Gluten-free Travel In Japan?

[I'm a glutant]

In a few months I'll be travelling in Japan for about a month. I don't mind packing lots of my own gluten-free snacks, my own soy sauce, etc. However, I will of course want to eat some food in restaurants there. Between soy sauce, some miso soups, etc. being so often gluten-full -- not to mention potential language issues (I have the Triumph dining card in Japanese, but don't speak it myself) -- I'm feeling a bit daunted as to how to deal with food. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Fiona

[missy'smom]

Enjoy you trip! It is a wonderful place to visit!

There are others here who have traveled to Japan and can give you their advice and perspective so please wait and read their posts in addition to mine so you get a broader perspective. I stayed in Japan for two weeks and it wasn't my first time there. I speak some Japanese and my husband was born and raised there. I also cook Japanese food at home so am familiar with cooking methods and ingredients. For the reasons you touched on I ate out only once but still enjoyed so many foods/ingredients that I can't get here in the states or aren't quite as good here. I'm very sensitive. It was a shabu shabu restaurant where you cook various meats and veg. in a broth. My huband called ahead in Japanese and found a place that made their broth with only water and konbu(seaweed) and told them I had allergies. We brought our own gluten-free soy sauce and pure yuzu juice for dipping. Since others were dining with us and some of the things to add to the pot were potstickers and other wheat containing items we ordered two pots- one for gluten-free and one for gluten-eaters. Sushi might be another safe option if you familiarize yourself with the thigs to avoid.

Be aware that barley is a concern there as is wheat. As you mentioned miso can contain barley and sometimes the starter culture is grown on barley and it isn't on the lablel and people aren't aware of it. For this reason, I just made my own miso today! from starter culture grown on brown rice. When I was visiting I ordered ahead, from a Japanese company that specializes in allergen-free products, and had a special miso(in addition to other items) delivered to the place that I was staying.

If you type in Japan in the box above that says Search Site(Google) you'll find my posts on my trip in Sept. '07 and Japanese food as well as the posts of others who have offered advice on the subject in the past.

[kenlove]

Like Missys mom said, its great place. I got hooked on Japan 30 years ago and have had a place there since. usually spend 1 to 2 months a year. Also trained as a chef there. You seem to know to stay away from soy sauce (Shoyu) and miso. Some miso is ok but you have to get the chef to make sure its made with kome (rice) and kome-koji. We cant give our own web sites online but if you look at my profile and find my site you can look at pictures of gluten free items that you can get in a number of health food stores in Tokyo. Is that where you will be? There are also some lists in Japanese of things you cant eat which you could print out in addition to the dining cards.

If you can find a shop that has juwari soba, 100% soba, you can have that but not the dipping sauce.

Sashimi with your own sauce is usually safe.

if your in Tokyo I can direct you to some friends restaurants who can make gluten free dishes for you but they dont speak any English.

You can bring san-j wheat free soy sauce with you but you can also find sorghum and other wheat/gluten free soy sauces at the health food store.

You'll need to learn a few expressions like ko-mugi allergee (flour allergy) and shoyu for soy sauce allergy.

Let us know where you'll stay and maybe I can give you some more ideas.

It should be a great time

Ken

In a few months I'll be travelling in Japan for about a month. I don't mind packing lots of my own gluten-free snacks, my own soy sauce, etc. However, I will of course want to eat some food in restaurants there. Between soy sauce, some miso soups, etc. being so often gluten-full -- not to mention potential language issues (I have the Triumph dining card in Japanese, but don't speak it myself) -- I'm feeling a bit daunted as to how to deal with food. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Fiona