Gluten Free Traveling in Japan

Next month I'm headed back to Japan for a short trip with my family.  It will be my daughter's first time to see this country she's heard so much about.  At six years of age, she's already such a Japanophile.  She's been known to tell people that she's Japanese as she used to live there in her mummy's tummy.

Since moving back to Australia, wow, seven years ago, I have been diagnosed as being coeliac and so has my daughter.  Eating gluten free in Japan wasn't something I had to think about too much when I lived there except for when my mother (also coeliac) came to visit.  I have been back three times for holidays since diagnosis and learn more each time I go.  Here's what I've learnt, in hopes to help anyone else traveling over there...

Preparation
Let's face it, being coeliac we've become the kings and queens of preparation and research before we go anywhere, if we want to eat without getting sick that is.  Japan can be a challenge in terms of eating gluten free and as a previous lover of all food Japanese I miss being able to just walk into a restaurant and get my favourite grilled eel or tempura prawns on udon.  That being said, there is so much more about the country to enjoy that I wouldn't for a second let a sensitive gut stop me from going.

Gluten Free Card in Japanese
I found this card invaluable.  I would use it at convenience stores, at supermarkets and at restaurants.  Wait staff would take it in to show the chef who would then let me know what, if anything was suitable and cook it up especially for me.  For Japan, the most common source of gluten will be the soy sauce that many dishes are cooked with.  For that reason, I chose to use a card from Select Wisely but if you do a web search there are other ones available as well.

Pack Snacks
To be honest, when I'm traveling over there for a few weeks I don't want to be spending valuable temple tramping and fabric shopping time on trying to find something to eat.  I always take over a lot of snacks that I can keep in my bag.  I usually take muesli bars, nuts (of course you can buy nuts over there, but if I take my own I know I don't have to worry about checking for extra ingredients or cross contamination), cereal, this trip I'm going to pack single serves of flavoured tuna, biscuits and rice crackers.  Oh, and packing your own gluten free soy sauce is a great idea too!

Book your accommodation
You've got to have somewhere to sleep of course, but I spend a lot of extra time choosing my hotels.  For the most part, I have found travel a lot easier by basing myself in one city (Nagoya for me as it's close to friends and in the middle of the main island), ordering a JR rail pass so I can travel on the Shinkansen as much as I like and booking an apartment with a full kitchen.  Sometimes these apartments are only available if you're staying for at least a week.  Booking through AirBNB is another option.  Otherwise I try to book a hotel room that at least has a microwave and a small cooktop.  When I have a kitchen I have a lot more freedom.  I go to a local supermarket and buy fresh ingredients so I still get to enjoy the local flavours but know that it has been safely prepared.  I often will also make up a Japanese "bento" box for lunch so then I only need to worry about eating out for dinner.  

The other option is to stay in a place that caters for westerners.  This trip we're staying in a hotel in Tokyo for a couple of days that has a large buffet breakfast with lots of fruit and will also cook up fresh omelets for us each day.  One place I stayed in, a Japanese business hotel, cooked me boiled eggs served with salad and tea every morning.  Or, on the flipside, if you stay in a traditional Ryokan, your host might be willing to prepare a dish of rice, pickles and grilled fish (without soy sauce) for your breakfast.  Yum!

Convenience Stores and Supermarkets
Your local 7-11 or any other of the convenience stores found on so many of the street corners in Japan can be a source for gluten free food.  Many of them sell pre-boiled eggs (choose the ones with the shells still on them) which became a standard breakfast on one of my visits.  They also have pre-cooked rice that they'll heat up for you, and salads with the dressing packed separately (don't use the dressing).  Some of the rice balls are gluten free, if in doubt check with the staff using your coeliac card.

At the supermarket, as well as fresh fruit and ingredients to cook with, there will be some pre-prepared food.  There you can usually find sushi, grilled fish and sashimi.

Another option, especially if you're in a large city, is to find a foreign food store.  There they will have foods from around the world and depending on where they originate from, there will be an ingredients list in English.  I usually go here to top up on snacks.

Japanese Foods to Eat
Sushi
Sushi becomes my staple diet while I'm in Japan.  Not all sushi is gluten free though. Check with the sushi bar first that they aren't using sushi vinegar that contains wheat.  I also check on the mayonnaise and the wasabi.  Most places the soy sauce will be a no-go, but if you're in a high-end sushi bar they may actually use a wheat-free tamari sauce instead so you can check if you like.  Then check with the staff (again, whip out that card of yours again), to check which ones are ok.  If you stick with the prawns (ebi) and sashimi ones you shouldn't have a problem.  Even if you're in a sushi train type environment, you can often get them to make it especially for you.

Yaki Niku
Also known in Japan as "Korean BBQ".  This can be a bit of a splurge but is so delicious. You will be given a menu of raw meat to choose from and to be honest, they all look the same.  You can also order plates of vegetables.  Here though, make sure that you ask for no marinade, no sauce and just salt and pepper only.  Then they bring the raw food out to you and you cook on your own grill.

Buckwheat Soba
Just be careful to check that it is a 100% buckwheat noodle and that it isn't served up with soy sauce.

Yaki Tori
This is delicious char-grilled chicken on a stick and you can order it with just salt (no marinade).  Be careful though, it may be cooked on the same grill with other gluten-containing foods so there is a higher chance of cross-contamination.  

Daifuku
A traditional rice cake sweet with a marshmallow-like consistency.  It's filling often contains red beans but my favourite during strawberry season comes filled with the sweet.  Be careful to check that it isn't the version with sponge cake and get someone to help you check the ingredients.  I found some use wheat starch, some don't but if you find the right one and you have a sweet tooth, these are heavenly!

Kyoto's Yatsuhashi
You'll find these all over Kyoto and especially in souvenir stores at Kyoto station.  They are a traditional sweet made from rice flour, sugar and cinnamon.  They come in two versions - "Nama Yatsuhashi" (raw) which will be a in a triangular shape with a filling (often bean paste, but check ingredients as newer versions may not have a gf filling) and the cooked version is a little, hard biscuit with a curve to it.

Places to Eat
Outback Steakhouse
This is an "Australian themed" steakhouse and found in a number of places in Japan.  It's my go-to place to eat in Nagoya.  The staff usually speak good English and I can get a steak and vegetables gluten free.

Tony Romas
Another western restaurant with locations around Japan where I've always been able to get a delicious gluten free meal made for me.  It's my go-to place in Kyoto. 

Japan Crepe in Harajyuku (Tokyo)
I haven't actually been here yet, never knowing the countless times that I passed it that their crepes are gluten free.  This one is booked in for my trip next month.

McDonalds
If you get desperate, McDonalds is a fall back.  In most outlets the fries are cooked in their own oil (check first though) and you can get a meat patty on its own.  Be aware though that often in Japanese culture they don't like veering from the menu so I had a bit of explaining to do and one store was happy to do it while another one I could only get the fries.

Indian
As most Indian curries are naturally gluten-free I've found this can be an easy place to eat out.  Just explain (often here English is better than Japanese) your dietary needs and they will be most accommodating.

Family Restaurants
Dotted all around the country, they often have basics on the menu so check to see if the cook is willing to make something gluten free for you.

Coco Ichiban
This is a Japanese curry chain resturant that is dotted all over the country, I'm told they have menus in English and now have an allergy free curry.  You can read more about it here.

Little Bird Gluten Free Cafe - Tokyo
I haven't tried it but would like to on this trip.  You can find out more about them here.


Things to watch out for

Mugi-cha
This tea is not to be confused with green tea, as it looks similar.  Mugi-cha is made from barley so to be avoided.

Sembei
Ahhh... rice cakes.  You'd think they'd be an easy option right?  Sadly no.  Many of them had soy sauce in their glaze.  There certainly are some gluten free ones but you have to search a bit and don't assume that they naturally will be.

Mixed Rice "Healthy Rice"
When I was last living in Japan, "healthy rice" was a bit of a fashion.  It actually contains barley grains, so stick to plain white rice.

Helpful Blogs
Celiac Travel has a great post including the Kanji for gluten-containing ingredients here.

Legal Nomads has a comprehensive guide on eating gluten free in Japan including a list of restaurants that I'm going to enjoy testing on my upcoming trip here.

Ctrl Alt Eat has a lovely read on gluten free eating in Japan here.

If you've traveled to Japan and eaten gluten free, I'd love to hear your tips and favourite places to go.  I will try to update this post after my next visit too and add in anything I new I have discovered.  Happy travelling!

Japan Trip 2014 - Temple Tramping

One of my favourite places to visit while I'm in Japan are the temples, both big and small.  I love their serenity, their sense of history and their beauty.  

One thousand origami cranes

Kaminarimon, Sensoji, Asakusa

Incense, Sensoji, Asakusa.  The worshippers direct the smoke onto the parts of their body they want to heal or strengthen.

Ema Tablets, Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto.  

Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto

Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto

Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto

Fox spirits at Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto

Fox spirits at Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto

Japan Trip 2014 - The Tokyo Design Festa in Pictures

My trip to Japan last month went by in a blur.  With just a week on Japanese soil there was so much to fit in, see and do.

My second day there I went to the Tokyo Design Festa, a favourite event of mine.  I always try to time my trips to Japan to get to this show.  It's full of work by designers, illustrators, crafters, painters and performers, there is so much to see and inspire.  Many of the 56,000 visitors to the festa have fun with their appearance  as well so there are lots of fashions and costumes to also amaze. 

There was so much more to photograph, but as it was, I didn't get to see all of the 3000+ booths that were there.  If I had stopped to photograph everything that interested me, I could have seen even half of what I saw.

You can see more photos from my visits to the Design Festa on previous years here, here, here, here, here and here.

Japan Day Two - In Pictures

Movement Through Japan

With a month to go before I leave for my next trip to Japan, my feet are seriously starting to itch.  I can't wait to be back there, to be in the middle of the madness of Tokyo, to see the rice fields in the country and for those lovely long trips on the train...

While the Cat's Away....

.... the mouse has to look after herself.

Wayne flew out early this morning for two weeks in Australia.

It's funny how at times like this, the roles you've both taken in a relationship become more obvious.

For years before Wayne and I met, I was single and very independent. I prided myself on being self-sufficient.

Now, as Wayne was preparing to leave, he worried that I wouldn't feed myself properly, and like a good caring wife, he cooked up a number of meals for me to put in the freezer. I was concerned about him taking his first international flight on his own and ran him through the change of terminals and things to do in Singapore airport. I went and bought his train ticket to the airport for him and checked that he'd packed everything he needed. I got teary saying goodbye at the station.

These things, we could both do all on our own, but it is nice to know that someone cares enough to worry.

Love Friday and 7489 Steps - Day 3 in Tokyo

I can't believe it's Friday already! The first week of my holidays has just flown by.

Continuing the Love Fridays theme hosted by the lovely Big Cat, I love this Friday because I'm on holidays and it was a very low key day. Worn out from the Tokyo trip, I spent much of the day sleeping in air conditioned comfort and the rest either reading, watching some TV while unpicking kimono and starting to catch up on my blog reading. A good day.

Day three in Tokyo (yesterday), started off very early and shaky. A bit after midnight, I woke to the sensation of the room swaying, a bit like sleeping in a hammock and the sound of things jumping around. It was an earthquake, centred, later I found out, in Northern Honshu. There's something about being in an earthquake. I lay there thinking "Is this the big one they've been predicting? What are the chances of me being in Tokyo just when the big one hits? I wonder how earthquake proof this hotel is? Is this going to get any stronger? This feels like it's been going a long time, when will it stop?" Funnily, I didn't think about moving into a safer position until later the next night. Luckily there wasn't too much damage in the city where it hit the worst and I hope that the injured will recover quickly.

That morning I had a "why haven't I done this before?" moment. When checking out, I arranged for some of my luggage (all the very heavy fabric and books I'd bought) to be couriered to my apartment rather than me struggle to carry it home. The large (and can I mention heavy again) bag cost under $13! I know what I'll be doing from now on.

The night before I found a pedometer in a 100 yen shop (where everything costs about $1). I thought it would be fun to see just how much walking I would do the next day. Not counting the pre- or post-craft shopping activities, it was 7489 steps, and there were quite a number of those going up and down stairs. No wonder I needed to sleep most of the day.

I'm now back at home, back with hubby before he leaves for Australia in a few days. I have so many things I want to get done these holidays, but think I'll have a few more days of downtime first.

Doctors, Friendly Men and Button Porn - Day Two in Tokyo

The morning started early with a visit to the doctor. She was lovely, understanding, caring and well worth the trip. Trying not to get into too-much-information territory, a few people have been asking me... there is a thyroid issue and now with this doctor, I've finally found someone who will treat it. I'm on a trial for a couple of months and then we'll review it from there. She thinks that there maybe something else going on as well, but we'll face that possibility after seeing how the thyroid drugs go. The whole visiting a doctor is different in Japan. I've written about the the conveyor belt-ness of it here.

I was done there by ten, which left the rest of the day to play.

My day was filled with some more secret squirrel business (which probably won't be so secret squirrel for much longer, and may not be so exciting to others, but I love saying secret squirrel business) and lots of fabric shopping.

On the train, having a bit of trouble with a couple of Japanese maps, I turned to the guy next to me. In Japanese I politely asked if he would mind reading a couple of the characters for me. He willing obliged. He was friendly, so I then asked about a particular train station that I couldn't find on any of my maps. By this time, he'd already switched to English. He not only told me which line it was on, where to change and how long it would take to get there, when we got to Tokyo station, he actually took me to the platform I needed to go to. How friendly is that!

Until today, I've been really impressed with fabric stores that have five packed-full floors and craft stores that are seven floors. Today, it went to a whole other level! Try a five building craft store! Between the five buildings, there were 15 floors of crafty heaven. Needless to say, until I almost passed out, I forgot to eat.

Do you ever have moments when you're wandering around and you see something that you know another blogger would love? I so wished Bec was with me today. I found the most scrumptious button shop you've ever seen. Close your eyes for a minute and image the candy store in Charley and Chocolate factory. Replace the sweets with buttons (and beads), place them all in jars and then organise them in graduations of colours. Decorate the rest of the area with button-made goodness. That was this shop. Sadly, I wasn't allowed to take a photo.

That was day two, one more to go and then back home.

Interview and Day One in Tokyo Without a (real) Camera

I'm so excited! Recently, I was interviewed by The Japan Times, Japan's largest English-language newspaper. My interview has just come out. You can read the interview here.

I had planned and had written (in my head and in scratchy handwriting) a nice long post about today, but now that the time comes to type it, I'm about to drop. So, instead, a quick overview...

Packing, I realised that going away for three days, I needed to pack four cords (computer, ipod, phone charger and my husbands point and shoot camera - not a REAL camera). I was tempted to bring two more, but resisted.

The hour and a half train ride flew by as I had a a recently arrived copy of MixTape (sorry, will link that soon), my ipod, a notebook, sketchbook and lots of Japanese snacks (which I didn't eat, was too busy journaling).

Did a trial-run to and at the hospital I'm going to tomorrow. Due to something very small getting lost in translation, it became a rather big matter and I was told I couldn't see the doctor tomorrow. I did my best to fight off tears. It all got sorted and all should be fine for the visit now.

Did a spot of shopping on my way to and from the hospital. Bought a cute red hat (photo soon) and a cute Russian doll pencil case.

Ate a very yummy lunch at the Crepe restaurant I first went to with Fuji Mama (again, sorry, link soon). Enjoyed the view of the cute French waiter (sorry, no photo for this one, but I was tempted) with the very cute smile, the type of smile you know he smiles at every girl, but don't really care, just as long as he's sending that adorable French smile your way as well.

Started researching, sketching, photographing and writing a new secret squirrels project.

Went to a fabulous second-hand English book shop. Bought a couple of novels, a craft book and a couple of pregnancy books. Don't actually need the pregnancy books yet, but this ex-girl guide (scout) likes to "Be Prepared".

Despite telling myself that I wasn't going to actually buy much fabric on this trip, I bought lots of fabric and had trouble bringing it back to the hotel.

On day one of my away-from-my-husband trip, I spoke to him three times on the phone.

Well, this girl is exhausted. It's now time for bed.

Going Our Separate Ways

I'm leaving my husband tomorrow. Then next week, he will be leaving me.

Don't worry, in a few weeks, we'll be back together.

Tomorrow I'm off to Tokyo continuing my search for good, compasionate health care. Hopefully, that should only take a few hours. I then have a good couple of days on my own to do a fabric and craft shop tour of Tokyo. Much easier without the hubby no matter how wonderful he is.

Next week, hubby will be going to Australia, on his own for two weeks. It will be his first time back since we moved here two and a half years ago. He'll be doing a couple of courses and getting everything ready to have his personal training/massage therapy/acupuncture business up and running again for when we move back to Australia next year. The rest of the time he'll be catching up with family, friends and non-Japanese food.

We both strongly believe that short amounts of time on our own is the best thing for both of us, but boy I'll miss him.

This is... my favourite travel memory

Wow! This was another hard theme, but this time, to choose just one. I'm so proud of myself, not only did I choose only one, but actually only part of one!

I'd have to say, one of my favourite travel memories was my trip to Sapa in the northern mountains of Vietnam last year.

I've kind of cheated and taken excepts from my other blog, from when I wrote about it then.

This was the view from our breakfast spot on the first two mornings there.

"Day 3 Vietnam - Mee and See, my new H'Mong friends

The landscape in Sapa gives off such an amazing old energy. I could have just
watched the mountains for hours with it continual dancing behind mist and
clouds. Met many H'mong girls, a tribe that live in extreme poverty and continue to wear their traditional indigo dyed and embroidered costumes. We were adopted by a couple of the girls who told us a bit about their lives and showed us around the town."

Wayne being mobbed by Black Hmong girls selling their wares.

Our boots after the first day's hike.

Day 4 Vietnam - It's a good thing my husband is not a jealous man...

I spent much of the day holding the hand of a man who wasn't my
husband. We trekked from the township of Sapa into a couple of the villages.
What is usually a good walk in the dry season was very hard in the wet, sliding
down slippery clay slopes. Due to the difficultly of the terrain in many areas, the guide held my hand for much of the way. We visited a Black H'Mong village and saw the poverty that these happy friendly people live in. We stayed overnight in a Day (pronounced Zay) village in a farmhouse.

About to start the second day of trekking.

Day 5 - Heaven, Hell and my Vietnamese Angel

The trek was harder than the day before due to more heavy rain and the fact that I had twisted my knee. The view was breathtaking but the hike was hell. My
fabulous guide literally carved out mountains for me so that I could make it down the steep slippery clay slopes without getting covered from head to toe in mud.
By the end, I was only covered on one side. We visited a Dao (pronounced Zao)
village.

I don't want to overload this post with text, but if you'd like to read more about the trip, I've written more about it here and more about the textiles here.

Thank you to Hila of Your Cover’s Blown for a great This is… theme this week.