The World Vegan Travel Podcast
The World Vegan Travel Podcast
Vegan Travel in Japan: Setouchi & Hiroshima Guide | Joy Jarman-Walsh
In today’s episode, we’ll be talking to Joy Jarman-Walsh also known as JJ. Joy is the founder of Inbound Ambassador and co-founder of GetHiroshima, and she’s spent over two decades helping both travelers and local communities experience and shape a more sustainable Japan.
She’ll be talking to us about the evolving vegan travel scene in Japan—particularly in the lesser-known Setouchi region and Hiroshima—as well as how she collaborates with local businesses to introduce vegan options and make sustainable tourism more accessible. Joy shares how her journey from university teaching to tourism consulting has allowed her to bridge international expectations with Japanese traditions, and why local insight is so crucial for creating meaningful change in hospitality.
It’s a fascinating look into the intersection of veganism, culture, and sustainability in one of Japan’s most historic regions—without giving too much away!
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JJ: Thank you so much for having me on.
Brighde: I am thrilled to have you on here. We always love talking about Japan. It's a very popular destination for us as a business. I think there is a huge amount of interest in Japan, generally speaking, whether vegan or non-vegan. Just anything Japan on social media goes crazy for good reason. It's such an incredible place, and I'm really thrilled to have you on to talk about traveling vegan in Japan, and what that's like. Because you really do have a lot of experience in that. So before we get into the main part of the podcast, why don't you tell us a little bit about what it is that you do in the vegan hospitality space?
JJ: Sure. So most of my career here was as a teacher. I spent 21 years teaching at university, but I first started on the JET program. You've probably met lots of people in Japan who started with JET. Just thinking, they'd come over for a year and then end up staying the whole three years, and then coming back after we traveled around Asia and Europe. And then we've been in Hiroshima since 96. So most of my career was teaching university, teaching business and tourism topics as well. I got my master's in sustainable tourism. A lot of my focus is in consulting. I do consulting for destinations who want more international travelers to come to their area. We're based in Hiroshima. So we do a lot of work in this region, which they often call the Setouchi region. I'm so happy to hear you guys enjoyed traveling around here. It's kind of like an unknown area, that more and more people on their second trip or, after they've done all the main sites, Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka. They're starting to spend more time in our area and explore. So there's a lot of government funding to get started with new international tourism and to get areas which already do Japanese tourism. How can you go in as a consultant? Help them revamp and offer better offerings, including vegan, of course, for international visitors. And I think that this is really exciting because there's a lot of growth in the lesser known regions. So that's the focus of our work. And then I also, during Covid, started a podcast website, a talk show just like you. No tourism happening in person, so I reached out to a lot of interesting people around Japan, and hearing their stories and sharing their insights. And then that's also a really great insight for me when I do consulting. I have connections to all these experts who are doing interesting things around Japan, but also teaching at university, still once a week. So I am talking to a lot of people between 18 and 20, and I have to try to make the examples I'm talking about, relevant to them. And so I'm always learning, always researching for a younger age group as well. And then when I do consulting, it's usually older people. I really feel like I have connections to people in all age groups, which is lovely in Japan.
Brighde: And you are a tour guide as well in Japan, right? Tell us about that.
JJ: Sure. So I started tour guiding myself. I was teaching, guiding to hospitality students at the business department for over 20 years, and teaching them how mostly traditional tour guiding, which is like big group guiding. Then, when the borders closed during Covid, Japan was one of the later countries to open. And so by the time, I was already working for myself, and there wasn't that much consulting work. And so, when the borders opened again, two years ago, was it just over two years ago? And I started guiding myself, and I thought, this is a great way to stay relevant for the kind of training I'm doing for guides, to do it myself and see what things actually work, what things need adjusting. And it has really informed my guide training, but also really informed my consulting because I hear directly from different groups of people coming from different areas of the world. What kinds of challenges they're having as they're traveling around. And a lot of the government money seems to be funding high-end travelers. And so by doing small group guiding, I am often having high-end travelers coming through. So more connections to artisan culture, for example. But still you have the mainstream same demands, like need of plant-based food, need of, and most people, no matter what age or range they're coming through, are looking for more sustainable tourism. So I'm really excited about suggesting and giving examples from them, which then also encourage the local destination or the business who's thinking about creating a stronger brand and appeal to the international visitor. And definitely vegan is a part of that.
Brighde: That really reminds me. Two and a half years or so ago, a little bit more. I received an email from the Korean Tourism organization, and long story short, they offered me, because they were looking to promote vegan travel, vegan food and et cetera. They offered me and some other people in the vegan travel space, and some other people that weren't in the vegan travel space, but in the travel space. And they did an all expenses paid trip for 12 or 14 people or so, to Korea. Because they had this, they really wanted to promote vegan travel to Korea as a destination. And as a result of that, I haven't had time to put together a Korea, Japan trip, but I do know that a couple of my colleagues that went on that trip, have. So you know, it can work, it can pay off. It's really cool. I'm really pleased that Japan is looking in this direction. That's fantastic.
JJ: Yeah, for sure. I was surprised when I went to Korea recently, how I couldn't eat anything.It was really challenging and it reminded me of the last time I went to Korea, which was 20 years ago, and we couldn't eat anything either. But we found out that if you ask for Baboomba, which is like the local traditional dish; that used to be made without meat. So getting Baboomba without meat is an easy ask. Where having that local insight really helped us. So we pretty much ate Baboomba. That was the only meal we could eat there. But that was okay. At least it was something. It's vegetables and rice. It's a good basic dish, but you're not getting plant-based proteins, so you're pretty hungry all the time. There was a lot of sweets that we could eat, but I was thinking, when I was there, wow, this is like Japan maybe 20 years ago, like where you really have to figure things out. What can you eat? What do they already have that they could tweak a little bit and they could offer it to vegans, right? And so I would love to hear more about what you guys ate when they brought you over.
Brighde: Well, they took us to a few very nice vegan restaurants that were in the big cities, but outside of the big cities, of course, it's more difficult. And then it was quite funny. We went to some other places that, there's not many non-vegan restaurants that have a vegan menu in Korea. But, there are a couple. I'm sure we went to some of those as well. But there was another couple where the guide actually got in the kitchen and was cooking the food as well, just trying to help them out a little bit. Anyway, good for them. I'm sure they're just like climbing that learning curve, and hopefully in a few years
it will get easier,
but yeah.
JJ: And I've met so many Koreans who, once they get something, they just do it. They go with it, like really strongly, very fast. And I feel that way about a lot of Japanese people, like Japanese traditions, and once they get how they could do something, they do it fast, they do it. efficiently. And I got a similar feel from Korea. So high hopes for you guys making a good influence over there. Thank you for your hard work.
Brighde: Well, staying at those wonderful five star hotels, it really was such a chore.
JJ: Well that, that in itself, the international hotels coming in, they have helped elevate the level. Like in Hiroshima, we have the Hilton, they're very easy to ask for plant-based options. Also, they're one of the hotels which stopped using plastic water bottles. They use very little plastic packaging. So in terms of sustainability, they're already elevating the bar for what standards are in our area. And so international hotels anywhere coming in, they already have higher, like level of standards for sustainable hospitality, and understanding of vegan, vegetarian, and allergies. And so when they come into an area, they really help change the ball game. And then other local businesses, hotels are like, why are they doing so much better with the international market? And so when you do consulting and you say, this is what the international hotels are doing, and this is why. Anyone with an allergy or who's vegan might choose them over your business. So what can we do with your business to bring you up to that level. Right? So it's, it is very interesting.
Brighde: Absolutely. Yeah. These big international brands, I think this is a bit of a misconception for people, but very often the hotel itself is not owned by Hilton or Sheraton. It's just managed by them. So this idea of all of these sort of international brands going in there and taking over, yes and no. Because they just manage the hotel, because the person that owns the hotel doesn't have the bandwidth, the desire or the experience to do it. So it's, I don't think staying in branded hotels necessarily means that all of that money is going to another place.
JJ: No. They are hiring a lot of local people. And to be honest, I was teaching at a women's university for 21 years, so I would always recommend my female students if they spoke English well; go and try to get a job with one of the international hotels because not only would you be taken more seriously because their DEI standards are higher. They're equal pay, and equal promotion chances, standards are higher. So you're going to be treated well, but also you can transfer to any of their hotels around the world. And that is really appealing for a lot of the students here as well, to have that experience working abroad.
Brighde: I agree. Yeah. A final question about what it is that you are doing. You are a guide. You always told me that, but I'm wondering, are you just a guide in Hiroshima or are you a guide throughout Japan? Where's your sort of purview?
JJ: So I feel like I'm just going to stick to this area. I have a lot of experience, great stories and everything around here. Plus, to be honest, I'm in my mid-fifties now. I'm finding energy a problem. I'm an early morning person, but basically I wake up like five-thirty in the morning. So by 5:00 PM I'm pretty spent. I need to like chill out, have some food, go to bed early, you know. And so if I was doing tours all over Japan, the travel itself would just wipe me out. So I stick to this area. I'm doing a lot of the same areas. A lot of the top requests are seeing the city and Miyajima in the same day. I'm doing cycle tours or town tours around Onomichi, which is really exciting. Sometimes I'm asked to do saki towns like Takihata, and SaijÅ in our area, and that's really fun. Occasionally I'm asked to do Rabbit Island, which is one of our, a little bit further away places, but there's a lot around here. And so I feel like giving people value who come here, giving them the deeper experience and maybe being narrow, but deep, is not a bad thing.
Brighde: Absolutely, absolutely. Yes. I can tell you, for sure, that full-time guiding for 12 days in a row, traveling to many different cities, from being there when breakfast starts, to make sure that the hotel has made the breakfast good until the end of dinner, and sometimes beyond, it's tiring.
JJ: Yeah.
JJ: So, so much respect for people like you who do that. And logistic guides because a lot of logistic guides will meet people at the airport, travel with them for two weeks, and take them to the airport. Like some people do want that. That might be an option in the future. Right now, I'm a bit too busy because I'm trying to do consulting and guiding. So sticking to the area seems to be working well, plus I have an empty nest now. So I do have the option to do that in other areas. Yeah. If I have the chance. So who knows.
Brighde: I love it. I love it. Oh, and one last question before we proceed, is if somebody wanted to book your services as a guide, how might they do that?
JJ: So they can just contact me through my website, inboundambassador.com, or even inboundambassador@gmail.com, direct email. You can book through platforms like Context Travel. They a great expert guide travel platform, or ToursByLocals. I get most of my bookings through ToursByLocals. I don't want to be on too many platforms platforms because keeping track of your schedule is quite challenging, and I've got more than enough work on those two. So I stick with those or direct bookings also.
Brighde: Fabulous. Something that I know you are really keen to talk about today, is some of the things that you are doing and the projects that you've worked on in your work as a consultant, promoting vegan menus and sustainability. And I really like this because we're going to get into some specifics, restaurants and projects that you've worked on. But I'd like to suggest that anyone could take this information and use it to improve vegan choices in their own city, so that tourists coming to their city could enjoy them and of course the residents as well or a destination that you know well. And you've done so much of this work, so I'd love to hear, well, there's lots of projects. Which one would you like to tell us about first?
JJ: I think, start in general. So in general, you really need someone on the ground who gets it. Who's passionate about the vision of taking things forward in a certain way. So there is a beautiful, wonderful, amazing town of Kamikatsu, which is a zero waste part of town. I did my research on the ma bunch when I was a university professor, and now, always want to promote them. Encouraging vegan there, even though they're so sustainably led, they reuse and recycle everything. It's hard to get to, but they are now also seeing how to offer vegan things. Because you have the alignment of people who want to travel more sustainably, are often also looking for vegan options. So it takes time, but eventually places are thinking, 'Oh yeah, we need this. This is part of our more value brand.' And there's a lot of connections to traditional Japan. So I interviewed a great author, Azby Brown. He wrote a wonderful book called Just Enough, which was all about the Edo period. During the Edo period they reused everything. They didn't waste anything. And there's a lot of like traditional Japan elements there, of things that should be brought back. All of these habits of reusing old materials, even keeping water in the sunshine to warm it so that you can use it without having to use energy. I mean, there's so many wonderful examples; how the landscape should be designed. Lots of things like that. And then talking to people like Alex Kerr, who's a fantastic author, written about the beauty of Japan, and talking to him, and how he talks about traditional Japanese culture and aesthetics, but how we need to preserve the aesthetic, but bring it into modern relevance. And then some of the great ideas that he had for the Iya Valley in Tokushima and Shikoku Island, they have this wonderful hard tofu, for example. And he suggested, instead of having mozzarella and tomato, why not have the hard tofu and tomato with olive oil? So it's a new idea, but it's using a local resource, right?
So there's so many of these great thinkers, I've luckily had the chance to talk to, who realize that bringing these old traditions from Japan, which are part of their culture and heritage, bringing it back into modern relevance. Definitely, the whole idea of vegan offerings is very connected to that. I went to Shimonoseki. Have you heard of Shimonoseki?
Brighde: I haven't.
JJ: It's only about an hour by train from our area, and it's a very coastal, like fishing-based town. But we did a consulting there, and there is one ryokan old hotel we went to, and the woman at the hotel, it's her family hotel. She's very passionate about offering vegan options, and that whole area is famous for fugu. Do you know fugu?
Brighde: Nope. Nope.
JJ: Poison Blowfish. That's
Brighde: Okay. I've heard of it.
a
JJ: popular sashimi. And that region is famous for fugu. But she said, 'I see the demand of international travelers wanting vegan food.' So she pushed her chefs to make an equal course that's all vegan, that looks like the fugu.
And just the idea of having course by course comparisons. Which are equal in value. I mean, how many vegan options do you get? You get like a salad. Everybody else is having like a big meat, protein option, you know. You feel like you're losing out big time. So it was so exciting to meet people like her who get it. Who see the potential and push it forward.
Brighde: If they are interested and see the potential. Like are you sending out a questionnaire or do you just kind of anecdotally hear things?
JJ: You have to be there on the ground. So that's why consulting is a really wonderful thing. Because to be honest, that's one of the huge hurdles right now in Japan and probably around the world, is places just don't have that foundational knowledge of what even to think about, what even to look for. So you as a consultant who has this knowledge, comes in and can see what they're doing and support what they're doing, which is great. But make advice or suggestions about things they could improve, and so that's a really exciting part. Unfortunately you really have to go there. We have a big consulting job that might happen coming up and they sent us 10 options. Usually when you do go there and once you have a little bit of time in the area talking to people, you can find things, you can make suggestions. But when they're sending you possibilities, often if it's just something you ask them to send us, something sustainable, send us anything you have vegan. It's just lacking. It's just not there yet. So the person to person experience is still an important element of that.
Brighde: I think, correct me if I'm wrong, you would certainly know more about this than me. But, we came back this year, and we ran our second, our third trip, but second time coming. And I really felt that everything was easier having been there a second time. I felt like they trusted us a lot more. There were some instances, not that many, but one or two instances where people that, or companies that we had previously worked with, were no longer interested in working with us. That's fine. It happens. But just like funny things like, 'Oh, we'll just send you an invoice for a couple of thousand dollars worth of food that we took. We'll just, we'll send you an invoice late, like after the event.' And we are like, 'But we are happy to pay before or at the time.' We know you now. And that was quite shocking to me.
JJ: Wow. Yeah. So you're developing a level of trust with places and that is so key. That is so important. When I was a university academic, and was still meeting, sometimes, with local businesses, and I felt like I learned a lot. Once I actually finished my university job, started as an entrepreneur working for myself.I could understand, I had more empathy, more sympathy for what they were trying to go through. The challenges, it's really hard to make these changes. There's a lot of costs, things they're thinking about, but they're also really concerned about their existing customers and the brand image and what they want their Japanese customers to understand about their business. And, so even changing what seems like a simple thing about changing the dashi or the stock, it becomes a huge thing, right? Because that's part of their brand. I had a great talk with Bernd Shellhorn,who is a shÅjin ryÅri German Chef who was based in Kyoto and then he's now in the Noto Peninsula, and he was talking about the dashi. Its such a big deal, and he really believes, after years of studying shÅjin ryÅri, he believes that the flavors are so light and wonderful, but there's only a small group of people that can appreciate that. Most people who eat junk food or ramen or at typical places, they expect that strong hit of flavor that the fish stock, the katsuo stock, gives you. Or salty or really salty. But shÅjin ryÅri doesn't use flavors. Like even the dashi they use, it's all vegan, but they tried not to make it too strong, even though it comes from vegetables. So everything is very mild. And so that was a real eye-opener for me, hearing that, and then realizing. Even abroad, even wherever we are, our modern taste that we're looking for, we want that hit of salt usually, or we want that hit of flavor. So even though shÅjin ryÅri is very traditional Japanese, that's not how modern people in Japan usually eat. They want something with a stronger hit. So that really helped me understand the depth of the dashi argument, which, I guess, no pun intended there; depth of the soup stock.
Brighde: I love it. I love it. Yeah. Okay. So, I mean, people definitely need to know that developing these relationships, basically networking like crazy. I know I used to find that really cringey to sort of network and everything, but it's one of those things where it gets easier the more you do it. And yeah, definitely very
JJ: important.
And because you've already done the tour, they do trust you. So the next time you come, they've got that level of trust, and that is one of the beauties of Japan, living in Japan, traveling in Japan. The common decency even amongst strangers. The politeness, the kindness. But then once you make a good relationship with a business or a person, they trust you. And that's a beautiful thing. How difficult it is in many countries to develop a level of honesty or trust. And that is a really special thing about Japan, still.
Brighde: Yep. Absolutely, agreed. I was thrilled to realize that you were behind, Jirokichi's incredible vegan menu. Before you tell me about what you did there, our trip actually goes there, and it's a super fun evening. It's a restaurant in Hiroshima. Before you go into more of the details of how you worked with them and how that came to pass, tell us about this restaurant because it is super fun.
JJ: Yeah. Jirokichi is a great example of how government funding can really help push places to develop vegan options. In our area, I was just talking to my husband who does a lot of these projects, and does vegan seminars sponsored by the government; in Tokyo, in Osaka, you probably just have the high demand from the international visitors or local visitors, which are pushing up, people making the choice to make vegan options. But in our area, it really has been supported by government funding. Like the vegan, vegetarian guide, that was all government funded.
Brighde: Oh, we'll get to that. I'm very curious to know about that
JJ: too.
But Jirokichi is another example. So we worked with a local woman. She is married to a Spanish, British guy, and they lived in Spain for a little while. She speaks amazing English. She does a consulting job to help people get through all the paperwork of finding funding and things from the government. If a business is interested. Doing all the paperwork and getting all the funding is a real headache. It's a different skillset. So Arimee does a great job in finding the projects that can support local businesses, and getting the local businesses on board to work together and develop something. So then she brought us in for that project to help give him some advice. He had a great idea. He's got a cute little kind of hole in the wall, kind of okonomiyaki place.  Okonomiyaki is our famous local dish. It started after the war because the Allied forces gave local people flour. So that's why the flower pancake on the bottom. A lot of single mothers started making it on the street from metal that they got from the old ships in the port, and they were selling it on the streets from whatever vegetables they could find. So the first version was very simple, pancake and whatever vegetable. And then a local soy sauce maker started importing dates because they were rebuilding industry here and importing a lot of oil from the Middle East. And so you have this thicker, sweeter sauce that they using on the dish. And then there's stories of people bringing noodles or bringing eggs. The standard one has eggs, and noodles, and cabbage, and soybean, and green onion. So loads of veggies. It's like eating a big salad. And then the usual one has bacon. So most places are very easy to say no egg, no bacon. But Jirokichi, one of his ideas was, I really want to have the egg part and I have found some soy egg, so I want to make you some soy egg version. And it was great. And he does like a other kinds of dishes as well. A lot of okonomiyaki places, because they cook on the hot plate, the teppan. They do a variety of side dishes, and he wanted to offer those. And so we were so happy to encourage him to think about what he's already doing, which has a lot of vegetables, and how we could do a version without the meat and add, maybe, garlic or add sesame seeds or some kind of other flavor, spicy chilies, that kind of thing. And he's just developed this really great side menu, but also a beautiful version of a vegan  okonomiyaki. So I'm so glad you were able to find it. He was very excited about the process. And then another example of how the person doing the work really has to be invested. They really have to get it. And he did. He did. And with the support of Arimee as well, getting the government funding and then, I think, our suggestions, and then our support as well. But then when he was just launching it, he was like, 'I don't know. You think it'll be popular? Will anybody come?' And because he's in the city center, I think he gets, maybe, half of his customers now looking for the vegan options. There's not many, right?
Brighde: It's interesting because when we go there, we have to take over the whole place because it's cramped. Even just with us in there.
JJ: Yeah. It's not a big place. Yeah.
Brighde: And it's so funny, but also sad because the restaurant will put like a little sign outside saying, 'I'm sorry, we are closed for a couple of hours,' whatever. A lot of people walk up to that door and are very upset.
JJ: Yeah.
Brighde: They can't eat there. And then there's one section of the restaurant which has a wall that I think people are invited to graffiti on, to just write messages. And many of them are, 'Thank you for offering vegan food,' et cetera, et cetera. So I do think it's very popular. I think they do a fantastic job. And yet that vegan egg one is amazing. They even have one with a vegan cheese on top, as well. And it is absolutely delicious. It's one of my favorite meals in Japan. And I don't know the name of the owner, he's quite a young guy still.
JJ: Yeah. He's quite young, right? Yeah. Yeah. One of the challenges, even living here in Hiroshima is, we often have, sometimes, the supermarkets will have vegan cheese. But the fact that he has local resources, places where he can get the vegan egg, the vegan cheese, consistently, that is having a positive knock on effect too, for the whole supply chain down to Hiroshima. So he's having a bigger effect on the area than he thinks. I should go ask him where he's getting his vegan cheese, because I can't find it these days. So sometimes they become an information source.
Brighde: It's funny that you should say that, because when we were there towards the end of the evening, he did run out of the vegan egg and the vegan cheese. So maybe there is a bit of a shortage. I'm not sure, but yes. Fantastic. Fantastic restaurant and definitely some tips there, is if you can find out for government funding. If there's government funding.
JJ: Yeah.
Brighde: Then that's going to be great. That's going to help you earn money by paying your consulting fee, and also the expenses that would be a hit to the business that was trying to make these transitions or at least subsidize some of them.
JJ: For sure. One real hurdle for okonomiyaki places, a lot of them now are offering vegetarian options, but one of the main layers is egg. So having a vegan version, the person doing it often feels like, oh god, that's just like fried noodles. I'm so sorry. There's nothing there. So having people like Jirokichi, who's really thinking about, no, we really want the egg as part of the dish, because that's the modern dish. Another big hurdle for okonomiyaki, is a lot of places which Jirokichi had as well. A lot of places treat the teppan before they start cooking for the day. They cover the whole thing in lard.
Brighde: Is that right?
JJ: Most okonomiyaki places do, and this was something we didn't realize until we started consulting. And we're going step by step. We can cook it with veg oil but when we start the day, we always cover everything in lard.
What
Brighde: are the benefits of that?
JJ: It's just a tradition. It's just a thing they started doing. So when we realized that, we're like, 'Can you not do that? Is there an alternative?' Some places, if you order vegan, vegetarian, they'll cook it in a different pan because they know they treat the whole teppan with lard. So that, that is a hurdle. And now that we know it, it's something we always check when we consult with. Because there are some places that don't know.
Brighde: You'd never think to ask, would you?
JJ: No. No, that's not something you ask, usually.
Brighde: So you held up the magazine that you've been working on, like a directory or a tourist map or guide. So listeners who don't have the video, it's this beautiful book, but it's more than a booklet, I would say. It seems like it's pretty hefty.
JJ: It's like a booklet. This was a project we did about five years ago. Hiroshima and Western Honshu. So this central area of Japan, vegan, vegetarian guide, and beautiful artwork on the front. All small Japanese dishes. So most of the places are in Hiroshima, but also including Yamaguchi and all the places in our area, Okayama. And to be honest, like Okayama, it has a lot of great options now, mostly because of the popularity of the Art Islands, Naoshima and Teshima, and a lot of people going there as one of their top off the beaten track locations. And so Okayama actually has a lot more offerings now. Smaller, less visited places like Tottori, was hard to find places. A lot less visitors internationally go there. So I think it's still a challenge for them. Shimane, which is also in our area, just about an hour away, but there is some development there for developing guest houses, which are reusing a lot of the old buildings, which you might have heard. There's a lot of old traditional buildings or even rural areas in general, where a lot of houses are available. They've been left or people have moved into the cities. So I have heard of a few through the Japan Travel Awards. I'm on the judge team, sustainable travel judge. And so it's great to hear about places in the rural areas which are offering vegan options, offering more sustainable stays. And then Yamaguchi is one of the bigger cities in our area, but this guide at the back has been really popular and useful if you can see.
Brighde: Ah, you tell us, for those that are not watching the video version of this podcast?
It has very clearly, 'I'm afraid I can't eat.' A more polite way to say, 'Please don't put this in my food.' And then you point at all the different elements of things you don't eat. So whether it's part of a vegan lifestyle or even allergies like gluten or nuts. And then it's got the Japanese as well, so it's a much easier way to communicate. Of course, now we have fantastic apps that help everybody. I'm sure a lot of your travelers would've used a translation app, but often, when you're dealing with people outside the city areas, just having something with pictures as well as the clear language, really helps. Because one of the problems with AI or translation apps, is just sometimes not as consistent or it's saying it in a kind of a old fashioned way. So it's the communication style outside the city or even person to person is a little different. So this is just a very clear way to communicate. I love it. And how can people get their sweaty paws on that booklet?
JJ: I will send you the link. But if you search, Hiroshima Western Honshu Vegetarian Guide.
Brighde: Oh, it's got its own website. Wow.
That would be great. So you've been living in Japan for how long now?
JJ: More than 30 years. If you include the first three years that I was in Kyushu in the South Island. And then we traveled around Asia and Europe, for mostly Asia for two years. And then a job opened in Hiroshima. And we came back in 96. And both times I've come to Japan, I said I could live there for a year, and then you end up, that was 96 since we came to Hiroshima, but we bought an old house. We renovated this beautiful old house. So we live in a beautiful, neighborhood just outside the city center. We raised two kids here. And then you just find it a very high quality place to live. And that was really the vision of rebuilding Hiroshima after the bombing. The visionaries, the city planners, they had this idea of how to reuse all the spaces along the riverside. So Hiroshima has loads of cycle friendly, walk-friendly paths along every of our seven branches of river.
Brighde: And everything's very wide as well, isn't it, in Hiroshima, which is very nice.
JJ: So Hiroshima means 'wide island.' So Hiroshima was originally mostly water and islands. And when Samurai Mori came to this area, he wanted to make it the base of his power in Central Japan. And he saw mostly water. He put the castle on one of the islands and he filled in what we see as modern Hiroshima land in mostly the 16 hundreds. He made all that manmade land. So when I first came and I thought, oh wow, Hiroshima streets are so grid-like, that's unusual. Most Japanese cities are not like that, right?
Brighde: And I'm curious, did you raise your children as vegan as well?
I don't think Japanese children traditionally. Oh, maybe they do, do they bring a bento box to school? I hear about these incredible bento boxes that parents make.
JJ: Most of them are hot lunches. Yeah. So that was an issue when our kids started going to elementary school. They went to Japanese schools throughout, but later on they went to an IEB school. So it was more Japanese and English. That was a private school. But no matter what school they were in, it was always an issue. So elementary school was the start of the the issues, right. When my son started at age six at elementary school, I went to the school and I said, 'He doesn't do dairy,' and this is since he was a baby. He always had an aversion, even when we tried dairy formula once or twice, and he would get bloated. So it was obviously a physical aversion to dairy. And so we said, 'He doesn't do dairy.' They're like, 'Get a medical note.' And so we did. And then I had to have a meeting with the nutritionist and she's like, well, where does he get his protein and his calcium? And so we walk through the kinds of things that we eat as a family. He loves natto, which is the fermented soybean. Some of you might have tried.
Brighde: Your kids really liked natto?
JJ: Loves it. He always loved it. My daughter and my son, they love that. I try to eat it because it's healthy.
Brighde: Yeah.
JJ: But they also love, like hijiki, which is one of the seaweed things, they love. Like that often comes with beans. So then you've got the protein from the beans as well. They love tofu. So I had to walk through all the things we eat as a family. We do soy milk a lot, very easy to access. And so I would have to send a bento every day, but I had to get approval for the kinds of foods I would be sending. Just because they wanted to check. He's twice the size of anybody else, and they're like, and probably no growth problems, you know?
Brighde: That is so interesting. I can't imagine in North America, a family, parents being given guidelines and suggestions directly on what they need to put in their children's lunchbox. Which just indicates, again, to me, just how different society is in Japan compared with North America.
JJ: Yeah. And then there was this interesting element of not making waves. This is a Japanese thing, right? Like people will not do something because they're worried about making problems for somebody else. I thought, well, I gotta do this. This is my family's health style. This is what we've chosen to live, and doing it in a polite way as possible. But you can make changes in Japan. This is true for consulting as well. You can definitely do it, but you have to come in with a humble, polite attitude. And if you do it in the right way, you can definitely make changes in a positive way. So the reason they're giving milk is kind of an influence from the Allied forces that was recommended because that was the American way. And so that's not even a Japanese culture.
Brighde: This drives me batty, this idea that so many Asian countries now have dairy on their nutritional requirements, on their food pyramid. Yet they were much healthier before they started doing that. It's the same in Thailand and Vietnam. They never had dairy. It wasn't even a thing.
JJ: Absolutely. And then there was other tricky thing, like we would get a menu every day. So sometimes if it did happen to be vegan, vegetarian, then we would be like, oh, you can eat with your friends today. Eat the lunch together because it's a real community. Like all the classes serve it to each other. So it's part of the education to eat together. So that was also an unexpected hurdle. And I think you'll have that as a traveler in Japan too. You'll expect, for example, wagashi. You can eat wagashi, Japanese sweets. It's all made of beans, much less sugar. It's more natural. It's gluten-free as well. It's nut free. So basically everybody should be able to eat it. But it's worth checking because recently there's more modern trends for wagashi where they're adding milk or cream or dairy or something a little bit different for the Japanese customers to stand out a bit or to just show that they're doing something new and unique, which you can understand from a business perspective. But if you go for traditional wagashi shops, pretty much anybody can eat everything, which I love.
Brighde: I love it too. I love it too.
JJ: So JJ, you have had this long running like radio podcast, live show, live stream, I don't know exactly what you called it. But are there any really interesting guests that you have had on that you think our listeners could listen to? Maybe you can send the links and we can put them in the show notes as well. I would love that. For sure.I mentioned Alex Kerr and Azby Brown. Those interviews are fascinating. They have such a depth of knowledge of traditional Japan, but also bringing things into modern relevance. They've got great books as well. Another writer who's based in the States, but she lived in Japan for a long time. She wrote a fascinating book. Her name's Winifred Bird. She wrote a fascinating book called Eating Wild Japan, and it's all about foraging for food.
Brighde: That is fun.
JJ: Right. And she focused on finding people still doing foraging culture around Japan. Sansai, the mountain vegetables, which people really go deep in the forest and find those. I've tried it once. Just as an aside. I was traveling in the rural area. I bought some from a shop selling sansai, the wild vegetables. And the woman who sold it warned me. She said, if your face goes numb, you should stop eating it because some people have an allergy.
Brighde: Okay.
JJ: And so, my tongue went numb and I was like, my tongue's gone numb. And she's no, your tongue's okay. Just if it goes to your face, you should stop eating it. But that was hilarious. But Winifred Bird, she went all around Japan. She learned, she ate with people. She went to a bamboo restaurant in Kyoto where they had 12 courses of bamboo food. She's just fascinating. So that was a great talk, but also a wonderful book. We've got Vegan Osaka. And I get a box from them every month. And it's full of like vegan sausages, sausages, readymade meals. It's run by a Canadian woman and the shop, you can actually go to as well. It's called Slices in Osaka and they're famous for their vegan pepperoni pizza. And so she's making vegan cheeses. She's just a magician. I don't know how she does it. She's amazing. So I talked to Kina Jackson, who helped her start those vegan entrepreneurial initiatives. That was great. Rosie Galvin, she does Canelita Sweets in Osaka, the most amazing American style cakes, right? Then, vegan entrepreneur based in Tokyo. She's always doing different things. She ran a cafe for a while. It's really sad that it didn't last, like it was just about a year. Running a business is hard.
Brighde: Oh, yeah.
JJ: But she is always a consultant. She's always in encouraging people for vegan business ideas or things like that. So Noriko Shindo in Tokyo. Then Rowie Gaertz in Nozawa Onsen in Nagano. She's amazing. She started a vegan cafe right there in Nozawa Onsen, and she does yoga as well, so you can do yoga classes and eat at the vegan cafe. And then, Ria and Robert, they run an organic Farm. And then, of course, a foundation for anyone traveling or visiting Japan is Alishan Tengu. I had the chance to talk with the founder Jack Bayles. They are one of the longest running businesses supporting vegan, vegetarian people in Japan.
Brighde: How are they supporting them. Are they selling vegan products?
JJ: Vegan products. It's like an online grocers. They also have a cafe in Saitama, which is right outside Tokyo, and then now one right in Central Tokyo. So you can get your vegan groceries, vegan, vegetarian groceries, but also they have that wonderful cafe as well.
Brighde: I love it. So many amazing places. I definitely want to do a Japan 2.0. Japan is such an incredible destination and it's a little bit easier to find vegan food in big cities like Tokyo and Kyoto. But, if we want to get off the beaten path a little bit, it could be more challenging. So I definitely think that another trip to Japan would be amazing.
JJ: Forsure. And I think for travelers, for your listeners as well, when they travel in Japan, even if you're going to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, it is easier. There are more options, but you still have to plan ahead. You can't just go into any eatery and expect they're going to have something vegan. Unfortunately, that's just not the case yet. So even when I go to Tokyo, I'm planning out every meal, and then I'm happy because if I meet up with people who aren't vegan, they'll be like, oh, let's just go here. And then you just, you can't eat anything and it's a wasted meal. I don't want wasted meals.
Brighde: I want the calories, I want the ramen.
JJ: I want it I want it all.
And you
Brighde: have to be careful because sometimes they don't take reservations. A lot of restaurants in Japan don't take reservations and they can be very busy. So I will, if I know a place is going to be busy, I will get there right before it opens. Even if it's 11 o'clock in the morning for okonomiyaki.
JJ: Not only that too, like you want to get there early to get in because they get crowded or they don't do reservations. But another thing that happens sometimes, if it's a place that offers both meat and vegan, they'll run out of the vegan option. So if you get there a little bit later and they'll be like, we only have the meat stuff, you gotta walk out. You're like, I'm sorry, I came for the vegan stuff. Can you offer more? Maybe next time. But even some of the chains, like national chains in Japan,like usually CoCo ICHIBANYA, which is vegan curry and rice. So that's a nice staple. Most Burger has a green burger. That's also a nice staple. Freshness Burger has a vegetarian burger, but I went to Freshness Burger; they run out. So even chains, sometimes, they're like, oh, sorry, sold out. Yeah.
Brighde: And I think a big part of that is, there's just not the space to store a lot of food. And another interesting quirk, I was very surprised to find that Japan restaurants and businesses and bars, they will still order from their suppliers through fax.
JJ: Yes. So the supply chain, changing the supply chain is a big deal, right?
Brighde: Yes. That's reminding me of another time when I was in Japan, in Tokyo, staying in an extremely expensive hotel with our group. It's like a thousand dollars a night. It's very expensive. I made some wins, but I had to make some concessions.
JJ: I had a great example from Momiji Ramen, which is opposite Miyajima Island. They offer vegan ramen. They've got vegan gyoza there, and vegan gyoza, I take credit for it, because when I did the review there, I said, I love your vegan ramen. It's awesome. It would be great to also have vegan gyoza. I know that some of the local like chef shops, they sell this vegan gyoza. It's pretty good. And they offered it from the next week, and I was like, yay.
Brighde: And he wrote, oh, great idea. I'll add it to the menu. And the knock on effect, the positive knock on effect, is it's also gluten-free. It's made with rice flour. So he's like, I can offer it to people who are gluten-free as well. This is fantastic. So awesome.
Before we say goodbye, would you mind sharing again with our listeners how people can find you, book your guiding services, watch your show, all of that handles for everything.
JJ: Sure. Please watch the show, make comments, share it with people you think that would like it. It's called Seek Sustainable Japan. Last year we just passed the 500th episode, so I want to keep going. It's a great way to highlight great work of interesting people around Japan. So you can just search YouTube or Google for that. And then my website, inbound ambassador.com is really basic. I don't do much. I don't have time, maybe during the low season. But you can contact and see basic information about me there. You can also reach out to me by email, inbound ambassador@gmail.com. Happy to take direct bookings for guiding in the Hiroshima area, or if you have a question or have a person that might be good to interview, you could introduce me to in Japan. I'd love that. Even outside Japan. And then, yeah, I'm on Instagram, I'm on Facebook. I'm on Blue Sky, the new one. So you can search Inbound Ambassador or JJ Walsh is my online name. So happy to connect and if you can't find me, send me an email. I'll send you all the links. But we should have them below as well.
Brighde: Absolutely. Yeah, all of the links will be there. Thank you, JJ. Thank you so much for taking the time to be on the podcast. I really appreciate it. It was a lot of fun.
JJ: It was a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me on.