English-friendly Japan

[GaijinPunch]

It's very easy to ask a (Japanese or Japanese-speakung) friend.

Let's see. I ordered "Spaghetti Carbonara with no meat" once and it came covered in bacon. Of course, I was reassured that it was "bacon --- not meat". I also ordered a Vegetable Gratin once after carefully reading the menu, only to learn that it had a patty of ground beef in the middle... and I was an intermediated speaker/reader at worst at the time. Japan's painful as a vegetarian even if you do eat meat. I'd hate to try it w/o being able to properly communicate to anyone.

I suppose you could learn how to say "niku nuki" after everything and look like a complete tool, but then you need to understand their canned response on how they can't do it.

[Maciamo]

Let's see. I ordered "Spaghetti Carbonara with no meat" once and it came covered in bacon. Of course, I was reassured that it was "bacon --- not meat". I also ordered a Vegetable Gratin once after carefully reading the menu, only to learn that it had a patty of ground beef in the middle... and I was an intermediated speaker/reader at worst at the time. Japan's painful as a vegetarian even if you do eat meat. I'd hate to try it w/o being able to properly communicate to anyone.

Being a vegetarian is hard enough in most countries. You can't blame that only on language abilities. There are countries in Europe where vegetarians have a hard time finding something to eat in restaurants too (Belgium is one).

I suppose you could learn how to say "niku nuki" after everything and look like a complete tool, but then you need to understand their canned response on how they can't do it.

For my sister, I wrote on a piece of paper for her "vejetarian nanode, niku nashi de onegai shimase", which she would tell the staff or show them when she went out with her partner. She didn't have any problem, but limited herself to Italian and Indian restaurants or Tempura ones. No need to try a sushi-ya or yakiniku-ya if you are vegetarian.