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Traveling to Japan with peanut alergies

tamer

後輩
21 Apr 2003
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Hi,
I have very serious allergies to nuts and peanuts (EXcluding sesame). If the food I eat is in contact with traces of nuts or peanuts, I will probably react, my throat will swell and I will choke to death if not taken to the hospital very quickly. In Canada and the US, this type of allergic reaction is relatively well known and it's often possible to eat at restaurants and get food in stores. All foods that could contain traces or nuts or peanuts are labelled (it's in the ingredients list). I went to Europe recently and most people where not aware of such allergies... most of them were saying to me: "Well, try it and you'll see" :-(

I would really like to visit Japan, and I might also have to live there at some point for business and I'm worried that I will not be able to find food.

How much are people aware of such allergies in Japan?
Are food labels in English to (I guess not)?
Do Japanese have those kinds of allergies?

Thanks a lot for your answers.
 
I'm sure nut allergies exist but they are not well known at all. The good news is that Japanese food generally doesn't contain nuts or nut extracts. Now, if you're allergic to soy products you may as well give it up now.

So there's no litmus test to test food for nut extracts? If not, I say we make and market one and make a million dollars! Seems like it shouldn't be that hard (compared to mapping the human genome for example).
 
hi, tamer-san!
I've never heard of that allergy in Japan, maybe because we don't use nuts in foods.. I'm not sure.. I saw nuts in Chinese fried vegitables and some Thaifoods, but I can't think of any Japanese foods contain nuts, though..

I just searched about the allergy in Yahoo JAPAN,
and I found a good news for you.
If the product contains peanuts,
you can find this sentence in Japanese on the box: "窶堋ア窶堙個渉、窶「i窶堙債、ニ痴ツーニ段ニ鍛ニ団窶堙ーナスg窶廃窶堋オ窶堋スツ静昶?敕オ窶堙?青サ窶伉「窶堋オ窶堙??堋「窶堙懌?堋キ."
If you cannot remember this sentence, just remember ニ痴ツーニ段ニ鍛ニ団(=peanuts)!! Japanese have those kinds of allergies, but it's still uncommon.
 
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