Eating vegetarian food in Japan is definitely possible – it just takes a bit of research to know where to go and what to eat. There are a lot of great guides out there with information on the Japanese and English names for specific foods safe for a vegetarian diet. With this post, I want to show you places I have been to in Japan that offer vegetarian-friendly dishes on their menu. A few of these are completely vegetarian or vegan restaurants, but the majority of them serve meat-based meals as well. I have tried all of the dishes below, and they were all delicious, so if you visit Japan and are looking for some vegetarian meals to eat, here are my recommendations arranged by location!

Tokyo

Tokyo Station Area/Marunouchi/Chuo

Tsujiri

Tokyo Station is one of the major transportation hubs in Japan and contains numerous shops and restaurants. It might be the first big station you arrive at from the airport, or it might be where you need to catch a shinkansen bullet train to Kyoto. Whether you are in a jetlagged state from air travel or you have some time to pass before your shinkansen ride, head over to Tsujiri. Located on the 10^th floor of the Daimaru Tokyo department store in Tokyo Station, Tsujiri is a green-tea themed restaurant. Yes, all menu items are made with high-quality Japanese green tea (in other words, my personal heaven).

I had green tea noodles topped with veggies served with a dipping sauce and a cup of tea. The noodles were so light and chewy.

For dessert, I had this gorgeous scoop of green tea ice cream with red beans and sweet jelly.

Bonus: you get a cool view of central Tokyo if you sit by the window.

Shibuya

Harajuku Crepes

Crêpes have become iconic in Shibuya’s fashion forward Harajuku district and are sold all along Takeshita Dōri, the colorful street full of amazing Japanese fashion stores. Most of these crêpe stands have plastic models of menu offerings so you can see exactly what goes into each crêpe. They range from chocolate to strawberry to green tea cheesecake to crème brûlée, so you have a lot of yummy options to choose from!

Tendon Tenya

Tendon Tenya is a chain of no-frills, affordable tempura restaurants found throughout Japan. I’ve eaten at the Harajuku location right off of Takeshita Dōri. It’s sometimes hard to find tempura served without shrimp or prawn, but Tendon Tenya fortunately has an all-veggie tempura option – and at a price that won’t make your wallet sad!

For less than $10 USD, you can get a bowl of rice and vegetable tempura plus a side of hot or cold soba or udon noodles. The sauce they top the veggies with is magic. And, each table has a canister of free barley tea! Keep in mind that hot noodles come in a broth that may be meat-based (I’m unfortunately not sure), and they are served with a fish cake, so you might want to go with the cold noodles instead. This is a good place for a quick, cheap lunch, and English menus are available.

Shinjuku

Sarabeth’s

Located on the 2^nd floor of the Lumine 2 shopping mall in Shinjuku Station is Sarabeth’s, an outpost of the restaurant of the same name that originated in New York City in the 1980s. It is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I had a late lunch/early dinner there and was pleasantly surprised to see a good number of vegetarian items on the menu. I opted for the Buddha Bowl, a large rainbow mélange of quinoa, avocado, tofu, chickpeas, pickled beets, and a bunch of other veggies. It made for a very healthy meal!

And because it was so healthy, I didn’t feel bad about indulging in their signature French toast with strawberries for dessert. It even came in the shape of a heart!

Ikebukuro

AIN SOPH Soar

AIN SOPH Soar is an all-vegan restaurant located in Ikebukuro just a 10-minute walk from Ikebukuro Station and right around the corner from the Sunshine City shopping and entertainment complex. The rustic chic décor lends a nice ambiance to the space. According to their website, they wanted to go with a “glamping” look.

Since everything on the menu is vegan, there is no shortage of options here. I ordered a lunch set that came with a sandwich loaded with a colorful array of vegetables, a small side salad of deli veggies, a side of thick fried potatoes, and herb tea. It was delicious. They also sell pasta dishes, rice dishes, sweets (I hear the pancakes are really good), and cold pressed juices. It’s a good place to recoup your energy after spending a day in Ikebukuro playing games like Dance Dance Revolution at the many arcades or browsing eight floors of anime and manga goodies at the Animate store.

Milky Way Café

If you’re in the mood for some sweet treats, I suggest Milky Way Café, a star-themed restaurant right on the main street that serves artfully arranged parfaits and desserts. Though they’re all beautiful, it is super easy to pick one – go with whichever parfait corresponds to your astrological sign! Each parfait represents a particular star sign, so everyone from Capricorns to Sagittariuses will be satisfied.

Akasaka

Ninja Restaurant

Yes, it is seen as touristy, but the Ninja Restaurant in Akasaka is just as much fun as everyone says it is. The whole dining experience is very entertaining. Each table is assigned a ninja waiter who performs tricks throughout the meal. Because it gets so many international visitors with different diets each year, the restaurant offers an 8-course or 10-course menu for vegetarians. One of the showiest pieces was a pot of vegetables with smoke emanating from it to give it that ~cool, mysterious~ look. I also loved the shuriken blade-shaped breadsticks served as an appetizer. It’s a bit pricier since all of the entertainment is included and the food is themed (and there are so many courses!), but it is a very fun option if you want dinner and a show.

Hakone

Hakone-Yumoto Area

Isamiya

When I arrived in Hakone, a staff member at the ryokan I was staying at told me to check out Hakone’s tofu waffles at a restaurant called Isamiya. Intrigued, I sat down to a lunch of these tofu waffles, and they did not disappoint. The texture and taste were delicious. But, if you’re not a fan of the taste of tofu, don’t worry – it does not at all overpower the taste of the waffles. The dish also came with sweet red beans, vanilla ice cream, and fruit. The café also had a tofu cream sundae on the menu, which I didn’t get around to trying.

Isamiya is in a very convenient location just a 5-minute walk from Hakone-Yumoto Station, so you can make a stop there after exploring all of the cool things on Hakone-Yumoto’s main road.

Kyoto

Arashiyama Area

Shigetsu

When in Kyoto, I highly recommend you try shōjin-ryōri. This is a special Buddhist cuisine that is consumed by monks and is completely vegetarian. It is based on the Buddhist concept of ahimsa, which means non-violence toward living things. Shōjin-ryōri meals are served in small, individual plates and are designed so that no one flavor overpowers another.

One particular restaurant that serves shōjin-ryōri cuisine is Shigetsu, which is located on the grounds of the beautifully preserved Tenryūji temple. Each guest sits on the floor in a tatami mat room, where they are served a beautifully arranged tray of vegetarian plates consisting of rice, tofu, and cooked, steamed, and pickled vegetables. Fruit is served for dessert. I really love both the concept and the taste of shōjin-ryōri. What makes the dining experience even more enjoyable at Shigetsu is that it is surrounded by the exquisite Tenryūji temple and gardens, which you should explore before or after your meal.

Higashiyama Ward

Rengetsuchaya

An 11-course tofu dinner? Challenge accepted. Rengetsuchaya is a more than 100-year-old establishment located near Maruyama Park in the beautifully forested and historic Higashiyama Ward in Kyoto. The building is a nice example of Japanese architecture with tatami mats, lovely shoji screens, and a little garden. For 3500 yen (as of this writing), the restaurant serves a fixed course of tofu cooked 11 different ways. I especially enjoyed the tofu gratin, which tasted like hearty potato gratin, and the chewy yuba tofu skins. Everything was presented beautifully in Kyoto pottery. Who knew tofu could be prepared in so many delicious ways? Come hungry, though – this is one filling dinner!

Hello Kitty Saryo Café

If you want a super adorable meal, go to the Hello Kitty Saryo Café located near the major temples of Kyoto’s Higashiyama Ward. Just as the name suggests, the restaurant is completely decked out in a Hello Kitty theme – and that includes the food and drinks. Many of the sweet and savory items are vegetarian, including the super cute pancakes I got and the matcha latte that had a little Hello Kitty marshmallow floating in it. Hello Kitty is prevalent in all of the little details in the restaurant, from the wall murals to the chairs and tables to the bathroom mirror shaped like her signature hair bow.

NOTE: According to reports, The Hello Kitty Saryo café has moved from Kyoto to Enoshima Island in Kanagawa Prefecture.

Uji

Tsuen

In case you couldn’t tell already, I am a HUGE fan of green tea. So I had to make a side trip to Uji to check out the world’s oldest tea shop, Tsuen. Uji, just a 30-minute train ride south of central Kyoto, is an incredibly charming town that grows what is considered some of Japan’s best green tea. I recommend taking a side trip to Uji to enjoy its historical sites and amazing tea.

Having been around for more than 800 years, Tsuen knows a thing or two about good tea. The restaurant, which is attached to their tea shop, serves items chock full of green tea. I had a matcha green tea zenzai soup served with sweet red beans and vanilla ice cream plus three skewers of green tea dango on the side. It was some of the most high quality tea I’ve ever tasted. The bitterness was complemented so well by the sweetness of the red beans and ice cream.

Osaka

Dōtonbori

Fugetsu

Confession: I love okonomiyaki so much that I ate three different servings in the span of a few days during one Japan trip. Okonomiyaki consists of a bunch of ingredients that are mixed together, fried into a circular patty-like shape, and topped with sauce. It is one of the dishes Osaka is famous for. Fugetsu is a chain of restaurants in Osaka that has a vegetarian okonomiyaki option on their menu called jaga-mochi cheese-tama. It consists of cabbage, potatoes, mochi, and cheese mixed with a batter of egg and flour, grilled right in front of you by a chef, and then topped with a tangy-sweet sauce. It is totally comfort food.

Pablo

If your sweet tooth is calling, visit the dessert restaurant Pablo for its sweet cheese tarts. My favorite is the matcha green tea cheese tart, which is topped with red beans and served with vanilla ice cream. It is so gooey and delicious on the inside– the perfect indulgent treat! Pablo is right near the Ebisubashi Bridge where the famous Glico Man neon sign can be seen, so you can do some sightseeing before satisfying your sweet tooth.

Nara

Nara Park Area

Terakawa

Forgive me – my lunch at Terakawa in Nara was so incredibly good that I ate it all before taking a photo. Please take my word for it that it was presented beautifully and it tasted delicious. There are many vegetarian options on the menu, which is written in both Japanese and English. Chef Fuminori Yamamoto is the super friendly guy who runs the restaurant. He pointed out lots of good vegetarian options when I visited. After an appetizer of beautifully decorated individual plates of pickled veggies, smoked radish, and soft tofu, he prepared zaru soba, Nara-grown rice made in a special pot, and sesame tofu. This was one of the freshest meals I have ever had, and one of my favorite meals ever in Japan. Seriously, those soba noodles were amazing. I am sure every vegetarian dish on Terakawa’s menu is fresh and flavorsome.

Fukuoka

Fukuoka City

Moomin Stand

For the cutest bubble tea ever, go to the Moomin Stand in the shopping and entertainment complex Canal City in Fukuoka’s Hakata Ward. Bubble tea originated in Taiwan but has become popular worldwide. Typically, bubble tea has a black tea or green tea base with tapioca pearls (“bubbles”) at the bottom. An extra wide straw is provided so you can sip the tea and the “bubbles” all at once. I had a matcha latte bubble tea with a little Moomin character attached to the straw. Moomin is a beloved media franchise from Finland that got super popular in Japan, and now there are several Moomin-themed cafés throughout Japan.

Kochan Udon

Fukuoka is known for having really good noodles and ramen. Though I don’t currently know of a whole bunch of vegetarian-friendly noodle places in Fukuoka, I did have a delicious bowl of udon noodles with tofu skins at Kochan Udon in Nokonoshima Island Park, a gorgeous stretch of land full of beautiful flowers, foliage, and vistas. The udon noodles were thick and chewy and were served in a broth with tofu skins and scallions.

General Vegetarian Food in Japan

Conbini

Conbini is what convenience stores are called in Japan. They are widespread in every prefecture, especially prevalent in bigger cities. They serve a variety of high quality food and drinks at affordable prices. You can pick up pre-made onigiri, or rice balls, that have vegetarian-friendly add-ins like ume (pickled plum) or seaweed. There are yummy noodle dishes as well, and lots of pastries like the adorable strawberry bread pictured above. I usually go to conbini to buy items for a quick and cheap breakfast. Some of the more well-known conbini chains in Japan are Lawson, Family Mart, and 7-Eleven.

Ekiben

Ekiben is an abbreviation of eki, meaning train station, and bentō. These are special bentō boxes you can buy at train stations, especially ones that have shinkansen bullet train platforms. These are good to take on long train rides so you don’t go hungry while traveling. They are nicely and compactly packed, and vegetarian boxes are more widely available in stations these days. They will have yasai (やさい or 野菜), meaning “vegetable,” on the label. Each box is sectioned off into compartments that contain foods like rice, vegetables, and a protein made out of soy.

Accommodations

Some accommodations, especially ryokan, offer breakfast or dinner packages. If you want to participate in these meal plans, you should check before booking if vegetarian options are available. I have come across accommodations that are unable to provide vegetarian meals. Similarly, once you do book a place, make sure you tell them what you can and cannot eat far in advance.

Final Thoughts

I know there are many more vegetarian-friendly restaurants and meals in Japan – and I certainly plan on visiting them! I just wanted to make a list of places I have been to myself that had menu items suitable for vegetarians. For an expanded list, you can search by location on the website Happy Cow if you want to see places that have vegetarian items in the specific area you’re visiting.

It is possible to find vegetarian food in Japan, so I hope this list helps in planning out where you want to eat while you’re exploring! Bon appetit, or as they say in Japan, itadakimasu!

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