2 weeks in Japan as a veggie 🥕

Japan is a wierd and wonderful place thats brilliant to travel, but lets be real it can be tough for a vegetarian. During my 2 week trip I discovered that with a bit of planning ahead and knowing the right spots you can eat as good as the carnivorous! In my guide you’ll find my top tips for eating out in Japan as a veggie as well as a load of food recommendations in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Hakone to kickstart your planning.

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Updated ago

Welcome to Japan

So here I am, freshly landed in Tokyo (please forgive the red eyes) and excited to discover a new country!

As my girlfriend and I are sat on the Narita Express having eaten only plane food for the last 18 hours, our conversation naturally turns to what will be our first meal. Ramen is the obvious answer, and we agree it can’t be too hard to find a veggie ramen in a big city like Tokyo.

A quick google search reveals a few potential spots near our accommodation, however when I read the reviews they all mention that they used to offer a vegetarian option but no longer. It was at this point I realised that this was gonna be harder than i thought.

Fast forward 3 days and despite otherwise having a great time, in my jet lagged state the struggle to eat well was getting me down. But fear not, I learnt that with a bit of planning ahead and knowing the right spots you can eat as good as the carnivorous - thats why I’m writing this guide for you now!

Top tips

Get comfortable eating solo

In Japan most food places are small and normally focus on just a few dishes. Now if that dish is not vegetarian (likely!) you’re all out of luck. While travelling with a big group, I quickly learnt that the group evening meals where everyone is catered for isn’t really possible.

When I stopped trying to fight this my experience got much better. In Japan it is very common for people to eat solo, you really won’t stand out and in fact lots of places are designed with booths for individuals.

Eating solo also means you can eat somewhere thats main focus is creating great vegetarian food, no more being the after thought.

If you see something you can eat, eat it!

Through my trip, I started to spot more and more veggie options. However these options weren’t always near by at one of the traditional 3 meal times of the day.

I adopted an approach where if I saw something I could eat, I would eat it. Now that did mean slightly wierd eating patterns, but it meant I was eating food that I actually was excited to eat and anyway you’re on holiday!

Do your research

When the hunger hits and you can’t think straight, you want to have a few safe options up your sleeve.

Before and during my trip I pinned a lot of veggie options to a Google map. I found these across various online blogs and articles and I tried to have options spread geographically across the cities.

Places to try

During my 2 week trip I visited Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hakone. I hope my recommendations below can help you start to plan your own trip!

Tokyo

Tempura Shinjuku Tsunahachi Ginza