Value Village ／ Before you come to Japan
This answer is a draft. It stays unpublished until legal review and source verification are complete.
For travellers with food allergies, Japan is both reassuring and confusing: the labelling law is strict, but the list of covered allergens differs from the EU and US, and restaurants are not covered at all.
| Status | Allergens |
|---|---|
| Mandatory (8) | Egg, milk, wheat, buckwheat (soba), peanut, shrimp, crab, walnut (added 2023; full enforcement from 1 April 2025) |
| Recommended (20) | Almond, abalone, squid, salmon roe, orange, cashew, kiwi, beef, sesame, salmon, mackerel, soybean, chicken, banana, pork, macadamia (added 2024, replacing matsutake), peach, yam, apple, gelatin |
[Verify] The walnut enforcement date and the macadamia addition with the Consumer Affairs Agency's allergen labelling page before publication.
It means none of the 8 mandatory ones are declared. Sesame, soy or mustard may still be present and unlabelled if the manufacturer chose not to declare.
They are not. Ask staff; a printed allergy card in Japanese (free templates are offered by allergy charities and travel sites; JNTO's site lists medical and dietary resources) is the most reliable tool.
Vague precautionary "may contain" labels are not permitted under Japanese rules; only specific cross-contamination warnings (e.g. "made on a line that also handles X") are allowed, so such notes are rarer than in the US. Absence of such a warning does not mean the factory is dedicated.
Soba is buckwheat, a mandatory allergen in Japan because reactions can be severe. Soba is also served in the same water as udon in many shops.
Adrenaline auto-injectors are prescription-only. Bring your own within the personal-import limits and carry the prescription (see the article on bringing medicine).
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https://www.caa.go.jp/en/policy/food_labeling/
https://www.caa.go.jp/policies/policy/food_labeling/food_sanitation/allergy/
https://www.japan.travel/en/plan/
⚠️ Editorial note: the source URLs above were identified by search. Our working environment cannot reach go.jp domains, so the contents have not been checked against the text. Verify every source before publication and record who checked it and when.
What we share here are ideas and everyday practices passed down among people living in Japan, together with general information drawn from public sources. They are not official recommendations, and they are not professional instruction. Practices vary between households and regions.
This is general information. Results vary from person to person and depend on your own conditions and surroundings.
Please decide for yourself, using your own judgement, whether any of this suits your situation. We cannot accept responsibility for any damage, loss or injury arising from following this article.
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