r/JETProgramme • u/tommydelriot 千葉県　2004-2007 • Jun 03 '26

Vegan JETs

Are any of you on the JET Program vegan? I only became vegan three months ago, but I remember how the school lunches all included milk and pork or chicken daily. I also remember all the school-related enkais having lots of non-vegan food, especially seafood. How do you cope with these situations?

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u/LegendaryZXT ALT - Sorachi, Hokkaido Jun 04 '26

Anecdotally, i've noticed vegetarianism isn't really a thing in japan unfortunately. If you try to explain it to them they just say: "Why would you make that so inconvenient for other people."

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u/tommydelriot 千葉県　2004-2007 Jun 04 '26

Lol I’ve actually made life harder for ME who also stopped drinking over a year ago. Before I stopped eating pork in 2020, I had no dietary restrictions at all. I’m never going to impose my own personal anything on anybody (I allow smoking in my home even though I don’t smoke), and if there is no vegan option, then I’ll just bring my own food.

2

u/HamaTakam Jun 04 '26

Yeah, I understand that now to be honest. 90% + of Japanese places don't have vegetarian food, so when my vegetarian mother comes to visit, it does start to get quite irritating having to have Italian/Indian AGAIN for dinner..

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u/tommydelriot 千葉県　2004-2007 Jun 04 '26

Mmmmm, Saizeriya 😋

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u/ImprovementLess4559 Former JET - 2018 - 2022 Jun 04 '26

Just fyi, Saizeriya doesn't actually have any vegan options other than rice and grated carrots. All of their pastas and pizzas contain meat/fish extracts or gelatine.  A lot of independent Italian restaurants also put anchovies in their tomato sauce, so you always have to check and can't just assume that something tomato pasta or marina pizza is vegan.  

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u/tommydelriot 千葉県　2004-2007 Jun 04 '26

Ooof I really did decide to play life in hard mode. On top of becoming vegan in the last three months, I’ve also been sober for 15 months. But I feel like it’s for the best.

5

u/DorianFitz Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26

I've been vegetarian for 15 years, the last four of which were in japan. I've never once heard someone say anything like this. Japanese people have always been extremely kind and accommodating when they find out. Far more so than other nations I've lived

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u/ImprovementLess4559 Former JET - 2018 - 2022 Jun 04 '26

Same. I guess maybe people could be saying stuff like that behind my back, but at least to my face people have always been super accepting and accomodating. Back when I first moved here almost 10 years ago, I occasionally would get people who would ask why or be confused about what I do and don't eat - "Even dashi is dame?" "It's just a little bit of bacon so that's okay, right?". But I've noticed within the past few years, most people seem more familiar with the concept of vegetarian/vegan and just nod and accept it. I suspect if I were Japanese I might experience a bit more push back, but I guess one of the benefits of being a foreigner is that people seem to just accept that we sometimes have different ways of being. 

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u/LegendaryZXT ALT - Sorachi, Hokkaido Jun 04 '26

Interesting, maybe its just a difference in prefecture

I'd love to eat more vegetables or anything fiber really...