will sure understand your needs.There are many options on their menu.
And you can always eat bread ,butter,jam,peanut butter, cheese,veg salads,fruit and some italian pasta dishes.So dont worry.Just let ur host family know about it.

As Japan has a Buddhist history, it was once strictly vegetarian. But for the lay person, the rules were bent a bit: Eating anything with "legs" was certainly a "higher order" animal and unacceptable to kill, yet, fish which don't have legs were consumed copiously.

Many Japanese are vaguely aware of this old custom and it is probably the first thing people think of (at least older Japanese) when they think of "vegetarian" eating.

As people have said, it depends on your situation. You should have no problem in Tokyo or Kyoto. Homestay will be tough unless you can cook and they let you. Either way the more Japanese you know, the easier it will be. I have been living in a pretty small city for the last 8 months. I was a very strict vegan when I came and now struggling to be vegetarian. I cook pretty much every day, and once you find out what you can eat it is not so hard to be vegan if you cook. But, depending on your situation and if you feel like turning people down all the time or not, you might have to go to restaurants with people, or have meals brought to you. Some jobs require it. I would say always eat before you go out to a restaurant, so if there is nothing you can have you can just snack on something. Be aware that many Japanese style restaurants have set menues, and if you are invited out in a formal situation, people may have reserved and the meal will be ready before you even get there. You will have no choice from a menue, so tell everyone your dietary needs as soon as you can. Also, restaurants are terrible at accomodating customers. Usually you will not be able to make substitutions or have something without an ingredient. Finally, there are many food surprises here. Sometimes, things that you assume are vegetarian, like tofu or salad or bread or rice, are not because there are tiny clear fish in them, or fish flakes, or all sorts of things like that. Be cautious. Travel with snacks all the time and don't expect too much. But, or course, you can do it.

Well, I've been a lacto-ovo-vegetarian for 18 and half years which is my whole life. I've applyed for student exchange to Japan through ASSE, known as PIEE in Japan. They currently are looking for me family, but I know it might be impossible to find one... I found out that there is Japan Vegetarian Society, but I don't know how likely it would be to get a vegetarian family. Most likely impossible as well. I hope it would be possible to find me an understanding family, but I'm also prepared for the fact that they might not find me a family at all. There's just no way I could start eating meat or fish. I don't know if anyone can understand, but even the thought of eating it is scary. I've never even tasted anything of those. I have tried to taste fish, but in the end I just couldn't do it. It seems that even if I'd get to Japan it wouldn't be very easy to live...

I share the sentiment of the previous poster. Having been a vegan for half my life I wonder whether I'll even be able to go to Japan anymore (i.e. due to the food issue). That sounds pretty extreme but I'm a devout Hindu grounded in Ayruvedic diet. I've always wanted to visit Japan though, and so I am sincerely disappointed in realising that this might never be possible. Any more ideas anyone?

There are vegan restaurants in Tokyo, and you can always go to the supermarket and buy fresh vegetables and fruit. The problem doesn't come when you are by yourself, it is when you go out with non-vegetarian friends as so many restaurants don't have a vegetarian option, let alone a vegan one. Many packaged foods contain fish extract or pork fat when you wouldn't expect them to.

I used to be a strict vegetarian, but particularly when I travel, I relax this. I am a vegetarian for both ethical and health reasons, but it will not kill me to eat something with meat in it occasionally, and I will do that if it means not seriously inconveniencing other people/taking the enjoyment away from the meal.

One of the times I was in South India I went out to eat a few times with an American friend who had strict ideas about what she ate. It is very easy to be a vegetarian in South India but she went beyond this. She wouldn't eat anything with the slightest hint of dairy or sugar in it. It made ordering at every meal into a long drawn-out ordeal and took some of the fun away from the meal. I have to wonder if creating this extra stress at every meal is really that healthy.

My ideal is the "freeganism" I once read about- the guy writing about it said that when he had complete control over what he was eating he was a strict vegan. If he was travelling, eating out with friends or eating at someone's house he would relax this for the sake of harmony and enjoying the meal. I think this is a really good philosophy and it is what I now do.

If you can't relax your dietary restrictions at all, even for a short time, then you may not enjoy your trip to Japan as you could find yourself constantly wondering what is actually in your food.

If you want to be really strict about it, you will pretty much have to never eat anything that you haven't made yourself. At restaurants, you will find that even if you ask if there is meat in something, and they tell you no, you will still find little bits of meat in it. Even if you ask them to leave the meat out, they will frequently still put it in. The concept of "I don't want to eat any meat" just isn't well understood, no matter how well you speak the language.

Also, fish and meat stock ends up in all kinds of broth and sauce that is used for flavoring in almost everything. If you don't mind that, you will have less problems. If that is a problem for you, like I said, you will probably never want to eat anything that you haven't prepared yourself.

As a former Rotary Exchange Student and vegetarian myself, my advice would be to loosen your standards as much as you are comfortable doing (call it "temporary" if it helps). You could compromise by eating things that have fish/meat stock in them, just no big hunks of meat. Or maybe you could say you will eat fish, but nothing that breathes air. You will encounter all kinds of things that are new, different, and uncomfortable at first (food among them). You will experience more and enjoy yourself better if you are open to new things.

Lastly, I would encourage you to tell people about your eating preferences as early and in as much detail as possible. You will get invited to a lot of dinners. If you tell people ahead of time, they will make accommodations for you. It will be awkward all around if you show up to a lavish feast in your honor and have to tell the host that you can't eat any of it. Actually, in that situation, I would encourage you to just shut up and enjoy the meal. The love and care that your host has put into the food is far more valuable than your notions of dietary purity.

Nice post, Weilong Wang. I totally agree :-)