Vegetarian in Japan: what to eat, what to ask, and the fish stock you can’t see

Vegetarian food in Japan is easier than its reputation, once you know the one ingredient that causes most mistakes. What to ask, what to carry in Japanese, and where Jain travellers need more care.

The short answer

Yes, you can eat well as a vegetarian in Japan. The one thing to understand before you land is dashi, the stock under much of Japanese cooking, which is usually made from dried bonito fish. It goes into soups, noodle broths, dipping sauces and simmered vegetables that show no sign of fish at all.

So never assume a dish without visible meat is vegetarian. Carry a written card in Japanese, ask about the stock rather than the dish, and tell your hotels and ryokans in advance. Jain travellers need more planning than that, because onion, spring onion, garlic and root vegetables are everywhere.

Say what you don’t eat, not what you are

Japan’s National Tourism Organization says it plainly: “vegetarian” is an imported word, widely understood but looser than in English, and simply asking for vegetarian food may not be enough. A cook may hear it as “no meat” and still use fish stock, or leave in a little chicken extract.

The Japan Tourism Agency’s own guide for restaurants separates the groups the way you should. Vegetarians eat no meat or seafood, and whether they eat eggs and dairy varies from person to person. Vegans also avoid egg, dairy, honey and gelatin. The same guide tells kitchens that bonito dashi is unacceptable even when no fish is used as an ingredient, and suggests stock from kombu (kelp) or mushrooms instead.

Most Indian vegetarians fall into one of five groups, and it helps to know which yours is before you write anything down. Lacto-vegetarian: no meat, fish or egg, dairy fine. Lacto-ovo: egg also fine. Fish-free is the part people forget, meaning no dashi, no bonito flakes and no fish sauce. Egg-free matters more than you expect, because egg is in tempura batter, many sweets and some noodles. Jain adds no onion, garlic, spring onion or root vegetables, which rules out a lot of otherwise vegetarian Japanese food.

Japanese staff are unlikely to know the word Jain, and “Hindu” or “Buddhist” will not reliably convey a diet either. Describe ingredients, not identity.

The card to carry, in Japanese

A written card works better than speech. It removes the guesswork for the person taking the order and gives the kitchen something to read. Print it, keep a photo on your phone, and show it before ordering rather than after the food arrives. These are the sentences we suggest, in Japanese and in romaji for your own reference.

私はベジタリアンです。 (Watashi wa bejitarian desu.) I am vegetarian.

肉・魚・出汁は食べられません。 (Niku, sakana, dashi wa taberaremasen.) I cannot eat meat, fish or dashi stock.

かつお節や煮干しの出汁、鶏がらスープも食べられません。 (Katsuobushi ya niboshi no dashi, torigara sūpu mo taberaremasen.) I also cannot eat stock made with bonito flakes or dried sardines, or chicken stock.

昆布や椎茸の出汁なら大丈夫です。 (Konbu ya shiitake no dashi nara daijōbu desu.) Stock made from kombu or shiitake is fine.

卵は食べられません。 (Tamago wa taberaremasen.) I cannot eat egg. Leave this line out if you do eat egg.

玉ねぎ・にんにく・ねぎ・根菜（じゃがいも、にんじん、大根など）も食べられません。 (Tamanegi, ninniku, negi, konsai — jagaimo, ninjin, daikon nado — mo taberaremasen.) I also cannot eat onion, garlic, spring onion or root vegetables such as potato, carrot and daikon. This is the Jain line.

宗教上の理由で、少量でも食べられません。 (Shūkyō-jō no riyū de, shōryō demo taberaremasen.) For religious reasons, I cannot eat even a small amount.

これに肉や魚は入っていますか？ (Kore ni niku ya sakana wa haitte imasu ka?) Does this contain meat or fish?

The religious-reasons line matters more than it looks. Without it, a kind cook may pick the meat out, or decide a spoonful of stock does not count.

The dishes that look vegetarian and often aren’t

Dashi is usually made from katsuobushi, dried and smoked bonito shaved into flakes, often with kombu. Niboshi, small dried sardines, make another common stock. A kombu-only or shiitake dashi is the vegetarian version, and good kitchens can make it, but it is rarely the default.

Udon and soba broths and their dipping sauces are normally bonito dashi, so plain noodles are not automatically safe. Miso soup almost always contains dashi. Ramen broth is usually pork, chicken or fish, and a “vegetable ramen” may still sit on meat stock. Vegetable tempura needs two questions: the Japan Tourism Agency guide lists egg in the batter, and the dipping sauce or rice-bowl sauce is usually fish dashi. Okonomiyaki batter commonly includes dashi and egg, and bonito flakes are the classic topping. Simmered vegetables, agedashi tofu and oden are cooked in dashi.

Japanese curry surprises Indian travellers most. The Tourism Agency notes that curry roux can contain lard, beef fat and meat or seafood extracts, so a vegetable curry is not vegetarian unless the roux is. Lard also turns up in some fried food and pastry, gelatin in jellies and some desserts, and some noodles contain egg. If you avoid alcohol, mirin and sake are common seasonings in sauces and glazes.

The easier ground is real, too: plain rice, cucumber rolls (kappa maki), pickled daikon rolls, cold tofu with soy sauce, grilled aubergine with miso, edamame, and pickles, though some pickles are seasoned with fish extract. Our food and culture guide covers the general habits of eating vegetarian abroad; in Japan it comes down to the stock.

Shojin ryori, the temple kitchen

Shojin ryori is the cooking of Japan’s Buddhist temples. The tourism organisation describes it as traditionally vegan and made without pungent flavours such as garlic and onion, built on tofu, seasonal vegetables and wild plants. Its own guide adds a caveat: some modern temples do use dairy, so ask ahead.

You find it mainly in temples and temple lodgings (shukubo). Koyasan, the mountain temple town in Wakayama, is the best-known place to stay overnight and eat it, and room rates at shukubo typically include dinner and breakfast. In Kyoto, some temples serve shojin meals to visitors, and our Japan Discovery itinerary suggests one as an option on its Arashiyama day. Book ahead where you can.

For Jain travellers it is the closest thing in Japan to a meal cooked your way, since onion and garlic are left out by tradition. It is not automatically Jain, though: burdock, daikon, lotus root and konnyaku, made from a root, are staples of temple cooking. Send the card in advance and ask what they can substitute.

Convenience stores and reading a label

Konbini, the convenience stores on almost every corner, are a real help between meals. The tourism organisation points to umeboshi (pickled plum) and kombu onigiri, packaged beans, edamame, salads and inarizushi (whose seasoning can include dashi, so check the label), and warns that the sauce packet with natto is often dashi. Fruit, yoghurt, nuts and plain crackers are usually straightforward for lacto-vegetarians; bread and pastries can contain egg or lard, so check those too.

Rice and fillings can be seasoned with fish extract, so read the ingredient list (原材料名). The words to look for: 肉 (meat), 魚介 (fish and seafood), かつお (bonito), 煮干し (dried sardines), だし or 出汁 (stock), and エキス (extract, as in チキンエキス, chicken extract). Add 卵 (egg), 乳 (milk), ゼラチン (gelatin) and ラード (lard), and for Jain travellers 玉ねぎ (onion), にんにく (garlic) and ねぎ (spring onion).

Do not rely on the allergen box. Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency requires packaged food to declare egg, milk, shrimp and crab among others, but meat and most fish, including the bonito in dashi, are not on that mandatory list. A label can be silent on the fish stock you are trying to avoid. A translation app with a camera mode helps with the rest of the ingredient list.

Restaurants, Indian food and hotel breakfasts

In Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto there are dedicated vegetarian and vegan restaurants, and some display a certification mark from a Japanese vegetarian or vegan organisation. Restaurant-finding apps and websites let you filter for them. Photo menus help, but the tourism organisation’s advice still applies: ask about the stock.

Indian restaurants are easy to find in the big cities and are the fallback most families lean on. Ask the same questions you would at home: whether the gravy uses onion and garlic, whether the paneer dish contains egg, and whether ghee or butter is used. Outside the cities, choice thins quickly, so plan meals for rural days.

Hotel breakfasts are usually a buffet. The Japanese side (miso soup, simmered dishes) will mostly contain dashi; the Western side (bread, eggs, fruit, yoghurt, cereal) is usually the easier half. If you want a proper vegetarian breakfast, ask the hotel before you arrive rather than at the counter.

Ryokans, set menus and what to pack

A ryokan dinner is a multi-course set menu prepared for each guest, which makes it both the biggest risk and the best opportunity. The tourism organisation notes that ryokan can prepare vegetarian meals if you contact them ahead with the details. Send your card in Japanese when you book and ask them to confirm, and do not expect a change on arrival, when the menu has already been bought and prepared.

Carry snacks for travel days: nuts, biscuits, khakhra, thepla or ready-to-eat packs from home, subject to what the airline and customs allow. A small bottle of soy sauce, as the tourism organisation suggests, makes a bowl of plain rice or tofu a meal. And book the one or two special vegetarian meals, a shojin lunch or a vegan kaiseki, before anything else.

Planning the rest of the trip

Food is one part of a first trip. The Japan destination guide covers seasons and regions, our first-trip planning guide covers rail passes, IC cards and money, and Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka helps choose the bases. For how food shapes a trip more widely, see food travel and the food and culture guide.

Tell us your dietary requirements when you enquire, down to egg, dashi and root vegetables, and we can build them into the journey design. Some of our Japan itineraries include a ryokan night, such as the Golden Route with its Hakone onsen stay, which is exactly where an advance request matters most.

Sources

• A Vegetarian and Vegan Guide to Japan — Japan National Tourism Organization
• Koyasan Shukubo (temple lodgings) — Japan National Tourism Organization
• Overnight stay at a temple — Japan National Tourism Organization
• Vegetarian/Vegan and Muslim hospitality guide (April 2024, Japanese) — Japan Tourism Agency
• Food allergy labelling (Japanese) — Consumer Affairs Agency, Government of Japan