Will plant-based food become easier to find in Japan? The government is working on it.
In Japan, the tourism industry has declined substantially in recent years. While in 2019, the island nation had 32 million visitors, in 2022, it only clocked 3.8 million inbound tourists.
With summer travel underway, can plant-based food help lure new tourists to Japan and keep them well-fed? Tokyo’s government hopes so. Ninna Fujimoto from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government recently told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the city is actively working to increase its food options to be more inclusive.
In late 2019, the government began promoting services for vegetarians and vegans prior to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This included creating food guidelines to help restaurants increase their meatless menu options, subsidies to support those options, and certification marks to identify which items are vegetarian and vegan.
By 2020, the number of vegan restaurants in Japan had jumped to 1,000, compared to 400 two years prior.
The city now also has two plant-based chefs who serve as “tourism ambassadors,” including Katsumi Kusumoto, owner of Tokyo-based Saido restaurant. And while progress has been made, finding vegan food in Japan’s capital city is still a challenge, one that Kusumoto hopes to change.
“When people visit Tokyo to eat delicious food, there are lots of Michelin-starred restaurants but many vegetarians still can’t eat at them. That’s said,” he told AFP. “So, I’m doing my job hoping the number of restaurants catering to them increases.”
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