It’s been 2 weeks since I arrived in Japan, and I’m pleased to report that I’m surviving on more than just soya milk and onigiri (rice balls). Not much more, but hey. If you thought being vegan in South Africa was tough, think again. I totally took Fry’s for granted!
When they say they put fish in everything in Japan, they really mean it. A lot of vegetarians who came over here started eating fish because of it. From soba noodle dishes to salads, there’s something fishy about everything. At the supermarkets, they have shelves full of dried fish … that said, they also have entire aisles of tofu, miso and other bean products. Not to mention seaweed, grains and tea!
I think being vegan in Japan is only tough while you’re figuring out the language, what to buy, and where to eat out. I’m sure it would be the same for a Japanese vegan in South Africa. If you are planning to travel to a place where English isn’t an official language, be sure to learn to ask what’s in foodstuffs – oh, and what the answers mean too! Learn from my mistakes. 
I’ll be in Japan for the next 12 months, teaching English (yawn, how clichéd) at a senior high school in Osaka. This blog will be about my vegan adventures though – if you want to hear about my teaching, drop me a line.
So, food … never in my life has buying food been so frustrating, or exciting! My first meal involved matching the pictures in my Vegan Restaurant Pocketguide to items in a Tokyo combini (convenience store) and convincing myself that beer could provide the RDA of B-vitamins … it got a bit better when we arrived in Osaka and found a supermarket – although IBS sufferers be warned, brown rice is virtually unheard of! This weekend we’ll be hunting down some Japanese hippies and extorting from them the location of said rice, as well as organic fruit and veggies.
Fruit and veggies are very expensive here – particularly because we are in a city. One shouldn’t convert back to rands … but when you’re paying R40 for an apple, you can’t help it! That said, the fruit, suspiciously large and immaculate as it may be, is pretty good.
Soya milk is interesting … as much of it contains dairy milk too! One of the few vegan brands comes in some rather … unusual flavours, such as dairy milk (boy, was that an unsettling taste experience), cooca (as in the leaf, not the chocolate) and green tea … luckily I can now tell which colour is original. Green tea soya milk flavoured cereal, anyone?
Next episode: nattou … traditional breakfast of Japan, secret to longevity, and the final cultural barrier no foreigner can overcome!
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