The place to dicuss local topics and to meet others in your area.

happy - happy - happy!..... Thanks Michael!!!!!!! Rock on Japan!!!!!!!

こにちは　みんな！　　はじめまして、ようろしく　お願いします！



Hello Everyone! I don't post much on these boards but I'm glad to see there is a Japan thread. Arigatou Micheal!



Well, I'm hoping to find a few others who are vegetarian and live in Japan. As for me, I live in the inaka (countryside) of Wakayama prefecture (和歌山県) in a little town called Sano. It's near the "city" of Shingu (新宮市) if you'd like to find it on the map. It's about as far from anywhere as one can get, I believe. Being veggie here is rough, but it's worth it just for the reactions I get.



I was hoping we could swap some restraunt info and maybe some cooking tips. Afterall, there are no faux-meats, cheeses, ect here. (Although if anyone knows of some please let me know!) The only substitute we have is soymilk. If anyone is in the kansai area I know of a restraunt that caters to even vegan tastes and could give directions. Let me know



PS... Hi Veganaconda! I'm glad to see you're happy about the thread... Hurry and come to Japan!

Hello ShinguVegan!

I live in the Kanagawa Prefecture in Ayase-shi (this is fairly close to Yokohama)



I've been to a few vegetarian friendly restaurants in this area. In Kamakura I go to a Shojin Ryori restaurant that it just so perfect you want to sing! There is also a tofu restaurant in Kamakura that is outstanding. I cannot remember the names of these off the top of my head, but if you're interested - I can PM them to you later.



You might have luck finding mock meats if you go to a chinese restaurant. How do Japanese say it "fu"?



I've found Soy yogurt in grocery stores as well.



Welcome to Veggieboards by the way!!

Hello! I lived in Japan last year (In Tokyo). Ahh I miss it. Although I don't miss the veg*n difficulties.

Here is a link that may help..



http://www.alishan-organic-center.com/en/index.html



I believe they ship nationwide in Japan

Irraishaimase!



I will be going to Japan on vacation in about three weeks, and I expect that, because I will be with a tour group, I will probably spend the week eating white rice and Luna Bars, which I plan to pack a great deal of!

Hey there!



I've been to kanagawa-ken once, have a friend who teaches out that way, but I don't make it into the Kanto region to often. It's just too expensive to go (have to take the train or overnight-bus)! Still it's nice to know there's at least one veggie around.



Unfortunatly there is no such thing as a chinese restraunt near by. In my town we have two restraunts. Did I mention I live in the stix! Perhaps if I head to katsuura, but I haven't seen one there yet. Actually though I don't miss meat mock or otherwise. It's more wanting the alternative cooking products that are so readily available elsewhere (I'm originally from Florida). You have soy yogurt...Lucky! Soy milk only just made it to Sano four months ago. Can you believe it? I was so excited that I had to ask the grocery store ladies if I was reading the kanji right. It's opened up whole new cooking possibilties. No more wasted time making mock rice milk.

Hey Schoska... Thanks for the link. I'm going to snoop around now and see what I can find!

Wow - and I thought I had a challenge.....



I do half my grocery shopping on the base - so I can get silk soymilk (yay) and boca burgers (yay yay).



You could make your own soymilk/yogurt. It's pretty easy with one of those automatic machines. The cost of soybeans here isn't that cheap though. I buy mine from the states (organic too) - people going back to visit fetch them for me. I rarely make my own soymilk, but I do make tempeh regularly.



I'm going to miss the Japanese produce when I move back to the states. I'm very spoiled with the outstanding quality.

Just a quick message. On Wens. two whales got lost and swam into the the koza river near my town. It was odd. There was a crowd of 20 people standing around, starring, but doing nothing. One of the whales appeared to have an injured flipper, but I can't imagine that's the reason they got lost in the river. Listening to most of the people talking, they simply assumed the whales would be dead by morning. I honestly think that's what they wanted! One member of the crowd said something like this happend 20 years or so ago, and that they just killed them and ate them. You see that's what they do here. They hunt and torture and then eat whales...



Anyhow, I didn't know how to react to this. I had protested the whale slaughter in Taiji before, but I walk a fine line. I have to remember that I'm a guest in this community. Not just some fly-by night protest group that shows up, takes video and then slips away. I live here. I teach kids who's parents make a living in the whaling industry. I try to see things from both sides (although I really can't when the bay turns red and I listen to dolphins litteraly screaming at night). Besides two lost whales were a little different. Do I get the signs and start marching, start shouting for people to do something when all they want to do is nothing?



At least this story has a happy ending. In the end the fire department was called (thanks to a friend!) and we asked "What are you gonna do about it!" They seemed reluctant, but in the end the whales were saved. Hopefully the injured whale will make it away before they decide to get the boat and harpoons... I should be happy that the whales are safe, and I am, but really, right now I'm just disillussioned, sad, and angry. I wish people could understand. This place is filled with such natural beauty. Then we make the ocean run red. I mean red. It's blood and hatred and anger that make it so. It's just so wrong.



Well I had best stop here. this was supposed to be short, but it's turned into a long, disorganized ramble. I think I just needed to vent a little.

Glad to know they made it out. I understand your frustration - I could picture the reaction to this most local people would have had.

Well, my last post was a bit angry so I thought perhaps a sweeter one would be good. I swear this country makes me crazy! First I get furious to no end and then someone turns around and does something entirely unexpected and kind...



I teach an eikaiwa down in Kushimoto, a town about an hours train ride from my place. When I first did my self introduction one of the things I mentioned was that I was a strict vegetarian. Anyway, here we are eight weeks later and one of the ladies comes up to me after class and hands me a little obento wrapped in this beautiful hankerchief (sp?). She says to me kind of shyly, "I hope you'll enjoy this on the train home. Yasai daisuki na hito ni zen zen ryorihen." (Lit. I've never never cooked for "A vegetable-loving person" before. This is sometimes how the Japanese describe vegetarians as they don't really have a word for it, well they kind of do kind of don't anyhow). So I get to the train and open it up and it's these wonderful little homemade onigiri packed with veggies. And a packet of yasai furikake and three umeboshi. It was awesome.



So that's my happy story to make up for the angry one. It really was a nice thing to do. She put a lot of effort into my little meal.

It's nice when that happens. My staff makes special things for me now and then. It always makes me feel really good.

For anyone interested, there will be a nuclear protest and charity walk in Tanabe, Wakayama-ken at the Hikigawa koen. We are marching to protest the use of nuclear weapons, power, and waste. We will also be walking in support of the International Peace Pilgrimage now making its way through Japan. This is a group of mostly Austrailians and Japanese monks walking from Roxbe Downs (I think I spelled that right) to Nagasaki in an effort to raise awarness about nuclear issues and engage in peaceful protest.



The march kicks off on Sunday, April 11 at 10:00pm. There will be walking (obviously), a children's corner, an information table, live music, activities, a BBQ (of course we have a veggie option! Most of the organizers are vgn), and cherry blosom viewing.



Each step will be a prayer toward a nuclear free future...

Hope it goes well! Are there still cherry blossoms in that area? Ours are all but gone here near Yokohama.

I finally got the pictures uploaded to an album of my Kyoto trip with the kiddo. I tried to write information about each photo (maybe I got to about half before giving up).



Here is the link for anyone interested:

http://community.webshots.com/album/138074547dloPvK

Well, it looks like rainy season has kicked off here in Shingu. We are going on four days of non-stop rain. Good for the rice, bad for the laundry. Have the clouds rolled in for anyone else yet?

Yep - been overcast and rainy off and on .....

Hey everyone. Sashiburi...



I recently headed down south to Okinawa and made a discovery that might be of interest to others. If you're looking for a cheese substitute here in rainy ol' Nihon you might want to try something called Tofuyou. It's a product of Okinawa and while I haven't seen it around my little inaka, in the bigger cities you may have some luck. The tast and texture is very close to that of blue cheese (maybe many won't like it afterall, but if you're a fan of stong cheese...) It's traditionally eaten with thinly sliced daikon and some shizo. I was very impressed! 食べて見て下さい!

People have heard of it here in Tokyo area (though none of my friends were able to say they've actually TRIED it). I'm having a vision......a vision of me with a piece of paper in my hand with Tofoyou? written in Kanji - visiting all the big grocery store.

(I'll keep you posted)

i just wanted to drop in and say hi..!



i do not live in japan but i have a friend who was living there last year (i visited for two weeks, we were in the Kansai area) and he'll be leaving for japan soon as part of the JET program.. In kansai we didn't have too much trouble finding soymilk and all.. and the soymilk/tofu donuts!! mmmm... and green tea donuts..!



also! i work with a theatre company in my town, and we have a connection with a place called the Model Language Studio in japan, and through them we take shows and tour around different parts of Japan and teach acting/english workshop to kids in the schools we perform at. And, last december, we were in ... Wakayama! And we might be going again this November.. !!

I like green tea anything. Especially green tea noodles!

Hello there,



Wow, someone actually knows about Wakawheresitatyama. Where abouts did you visit? Did you make it to Koya-san by any chance? If not it's a must on next visit! If you do get to stop by in November maybe you can make it down south to my little inaka. I'll be happy to put people up for a night or two and show you around. Let me know if get to come again and have a little extra time.

I'd love to find a recipe for Shojin-ryori, can't sem to find one anywhere.

Hey everyone.. I'm going to Japan sometime in the near future to visit an old boyfriend who's in the Navy and is stationed in Sasebo (near Nagasaki). I've never been to Japan before, nor do I speak ANY Japanese... I'm just curious how hard it is going to be for me to find vegetarian food while I'm there.. I might fly into Tokyo and make my way to Nagasaki via train, but I don't know how difficult that is going to be with the language barrier. Any suggestions?

I would love to visit Japan! I actually did a search some time ago to see how possible it was to eat veg*an in Japan, and I came up with some veg*an restaurants. Here's the link to the post I made in another thread, that contains links to the restaurants. https://www.veggieboards.com/boards/s...0&postcount=14



Bear in mind that veg*anism is still as much an oddity in Japan as it is in the West, and what's considered vegetarian to Japanese cooks might have fish in it.

ooh thanks

Very new to this board so still learning how to use it but wanted to say hi from Kobe. I am a co-organizer for monthly gatherings (pot-lucks, picnics, BBQs,etc) in Kansai for Vegetarians/Vegans. Just had a vegan Xmas dinner party to raise money for the victims of the earthquake in Pakistan - VISITORS TO KANSAI ARE WELCOME TO JOIN US

just popping in to say HI. this forum doesn`t get much action. I`m in Nagasaki,. anybody else out there near here??? Also hello to Haylie up in Kobe... I was up that way (IKOMA) to visit a friend in August... but other than that I don`t get up there much.

You say forum here doesn't get much action, so lets put that to work, I'm up for it........One cool reason is that I've pretty near always wanted to learn the language, and to go there will follow I hope, OMG, I so do hope! I have plenty of neat links I could hand out, if I spin out a few, they'll hopefully inspire others to post in this thread, whether those of who do are in Japan or any place else with a love of Japan






I met a cyber somebody from Kobe just the other day, allergic to meat, sooo thats lucky A japanese. Sadly as you can tell I've never been to Japan YET!!!!! but there are ppl on VB that have~> Ceryna for one and ShinguVegan to name but two!! Good for them, I envy them of course, but thats all good .....I wonder if Shingu is still there to be envied? hehe j/k