Vegetarian and vegan living in Japan: reading labels and eating out

As of October 2026, the biggest trap for vegetarians and vegans in Japan is dashi (出汁), the stock behind miso soup, noodle broth and simmered vegetables. The Japan Tourism Agency (観光庁) says vegetarians avoid bonito (かつお) stock however the dish is cooked, and tells restaurants to use kombu or other plant-based stock instead. So ask which stock a dish uses. On packaged food, read the ingredient list (原材料名), not the allergen box.

This guide uses the Tourism Agency’s April 2024 guide for restaurants, plus one dated secondary source, marked below. There is no legal definition of “vegan” we could find, so everything depends on what the shop tells you.

What counts as vegetarian or vegan

The Tourism Agency’s definitions:

• Vegetarian: no meat or seafood. Whether eggs and dairy are eaten varies by person.
• Vegan: also no eggs, dairy, honey or gelatin.

The guide stresses that avoiding meat alone is not enough. Fish stock, eggs, dairy and ingredients inside seasonings all matter.

Dashi and sauces

The guide says that if a dish is made with bonito stock, it is still a problem even when no fish is visible. Its restaurant Q&A is blunt: stock made with bonito is not acceptable just because the fish is not an ingredient you see.

A secondary source (Get Around Japan, October 2026) lists the common stocks:

The same source lists dishes that often contain dashi or animal ingredients: miso soup, noodle dipping sauce (つゆ), tempura dip, agedashi tofu, simmered vegetables (煮物), okonomiyaki, takoyaki, curry, ramen, tamagoyaki and gyoza. It also warns that the sauce packet in natto usually contains bonito extract. Treat these as items to ask about, not as proven for every shop.

Other points from the Tourism Agency guide:

• Animal oils such as lard are not acceptable; vegetable oil is.
• Curry roux can contain lard, beef tallow and animal stock or extract.
• Some white sugar is made using animal bone as a processing aid, whatever its color. The guide suggests asking the manufacturer.
• Agar (寒天) is the plant substitute for gelatin.
• Separate kitchens are not required of restaurants, but utensils should be washed so meat does not carry over.

Reading labels at the konbini and supermarket

Words to look for in the ingredient list:

The secondary source says 乳化剤 (emulsifier) and たん白加水分解物 (hydrolyzed protein) can be plant or animal in origin, and strict vegans may want to avoid them. The Tourism Agency also notes that an additive does not itself decide whether food is vegetarian: some foods with additives are fine and some are not.

Finding places to eat

The Tourism Agency lists these tools, with counts as of February 2024:

• Google Maps: search terms like “Tokyo vegetarian restaurants”.
• HappyCow: 4,123 venues in Japan.
• Vegewel: 1,667 restaurants, Japan only.
• Japan Vegemap: a web map nationwide, with a paper Tokyo Vegemap for Tokyo.

Listings can be out of date, so check the menu or ask before you sit down.

Some restaurants show a certification mark, such as VegeProject Japan’s vegan mark or the Japan Vegetarian Society’s JPVS restaurant certification. These are private schemes. The guide says restaurants should state what they do and do not use, so a mark is useful but you should still ask.

Japanese phrases for the counter

The phrases below are from the secondary source. Showing them on your phone works better than speaking.

• ベジタリアンです。肉と魚は食べません。 (I’m vegetarian. I don’t eat meat or fish.)
• かつおや煮干しのだしも食べられません。 (I can’t have bonito or sardine stock either.)
• これに魚のだしは入っていますか？ (Does this contain fish stock?)
• 卵と乳製品も食べられません。 (I can’t have egg or dairy either.)

For allergies, the Consumer Affairs Agency publishes an English smartphone food allergy communication sheet. It is built for allergies, not diets, so use it only to show staff what you cannot eat.

Related: halal food in Japan, cost of living for foreigners and cashless payments.