For the soy sauce substitute, use fish sauce such as nam pla or nouc mam.
If you're a veggie, try to find soy sauce made of rice for allegic people, though I assume it is rather hard to find one in your country.
You may get more ideas if you tell what you usually eat at home.
NYC is the ideal place to cook Japanese food, for the tapping water in NY is as soft as in Japan.
To make good dashi soup, soft water is a must.