Hi from Japan

[Viking Redbeard]

Hi everyone,

Just signed up and happy to be here. I consider myself to be a vegan and an atheist. I'm here mainly to chat and learn things and, well, just hang out really. I'm English but I'm living in Japan - the hardest country in the world to be a vegan. And I used to live in Louisiana, where admitting you're not a Christian doesn't always go down too well.

I have a great deal of interest in religion and all of the topics surrounding it, and I also have a huge amount of interest in the myriad topics surrounding animal rights. Some of you may be able to identify when I say these topics aren't what most people ever want to discuss or have all that much truck with. So, once again, it's nice to be here.

Thanks.

[brimstoneSalad]

Hi, glad you joined, welcome!

Japan, wow. I've considered it, but fish paste and extracts in everything.
Is it easy enough to find miso without bonito in it?

I like the rental situation in Japan, super cheap microscopic apartments in the city -- yes please.
But I've always been put off by the food situation. And the culture is a bit reserved and 'keep to yourself' for me (although of course, being a Westerner, I'm sure you have plenty of people come up to you to speak English, but that's not always the kind of person you want to talk to at length in my experience).

[Viking Redbeard]

Yeah, I generally avoid the miso for that reason, as I avoid almost everything in restaurants since it's so hard to get people to understand my situation, well meaning as they are. Luckily my wife is Japanese, so that makes it much easier with the ingredients labels. And I mainly eat fresh fruits and veggies throughout the day and cook meals using whole foods for dinner, so it's not all that hard to get by. Coats and suits, though - it's a nightmare to find them in my size, let alone without wool and silk and such like!

It is a beautiful and fascinating country, though, and I'd recommend anyone to visit.

[Jebus]

Welcome Redbeard. Japan does indeed sound like a challenging place for a vegan although Mongolia would probably be worse. Have you seen the Cove? Shocking stuff.

[brimstoneSalad]

Are the vegan restaurants in Japan vegan, do you think, or are they careless about things like fish paste?

Was your wife vegan when you met her? Is it hard to meet fellow vegans in Japan?

[Viking Redbeard]

You may be right about Mongolia! And yeah I have seen 'The Cove'. I found it in the local DVD rental shop, surprisingly. Things that portray Japan in a negative light are usually kept fairly well hidden here. Very good doc, though.

I've found one or two fully vegan restaurants in Tokyo, but none outside. Veganism isn't known, let alone understood, and every vegetarian I've met does it for health reasons. Animal rights is kind of a non-issue, and people are always slightly shocked when I tell them my views.

Wifey was absolutely not a vegan - and for a time she couldn't really understand me. It was 'Earthlings' that made her want to change. I can't say she cares about moral philosophy or nutrition science or anything like that, but she certainly doesn't want to eat animal products any more.

[brimstoneSalad]

Great to hear about your wife's progress.

Restaurant listings,
They overwhelmingly seem to be bars and cafes, but some of these seem like proper restaurants:

http://www.happycow.net/gmaps/searchmap ... kw=&page=2

I counted four or five, although whether some of those are vegan is questionable. Beyond that, the rest seem to be macrobiotic or raw... which isn't necessarily vegan.
I sometimes wonder if a lot gets lots in translation with these happycow listings.
I've been to quite a few listed vegan restaurants which weren't (usually due to milk).

Have you found the same thing with the ones that say they're vegan there (if you've gone through the listings)?

Caring about animals seems to be a very new thing in East Asia in general, while Western traditions go back to the Victorian era, the Renaissance, and even Ancient Greece.
Maybe they just need time?

[Viking Redbeard]

Yes indeed. Most of the time you get restaurants and cafes with an organic, raw, plant based motif... but they still sneak in animal secretions of one kind or another, so it's a pain in the neck having to ask every time. There are some nice places to go, but you really have to be able to communicate with the staff to make sure they know what's what.

The thing with Japan is that they never had the big revolutions and social justice movements that the Western world had. They suppressed the Emperor (kind of, for a while), but they never really had a working class revolution or a republican revolution or a powerful feminist movement. I feel they went along with with democracy, women's rights etc., but without decades of internal grass roots struggle that makes a people who they are. I think that's why it's such a conservative country in which the people are taught obedience to authority and adherence to tradition.

I think veganism will catch on - people certainly don't delight in animal suffering here - but I don't know how or when. We'll have to see.

[TheVeganAtheist]

Hi Viking Redbeard,
welcome to the forum. Japan is a country ive always wanted to visit, however I have been concerned with being vegan there. Just curious what the public things of an organization like the Sea Shepherd?

[Viking Redbeard]

Sea Shepherd? Most people here have basically the same attitude towards Sea Shepherd that people in my country have towards the ALF, which is to say not too positive. They just see them as crazy trouble-makers interfering in other peoples' business.

On the topic of whaling and dolphin slaughter, most people in Japan don't really have an opinion. However, I'm an English teacher, and this topic sometimes comes up in lessons, and the response of a lot of people goes something like, 'Other countries kill animals for food and research, but it's only us who get condemned for it. It's not fair.' They see their culture and identity as being under attack.