Allergy Card for Japan (Allergies, Vegetarian, Halal): Show It, Don’t Say It

This site offers information to help with your trip, based on guidance from the Consumer Affairs Agency, the Japan National Tourism Organization and others (as of October 2026; this is not medical advice). On eating out for people with food allergies, the Consumer Affairs Agency says “it’s important to follow your doctor’s guidance.”

Whether you have an allergy, don’t eat meat or fish, or don’t consume pork or alcohol, this article suggests the same kind of card for everyone: one card with the things you can’t eat, written in Japanese.

There are three things to know.

・Write it down and show it, rather than saying it. The person who takes your order and the person who cooks your food are often different people

・On the card, rather than a single word like 「ベジタリアン」 (bejitarian, the Japanese loanword for “vegetarian”) or 「ハラール」 (harāru, halal), write the names of the things you can’t eat, one by one

・Also write down ingredients you can’t see just by looking, like dashi (soup stock) and mirin (みりん, sweetened cooking sake)

The card is a tool for checking with the staff whether you can eat something. Simply showing it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be safe.

For people with allergies, there are also sheets made by the national government and by a prefecture that let you communicate with pictures. You can use them together with the card in this article.

1 Show It, Don’t Say It — Written Words Get Handed Over Without Changing Shape

In Japan, the law sets out allergen labeling for packaged foods sold in stores. Restaurant dishes, on the other hand, have no such labeling requirement. So at a restaurant, it’s up to you to tell them.

On how to tell them, the Consumer Affairs Agency writes that the staff member who takes your order and the person who cooks are often different people. Its advice is to check using something like a sheet, not by saying it out loud, so the information properly reaches the cook too.

The Japan National Tourism Organization also recommends that people who don’t eat meat or fish print out a written explanation or card in Japanese that lists what they can’t eat.

When to show it is the same as in the Izakaya article: as soon as you sit down. If you don’t eat meat or fish and you’re booking a restaurant that serves set-course meals, let them know when you make the reservation.

Spoken words stay only in the memory of the person who heard them. Written words can be handed over exactly as they are. Even if you can’t speak Japanese, the card speaks for you in Japanese.

2 What to Write on the Card — Names, One by One, Instead of a Single Word

The single word 「ベジタリアン」 may not get the whole message across

In Japan, 「ベジタリアン」 is a word that came from outside, its meaning isn’t clear-cut, and it’s often understood in a broad sense. Just asking for 「ベジタリアンの料理を」 (bejitarian food) may not get the whole message across.

So say specifically what you can’t eat. That you don’t eat meat, seafood, or anything that comes from animals, including dashi and broth. If the staff seem unsure, add that “meat” also includes chicken and pork, and fish too.

Even if the staff seem reluctant, it may just be that they don’t understand. With the names lined up on your card, everything the staff need to understand is right there in front of them.

Write 「五葷」 as vegetable names, too

Among Buddhist vegetarians, who are common in Taiwan, some also don’t eat the strong-smelling vegetables called 「五葷」 (gokun). But which vegetables are included differs slightly even between Japan’s public sources (green onions, onions, or both). So rather than the single word 「五葷」, write out the names of the vegetables you want to avoid, just as they are.

Halal (ハラール) — For People Who Don’t Consume Pork or Alcohol, the Same Kind of Card

For people who want to avoid pork or alcohol, too, this article suggests writing a card in the same way as for allergies or a vegetarian diet.

On the card, you can write not only pork itself but also pork extract, pork fat such as lard, and pork-derived ingredients in seasonings and additives (such as gelatin). These are all ingredients restaurants are advised to watch out for. If you only eat halal meat, write that down too.

How far you avoid things varies from person to person. On the card, write your own limits, not the words on a restaurant’s sign.

Sample cards

Turn your own words into Japanese with a translation app, then add or delete lines as you like. You can print it and keep it in your wallet, or show it on your smartphone screen.

Example for someone with an allergy

わたしは、えびとかにのアレルギーがあります。

(I am allergic to shrimp and crab.)

この料理に、えびやかにが入っていますか。

(Does this dish contain shrimp or crab?)

調理器具やトングを分けて作れますか。

(Can you make it using separate cooking utensils and tongs?)

Example for someone who doesn’t eat meat or fish

わたしは、肉と魚を食べません。鶏肉と豚肉も食べません。

(I don’t eat meat or fish. I don’t eat chicken or pork either.)

かつお節や煮干しのだしも食べません。

(I also don’t eat dashi made from bonito flakes or dried sardines.)

昆布やしいたけのだしなら、食べられます。

(I can eat dashi made from kombu or shiitake mushrooms.)

Example for someone who doesn’t consume pork or alcohol

わたしは、豚肉と、豚からとった物（ラード、ゼラチンなど）を食べません。

(I don’t eat pork or anything taken from pigs (lard, gelatin, etc.).)

お酒も口にしません。みりんや料理酒を使った料理も食べません。

(I don’t consume alcohol either. I also don’t eat dishes made with mirin or cooking sake.)

ハラールの肉（イスラームの決まりにしたがって処理した肉）でなければ、肉は食べません。

(I don’t eat meat unless it is halal meat (meat processed according to Islamic rules).)

If you add 「ありがとうございます。」 (“Thank you.”) as a last line, handing over the card turns into a small greeting.

3 Hidden Ingredients — Dashi and Mirin

Dashi is the base of flavor in Japanese cooking

At the base of flavor in Japanese cooking is 「だし」 (dashi), a stock that draws the umami out of ingredients like kombu (昆布, kelp) and katsuobushi (かつお節, bonito flakes).

For many people, dashi is where the deliciousness of Japanese food comes from. For people who can’t eat it, it’s an ingredient that’s hard to spot just by looking. Even dishes with no visible meat or fish often have things like bonito flakes hidden in them. The sauce that comes with natto is often dashi, too.

In that case, instead of giving up on dashi altogether, write the kinds of dashi you can eat on your card. In dishes made without anything taken from animals, bonito or dried-sardine (煮干し, niboshi) dashi can’t be used, but dashi made from kombu, mushrooms such as shiitake, or vegetables can. If the dashi you can eat is written down, you can find dishes where you, too, can taste the umami base of Japanese cooking.

Mirin and cooking sake are hard to spot, too

Mirin and cooking sake (料理酒) are also hard to spot. Both are used in many Japanese dishes. The broth for soba and udon (めんつゆ, mentsuyu) is also based on mirin and soy sauce. Some miso, too, can contain alcohol unless it’s labeled 「無添加」 (mutenka, “additive-free”).

Opinions differ on whether you should avoid even the small amount of alcohol contained in seasonings. That’s exactly why you write your own limits on the card. Do you write 「みりんや料理酒を使った料理も食べません」 (“I also don’t eat dishes made with mirin or cooking sake”), or just 「お酒を飲みません」 (“I don’t drink alcohol”)? With your limits written down, the staff can think with you about which dishes would work.

4 For People with Allergies — Official Sheets and What the Consumer Affairs Agency Says

There are two sheets that use pictures

You tap the box under a picture of a food to mark it, then show it to the staff. That’s how the “Food Allergy Communication Sheet” (食物アレルギーコミュニケーションシート) that the Consumer Affairs Agency publishes for smartphones works. The languages are English, Chinese (Simplified), Korean and Japanese. To mark the boxes, you need to download it to your smartphone first. If you save it before you leave home, you can open it in front of a restaurant without worrying about a connection.

You point to a picture of a food, and the restaurant points back to an answer. Osaka Prefecture’s “Food Allergy Communication Sheet” works that way, in 11 languages including Traditional Chinese and Indonesian. Osaka Prefecture made it so restaurants can communicate with customers from abroad.

The strength of both sheets is that you can get your message across just by pointing at pictures. For anything that isn’t pictured, you can write it in words on your own card and show the two together.

What the Consumer Affairs Agency says

In a pamphlet for people with food allergies and their families, the Consumer Affairs Agency writes the following.

The foods that cause allergies differ from person to person: some people react to just a tiny amount, while others can eat a little. So the decision “can eat / can’t eat” should ultimately be made by you or your family, not by the restaurant.

Check with a manager or another staff member who knows about food allergies. You need to be careful, because a staff member’s “it’s not in there” isn’t always certain. Even people who’ve been told it’s OK to eat out should tell the restaurant they have an allergy and check whether cooking utensils, tongs and so on can be kept separate or washed, the pamphlet says.

When eating out, it’s difficult to completely prevent the foods that cause allergies from getting mixed in unintentionally (cross-contamination, コンタミネーション). It’s important to decide carefully about eating out and to follow your doctor’s guidance. When you can’t tell whether something is in a dish, or when you still have concerns after checking with the restaurant, it’s also important to choose not to eat there.

A heading in the same pamphlet says, “Enjoy eating out and takeout meals with the awareness that the one who prevents accidental eating is yourself.” The card isn’t a piece of paper for leaving things up to the restaurant. It’s a card for putting together, with the staff, the information you need to make the decision yourself.

5 Food You Buy in Stores — Package Labels Are Your Guide

For packaged processed foods sold at convenience stores and supermarkets, allergen labeling is required. However, pork, beef, chicken and gelatin are items for which labeling is only recommended (as of April 2026). Bread, snacks and sweets may also contain gelatin or animal fats such as butter.

Labels are in Japanese, so look for the words by comparing them with the shapes of the characters on your card. If you’re not sure, you can show the card and the product together to the staff. As the Consumer Affairs Agency stresses, “no label = not in there” isn’t true. Keep that in mind, and on travel days you can pick your lunch from the convenience store shelves by checking the labels.

6 If You Feel Unwell — 119, and the Back of Your Card

If you need an ambulance, call 119. According to the “Ambulance Usage Guide” (救急車利用ガイド) for foreign visitors from the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, anyone in Japan can use an ambulance in case of an urgent illness or injury. If there’s someone nearby who speaks Japanese, ask them for help.

If you have an allergic reaction, check the dish’s ingredients with the restaurant on the spot. You may need them at the hospital to identify the cause. The Consumer Affairs Agency’s sheet also says to consult a medical facility if you have allergy symptoms.

The Japan National Tourism Organization’s “Japan Visitor Hotline” (050-3816-2787) offers help 24 hours a day, in English, Chinese and Korean, in situations such as accidents or illness.

It’s handy to put together a memo about your health. If you write that memo on the back of your food card, that one card speaks for you both before a meal and if something happens.

Once you’re prepared, all that’s left is mealtime. Some restaurants may not be able to accommodate you, but a dish you’ve confirmed with the staff by showing your card is a dish you chose for yourself on your trip.

For now, just this

Write the names of the things you can’t eat, one by one, down to dashi and mirin, on a card in Japanese, and take it with you.

If you have allergies, save the Consumer Affairs Agency or Osaka Prefecture sheet before you leave, and make the final decision on whether to eat something yourself.

If you need an ambulance for an urgent illness or injury, call 119.