Japan, First Time,
Vegetarian Throughout.

Tokyo is the harder city for the vegetarian. Most ramen broths are pork; most ramen counters have no plant-based option; the konbini sandwiches are mayo-with-fish or egg-with-ham. The desk's standing rule in Tokyo is to anchor each meal at a kitchen that is verifiably plant-based by intent, not by ingredient list. There are about thirty of them in central Tokyo, and the four days below visit six.

The four nights anchor at a hotel in Shinjuku or Yotsuya — the western central belt, where the vegan kitchens cluster. Days one and two are easy (Asakusa morning, Yanesen afternoon, vegetarian dinner). Day three is the cultural anchor (Meiji Shrine + the Western Art Museum). Day four is a rest morning, then the Romance Car train to Hakone.

The Hakone overnight is the trip's first quiet day. Romance Car from Shinjuku at 09:00; arrive Hakone-Yumoto by 10:30. Drop the bag at the ryokan, take the Hakone-Tozan line to Gora, then the funicular and ropeway through Owakudani. The black eggs at Owakudani are sulphur-cured and vegetarian (often missed in plans).

The ryokan dinner is the test. Most Hakone ryokan offer a shōjin-aware menu on advance request — the kaiseki structure is preserved but every course is plant-based. The desk's standing pick is Gora Kadan for the formal experience, or Hakone Yutowa for the smaller scale and easier vegetarian conversion.

Kyoto is the easiest city in Japan for the vegetarian — its temples have served plant-based Buddhist cuisine, shōjin ryōri, for centuries. Three of the kitchens that still do are bookable and famous: Ajiro Honten near Myōshin-ji, Shigetsu inside Tenryū-ji, and Daitokuji Ikkyū at Daitoku-ji. Two are lunch only; one is dinner. All three need a 2–4 week lead time.

The seven-night Kyoto leg follows the desk's standing Kyoto composition end to end — day by day, with the temple-side meals, the morning at Fushimi Inari, the Kurama trail, and the small budget shōjin houses (Shojin Cafe Waka, Falafel Garden) named in their day-blocks.

Osaka is harder than Kyoto but easier than Tokyo — the city's food culture is fish-and-meat dense (takoyaki, kushikatsu, okonomiyaki), but the vegetarian alternatives have grown in the last decade. The desk's two-night composition anchors on Kuromon Market in the morning (yuba, pickles, mochi — all plant-based at the named stalls) and on the city's vegetarian kitchens for dinner.

Day fourteen morning: a final coffee in Nakazaki-cho, then the Itami-airport line for the international connection through Tokyo, then home. The Yamato Transport luggage forwarder handles the bag from the hotel to Itami so day fourteen morning is unencumbered.