Vegetarianism in Japan???

Today I talked about Vegetarianism with one of our students. Vegetarians do not eat meat or fish. Vegans exclude any products from their diet that are derived from animals, including eggs, milk and dairy products – even honey. Reasons for Vegetarianism vary from religious to ethic motivation, since cows and pigs are as much living beings as our pets, which we would never want to see encaged, slaughtered and served on a bowl of rice at Matsuya’s around the corner.
Even though traditional Buddhist Shōjin Ryōri contains neither meat, nor fish, eggs, or milk, purely vegetarian food is really hard to find vegan dishes in Japanese restaurants today. The drive for Westernization during the Meiji Era allowed Japanese food culture to adapt beef and pork. So meat has become a natural component of Japanese cooking. If we think of Japanese food today, it is hard to imagine Sukiyaki and and Oyakodon without any traces of animal products.
As there are only a few vegetarian restaurants in Tokyo, it is hard for Vegetarians to eat out. Asking the staff to leave out meat or fish might be possible at some places, but considering that franchise sticks fast with standardized menus and dishes (e.g. Salami Pizza from the chest freezer) and cooks are not familiar with alternative foodstuffs, it is obvious that most restaurants are not prepared to respond to the needs of those whose eating habits differ from the mainstream customers’.
We came to the conclusion that it is quite hard to be (and stay) Vegetarian or even Vegan in Japan. Respecting each other goes along with being aware of the individual’s habits and culture. This does not concern food exclusively but shows how important communication and exchange among cultures is. Since we might not want to have visitors feel discriminated in our countries and we ourselves do not want to be misunderstood abroad, being able to embrace diversity is a valuable skill – And that’s why we learn foreign languages, right?