u/Financial_Mark7494

I’m in Japan and have been watching a friend struggle to communicate dietary restrictions at restaurants. Phrasebook approaches fall apart fast - the standard advice misses too many hidden ingredients, and most travellers don’t find out until after they’ve already eaten something they shouldn’t have.

So I quickly put together https://tabemasen.io to generate a polite Japanese card with dietaries and allergies to show staff. Free, no ads, no signup, mobile-friendly. There’s an English mirror toggle so you can read what the card actually says.

Not here to promo it (there’s literally nothing I can profit from there), but would love to share and get some feedback on the following:

- People with food allergies who travelled to Japan - do you think this would be helpful?
- Native or fluent Japanese speakers - does anything read off, condescending, or unclear?
- Stuff I’m missing - anything only experienced travellers would think to call out.

In case you get a chance to use it in your travels, let me know if it was helpful.

Thank you!

I’m in Japan with a friend who has celiac, and watching them try to communicate at restaurants made me realize how many hidden allergens are in Japanese food that aren’t obvious from a phrasebook:
- Soy sauce contains wheat (almost always). Tamari is the GF version.
- Dashi (fish/bonito stock) is in basically everything labeled “vegetable broth.”
- Mirin contains alcohol - relevant for halal travellers.
- Tempura, fried tofu, even some pickles are breaded with wheat.
- Cross-contamination is the real killer - same fryer, same knife.

While building this for my friend it became obvious it should handle more than gluten - peanut, shellfish, sesame, dairy all have the same pattern: standard advice doesn’t cover the actual gotchas.

https://tabemasen.io - pick your allergens and/or dietary pattern (vegetarian, vegan, halal, GF, kosher, pescatarian), get a polite Japanese card. Free, no signup, mobile-first.

Specific to allergy users:
- Severity toggle adds a red warning that small amounts are life-threatening and asks for separate cookware/oil.
- English mirror under the Japanese, on by default, so you can verify the card.
- Custom item field if your allergen isn’t on the list.

Big caveat I want to be upfront about: this is a safety net, not a substitute for medical-grade communication. If you have a life-threatening allergy, please carry an EpiPen and a doctor’s letter in Japanese. The card disclaimer says this and I want to repeat it here.

Posted to r/Celiac last week and got useful feedback that shaped the current version. Curious whether this community finds it useful, or whether there are gaps the celiac crowd wouldn’t have spotted - tree nuts, sesame, allergens that are underrepresented in Japan-specific resources.

If you end up using it on a trip, please come back and tell me how it went.

Hey all, I'm in Japan right now and watched a celiac friend struggle to communicate gluten restrictions to restaurants. Soy sauce contains wheat, tempura is breaded, and even "vegetable broth" usually has dashi (which is fine for gluten but worth knowing).

The existing solutions are mostly paid apps or low-quality printable PDFs.

So I built https://tabemasen.io pick your restrictions, get a Japanese card to show your waiter. The card calls out specifically that soy sauce contains wheat and asks for tamari/GF soy sauce instead. Free, no signup, works on mobile.

It's a v1, would love feedback from this community especially. If something in the Japanese phrasing reads off to a native speaker, please tell me.