Vegan Joints

[vaultdweller25]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to Tokyo, does anyone know any great vegan places? Or any meet up groups?

Thanks

[Cyka UchuuJin]

[FG Lurker]

I'm new to Tokyo, does anyone know any great vegan places? Or any meet up groups?

Most vegans in Japan either have no social life at all or quickly find out they can't maintain their veganism while living in Japan. If you want to maintain veganism here you are going to need to cook everything yourself from basic ingredients.

[Cyka UchuuJin]

seconded on the no social life.
I got curious and googled, there's a list.
http://www.happycow.net/asia/japan/tokyo/

[yanpa]

Can't say I know anything, but Google does (selection of links from the first page):

http://www.happycow.net/asia/japan/tokyo/
http://travel.cnn.com/tokyo/eat/get-you ... nts-736004
http://veglicious.blogspot.jp/2008/04/v ... tokyo.html
Tokyo Vegan Meetup Group

Like others said, it might be a bit of a struggle one way or another.

[Cyka UchuuJin]

good lord, there's even meetups for them!

i like the girl who joined the vegan group who is 'not vegetalian, but interested in vegetalian food'.
these girls will do anything to land a gaijin...

[yanpa]

Veg-curious?

[Coligny]

Veg-curious?

meanwhile... Rewarmed Mcnuggets tiem... yay!

[james]

Veg-curious?

meanwhile... Rewarmed Mcnuggets tiem... yay!

those likely don't qualify as meat anyway

[wuchan]

From what I remember, joints are vegan. can't really figure out how one would get animal products into one...

[nikoneko]

Many of the old-timers around here know this but, I have a globe-trotting vegetarian buddy who said this country is one of the absolute hardest there is in the world and he is not even vegan. He ate a ton of ume-boshi onigiri basically. For full on vegan you have one choice, that buddhist cuisine whatever it is called. He could not find it, he ended up at a tofu restaurant thanks to lonely planet instead. He loved okonomiyaki though for sure when we took him out for it.

[FG Lurker]

Figured I'd add a bit more vegan info. There have been a couple of discussions in Reddit's /r/japan area that I think you will find illuminating, if not exactly what you might hope to read: This one from about 3 weeks ago, and this one from about 5 months ago.

In summary though, you have to be an extremely dedicated vegan to manage it in Japan.

[Hamaki]

ah Japan the county of hidden meats...

A friend of mine is a vegetarian and for the longest time she thought miso soup was vegetarian, she needed to learn Japanese. Also, I had muslim friend visiting from France and even when we asked if the dish had pork in it and the waiter answered "no, it has not meat in it" it shows up with pork in it.

The one thing that will always screw up a vegetarian diet is Katsuo dashi.....

[matsuki]

ah Japan the county of hidden meats...

A friend of mine is a vegetarian and for the longest time she thought miso soup was vegetarian, she needed to learn Japanese. Also, I had muslim friend visiting from France and even when we asked if the dish had pork in it and the waiter answered "no, it has not meat in it" it shows up with pork in it.

Hahaha, like "Gaijin" seems to refer to "only white Americanz" for some Japanese, I've often found people referring to "meat" as beef while not considering chicken, pork, whale, dog, etc meat.

Sort of on topic but I met a nutty lemur recently that "became a macrobiotic" and a "beeegan" a year ago. She kept on going on about how she never gets sick and feels soo much healthier I can't take people like that seriously.

Never heard of a "Macrobiotic" before but after googling it, it reminds me of the Japanese take on Mormons...

A macrobiotic diet (or macrobiotics), from "macro" (long) and "bios, biot-" (life), is a dietary regimen which involves eating grains as a staple food supplemented with other foodstuffs such as local vegetables, avoiding the use of highly processed or refined foods and most animal products.

Long life, no processed foods...ok ok

Macrobiotics also addresses the manner of eating by recommending against overeating and requiring that food be chewed thoroughly before swallowing. Macrobiotics writers present it as a means of combating cancer.

Chew all your brown rice real good

Japanese macrobiotics emphasizes locally grown whole grain cereals, pulses (legumes), vegetables, seaweed, fermented soy products and fruit, combined into meals according to the principle of balance (known as yin and yang). Some Japanese macrobiotic theorists, including George Ohsawa, stress the fact that yin and yang are relative qualities that can only be determined in a comparison. All food is considered to have both properties, with one dominating. Foods with yang qualities are considered compact, dense, heavy, hot, whereas those with yin qualities are considered expansive, light, cold, and diffuse. However, these terms are relative; "yangness" or "yingness" is only discussed in relation to other foods.

yin!! yang!! ancient Chine...ehh Japanese secret!!

One of the earlier versions of the macrobiotic diet that involved eating only brown rice and water has been linked to severe nutritional deficiencies and even death.

but but brown rice is healthy and doesn't have chemicals??

Medical professionals do not consider that there is evidence that a macrobiotic diet is a cure for cancer. The American Cancer Society strongly urges people with cancer not to use a dietary program as an exclusive or primary means of treatment. Michio Kushi himself developed cancer and in 2004 had a tumor removed surgically from his intestines. Roel Van Duijn reported in the Dutch national newspaper Trouw on September 5, 1998, and later in the quarterly Skepter of the Dutch organisation Skepsis that following advice of a macrobiotic counselor over conventional medical treatments resulted in the death of his wife.

Strict macrobiotic diets that include no animal products may result in nutritional deficiencies unless they are carefully planned. The danger may be worse for people with cancer, who may have to contend with unwanted weight loss and often have increased nutritional and caloric requirements. Relying on this type of treatment alone and avoiding or delaying conventional medical care for cancer may have serious health consequences. Children may also be particularly prone to nutritional deficiencies resulting from a macrobiotic diet. Macrobiotic diets have not been tested in women who are pregnant or breast-feeding, and some versions may not include enough of certain nutrients for normal fetal growth. In 1971, the AMA Council on Foods and Nutrition said that followers of the macrobiotic diet, particularly the strictest, stood in "great danger" of malnutrition.

Slowly starve your body of needed nutrients for long live and health!

Michio Kushi and George Ohsawa smoked cigarettes. Kushi states that lung cancer can arise from dairy food in the diet: "In combination with tobacco, dairy food can trap tars and other ingredients of tobacco smoke in the lungs, leading often to lung cancer." This is contrary to medical and scientific understanding of the connection between lung cancer and smoking.

[yanpa]

Sort of on topic but I met a nutty lemur recently

That's not like you at all

[Samurai_Jerk]

Most vegans have no social life

FTFY

[matsuki]

Sort of on topic but I met a nutty lemur recently

That's not like you at all

Guilty as charged...

[Samurai_Jerk]

ah Japan the county of hidden meats...

A friend of mine is a vegetarian and for the longest time she thought miso soup was vegetarian, she needed to learn Japanese. Also, I had muslim friend visiting from France and even when we asked if the dish had pork in it and the waiter answered "no, it has not meat in it" it shows up with pork in it.

The one thing that will always screw up a vegetarian diet is Katsuo dashi.....

I like the fact that your friend would assume any kind of soup was vegetarian. Reminds me of a Muslim friend who used to order miso ramen at this one place because it was only topped with vegetables. I think in that case though he as purposefully being ignorant of the fact that the soup was made with pork bones so he could eat something he liked.

If you check the ingredients of things made in Japan it's surprising how many of them have pork extract (豚エキス) in them. I've even seen it on the ingredients list of a jar of brown mustard. Was your Muslim one of those dick heads that won't eat pork but will drink and bang random skanks? I've had more than a few Muslim friends like that and it annoys the shit out of me.

Other good ones are: an Orthodox Jewish friend in college who kept kosher except when it came to Mexican food because he liked it too much and another one (friend of a friend) who wouldn't light his own bong on the Sabbath.

[gaijinpunch]

Title needs to be changed. Was really looking for a non-meat joint rolling method.

[FG Lurker]

Another reddit thread that was linked from the sidebar of /r/japan.