Tourism Japan struggles to keep up with rising vegetarian demand

[thomas]

The increase in inbound tourism has led to a surge in vegetarian visitors to Japan. However, local businesses have struggled to keep pace with the growing demand for animal-free food options. While Japanese cuisine is often considered healthy, many traditional dishes rely on "dashi" broth, extracted from fish like bonito, making them unsuitable for vegetarians and vegans. The soba soup base, a staple of Japanese cuisine, is frequently made with bonito broth. The soup stock must be made from plant-based ingredients such as dried kelp or shiitake mushrooms to accommodate vegetarians and vegans. Additionally, vegans must avoid eggs commonly used in tempura batter.

Among the top 20 countries and regions where visitors to Japan come from, India has the highest rate of vegetarians, accounting for 20.2 per cent, followed by Taiwan at 12.3 per cent and Canada at 11.8 per cent, according to the Japan Tourism Agency. While there are various reasons people forgo meat or animal produce, such as their religion, health or animal welfare concerns, the number of vegetarians has been rising globally, reaching around 530 million as of 2023, the agency said. The number of vegetarians who visited Japan in 2023 is estimated to be around 1.28 million, accounting for about 5 per cent of the total foreign visitors, with the value of their consumption in Japan estimated at around 60.9 billion JPY (USD 428 million). One way of meeting demand could be by promoting Buddhist vegetarian cuisine called shōjin ryōri (精進料理), a traditional meal cooked without animal meat to avoid suffering.

Japan slow to cater for vegetarians despite growing demand

A surge in inbound tourism has boosted the number of vegetarians visiting Japan, but businesses in the country have not been able to fully meet demand by providing sufficient animal-free food options, a body that promotes vegetarianism said.

english.kyodonews.net

 

[Lothor]

'Japan doesn't bother' would be more accurate than 'Japan struggles'.
Many Japanese restaurants completely ignore the fact that a substantial proportion of the world's population are vegetarians or vegans (22%, though admittedly the figure is skewed by India). Even in Japan, the proportion of vegetarians doubled from 1% to 2% between 2018 and 2020. It's not unreasonable to expect restaurants to label meat-free dishes on menus and not reduce the options of vegetarians by tossing pieces of ham into otherwise vegetarian salads.

 

[mdchachi]

If they did that they might end up getting more tourists visiting the restaurant as word gets around and most restaurants don't seem to be interested in attracting foreign customers.
Does tabelog hotpepper etc have vegetarian filters for their listings at least?

 

[thomas]

Tabelog hasn't.

 

[salyavin]

I wonder what your average tourist uses when looking for places to eat in Japan, does your average tourist know about Tabelog? As far as attracting bigger spending foreign tourists by having vegetarian options I agree that sounds like a nice way to make money if the tourists know and it is in a tourist area. I do think Tabelog should add the option for vegetarian.

 

[Maciamo]

Vegetarianism and veganism have always been around but they are clearly on the rise in Europe, especially in Northern and Central Europe. I have made a map on Eupedia to show the approximate percentage of vegetarians by country using the data I could find between 2017 and 2022. Sweden, Finland and Austria have the highest percentages of vegetarians (about 11—12%).

 

[Lothor]

For Gen Z in the UK, the figure is about 25%.

 

[mdchachi]

I wonder what your average tourist uses when looking for places to eat in Japan, does your average tourist know about Tabelog?

My guess would be Google and Google maps for the majority. So in that sense tabelog probably doesn't matter. But it does show how little of a concern it is for the domestic market.

My niece became a vegan around the time she was 16. I think she was radicalized by youtube videos. Better veganism than ISIS I guess.
We all thought it would be a phase but she's 25 now and still vegan except she eats eggs now -- but the expensive ones where the chickens are given free roaming space and spa days.