One of my most popular blog posts is my experience of going to Thailand with a nut allergy (which you can find here), so when we began planning our Japan trip, I knew I had to share it with you too!
We are leaving tomorrow and in my excitement I may have over planned – I have never been so prepared for a trip before. Here are the steps I took to prepare for this trip and I can’t wait to update you on how it went when I get back.
Where are we staying in Japan
When travelling we usually love to visit hidden gems and less touristy spots; for Japan however, we are doing the exact opposite and sticking to the cities and known areas for tourists. The main reason for this is because of my nut allergy and because my husband and I are both vegetarian, so cities and more touristy spots will (hopefully) speak better English and have more food choices (so far there seems to be a lot of vegan restaurants in Tokyo and Osaka!). We also opted for breakfast in our first two hotels, as I feel like it eases us into the trip and it’s one less meal to worry about.
I will do a proper post of our itinerary, but these are the places we are staying in: Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Fuji City. Fuji City is actually a less popular place when it comes to tourists, most just do day trips or stick to the lakes to see Mount Fuji. For this area we have already mapped out a couple of restaurants (there aren’t that many that will cater to us), but we find it comforting to know that the Konbini (convenience store) 7-Eleven also has some veggie (and hopefully nut free) foods that we can always eat!
Mapping out Restaurants
Like all trips, we like to find restaurants and save them to a google map list before we go. For my nut allergy I usually search in google reviews for ‘nuts’ or ‘allergy’ to see if anyone has mentioned it. I also like to check reddit for restaurant recommendations. Being vegetarian and having a nut allergy is often a double whammy, I searched in reddit for restaurants for vegetarians and a few people suggested Coco Ichibanya so I saved it, I then searched for restaurants for people with nut allergies and a lot of people said to not go to Coco Ichibanya because they use peanut butter in their sauce base… so I swiftly unsaved it 2 minutes later. I am hoping that not all restaurants will be like this, wish me luck!
Google Translate with Saily
When going to the convenience stores or supermarkets I like to use google translate to double check the ingredients. For this trip I’m using the eSim Saily so I always have mobile data on the go, it’s also comforting to know that you can set it up before you go to Japan and as soon as you land it activates itself, meaning if I’m already hungry in the airport I can use my mobile data straight away. I don’t know how they do it but it’s also usually a lot cheaper than buying a travel plan through your provider.
Try it out yourself and use my code to get money off: BLONDEJET
Allergy Card
I always print out an allergy card when going to places where I think language might be tricky. You can usually find what you need by googling or looking on reddit. I have printed this allergy card here https://foodallergycardjapan.com as I liked that sesame and soybeans are placed separately to nuts, as sometimes people put sesame and soybeans together with nuts and it limits what you can eat unnecessarily. I’ve always had a good experience using cards like this in Thailand so I hope it will be the same in Japan!
Learning Japanese
I am so excited for Japan that for the past 50(!) days I have been learning Japanese on Duolingo. It’s actually my longest streak so I’m quite proud of it. Although it hasn’t taught me that many useful sayings: I can introduce myself, ask if that is rice, say my coat is white and yes, Mr. Yamaguchi is a doctor, I’m hoping that these small sentences might help me along the way. I always think learning to say easy phrases is a polite and friendly way of saying I respect your country and language. I just have to learn the word for peanut and nut and I’m good to go!
Snacks
I’ve packed a couple of protein bars in my luggage just in case I get hungry (or hangry) and can’t find anything to eat. I feel like as there are so many konbinis this hopefully won’t be a problem but you never know. It’s comforting to have something from home that you know is nut free.
I’ve watched a lot of vlogs on YouTube and there was one that took me by surprise: the couple were trying out vending machines and there was one selling cakes in cans (apparently quite common there?). The can was transparent so you could see the sponge, strawberries and cream. It looked so good, similar to a victoria sponge and so unsuspicious of nuts. When they spooned it out they found nuts hidden in the middle of it! They didn’t mind as they didn’t have an allergy but I was horrified. It’s a reminder to be extra careful, even if the food looks innocent.
Let me know in the comments below if you have been to Japan and have an allergy! If you want to follow my trip while I’m there, be sure to follow me on instagram: @theblondejetsetter, otherwise we will meet back here when I get back in November.
Thanks for reading,
Larissa
The Blonde Jetsetter
The Blonde Jetsetter 