Tokyo 101 (FAQ), including area guide

A selective guide for visiting or beginning vegans and vegetarians. As of March 2019.

Visiting or moving to Tokyo as a veg*n (=vegan or vegetarian) requires preparation, especially for those who are very strict with their consumption habits. The number of vegans here is minuscule and even ovo/lacto-vegetarians number only a few thousand at best.

Eating fish is seen as integral to Japanese culture. Fish is everywhere, including in many broths, or as an ingredient in sauces and condiments. Japanese food labels aren't always precise which means that sometimes there is no way of telling whether an ingredient, e.g. an emulsifier, is made from animal sources or not.

It's not all bad though. As far as shopping goes, almost every imaginable ingredient is available (except for the new meat replacements like BeyondMeat), if not in a brick-and-mortar stores, then online. Eating out in Tokyo has become much easier in recent years, too. There are many quality eateries where veg*ns can eat well. It's a big city though so getting from A to B can be tiring.

2019 Guide to frozen, chilled or dry substitutes and junk foods shipped from overseas

Japan residents can have the latest meat and cheese substitutes from the West shipped to Japan  during the cold season of the year. I've done it numerous times, works just fine. See the section about shipping at the bottom of this post.

In A Nutshell

If you're only going to order one product, order the "beefless ground" from Matchmeat. This is the most universally usable product, great for burgers, kebabs, mince etc. The BeyondBurger is fabulous, too, but less universally usable. Other top products: BeyondMeat Chik'n (but good only after frying and refrigerating, not good warm); Gardein fishless fillets; VBites fish fingers; and some of Miyoko's raw cheeses. For cheeses to be used on pizza and such we now have reasonably good products in Japan,  no huge need to order from overseas. If you find the ones available in Japan to be too mild-tasting, then the "cheddar" from Daiya is good. On the other hand, the new "Cutting board" line from Daiya is superior to anything local.

The Reviews

A "*" means "chilled/refrigerated". A "**" means frozen.  Most of the chilled products survive freezing just fine (but cheese slices tend to become brittle). If there is no asterisk then that means the product can be stored at room temperature. Ratings: 5/5 is perfect and 1/5 is a total fail. A 3/5 hence doesn't mean "bad" or "meh" necessarily but it does mean that probably most folks won't want to buy tons of it. I also indicate where the product is from. "US" means US or Canada (sorry), and "EU" means from Europe, not necessarily from within the EU. Some of the European products, such as Quorn and Cavi-Art, are also available from the US.

Stuff I ordered from the Vegan Essentials. 

"Is it vegan?" in Japanese (printable explanations)

You can download a printable PDF of the file here.

Here are three statements you can print out and show to staff at restaurants or shops to ask whether something is vegan or not/can be made vegan. The Japanese word “Dame” (pronounced “dah-meh”) means “No good” or “No go.” The English word “Okay” is also used in Japanese.

For restaurants / cafes (the part in blue can be left out by those who do not wish to insist on this)

I am vegan, in other words strict vegetarian. I cannot eat any kind of animal foods. This includes meat, fish, fish eggs, things that contain fish/chicken/beef broth, chicken eggs, milk, butter, cheese, yoghurt and honey. Would you be able to cook something that I can eat? (Examples: fried tofu, vegetable stir fry, vegetable curry, or pasta with arrabbiata sauce).

Is it vegan? 乳化剤, the confusing 'emulsifier'

Many members of our Facebook group have raised questions surrounding a common ingredient found in sweets, drinks and other products: 乳化剤 (nyuu-ka-zai). Dictionaries tend to provide the English translation emulsifier, but concern often arises from the presence of the character 乳, which represents milk. Hence the question: Is 乳化剤 vegan?

The truth is, 乳 does not imply dairy. For example, the Japanese word for soy milk is 豆乳 (tou-nyuu). Thus, the presence of 乳 is not itself an indication of whether a product is vegan or otherwise, as is the case in 乳化剤.

This leaves us with the unsatisfying conclusion that it is impossible to tell whether an ingredient listed as 乳化剤 is safe for vegans without further information. Emulsifiers can be both plant- and animal-derived. To see a list of common emulsifiers along with an indication of whether or not they are suitable for vegans, please refer to this link.