hey guys.
here's some helpful cuecards for anyone who has any dietary restrictions or allergies and isn't fluent enough to be able to communicate them properly to servers when visiting Japan. it's something I'm worried about since I'm vegan so I was super excited to find this, it will make life a little easier

http://www.justhungry.com/japan-dining-out-cards
OMG!!! that is so good!!! since i am allergic to many things i could use this if i ever go to Japan!!! so cool!! thanks XD
Thank you so much <3 Domo, Arigatou Gozaimasu <3 This really helps me out. I will definately put the wheat allergy one to good use when I go to Japan.. :D Thanks for sharing this :)
no prob! she added a fill in the blank one at the bottom so if your specific allergy isn't there you can just look up the word and fill it in. it would be more helpful if there was also hiragana-only text or roomaji for those of us who can speak a little and read but can't read kanji yet, so we could just use it as a guide to ask the servers ourselves so we can practice the language, rather than just giving it to the servers to read. but oh well. if i'm feeling ambitious maybe i'll look up the kanji and make myself a hiragana version
No meat, but chicken and fish okay もうしわけ ありませんが、わたしは にくるいが たべられません。とりにく、さかなは だいじょうぶです。 No meat or poultry, but fish okay もうしわけ ありませんが、わたしは とりにくを ふくめて にくるいが いっさい たべられません。ぎょるいは だいじょうぶです。 No meat, poultry, or fish (including stock), but eggs and milk okay もうしわけ ありませんが、わたしは べじたりあんです。にく、とりにく、さかな(だしをふくめて)が たべられません。たまご、にゅうせいひんは だいじょうぶです。 Vegan (no meat, poultry, fish, eggs or milk) もうしわけ ありませんが、わたしは びーがんです。にく、とりにく、さかな(だしをふくめて)、たまご、にゅうせいひんが たべられません。 Wheat allergy あれるぎーのため こむぎ、こむぎこが いっさい たべられません。ごりょうしょう ください。 Milk allergy あれるぎーのため にゅうせいひんが いっさい たべられません。ごりょうしょう ください。 Nut allergy あれるぎーのため きのみや らっかせい(その あぶらを ふくめて)が いっさい たべられません。ごりょうしょう ください。 Shellfish allergy あれるぎーのため かいるいや えびなど いっさい たべられません。ごりょうしょう ください。 Soy allergy あれるぎーのため だいずせいひんが いっさい たべられません(みそ、しょうゆを ふくめて)。ごりょうしょう ください。 申し訳ありませんが… もうしわけありませんが I'm sorry but ご了承ください… ごりょうしょうください Please understand アレルギーの為… あれるぎーのため Because of an allergy __が一切食べられません… __がいっさいたべられません I can't eat any____
ah! ありがとう! I will add this to the back of the cards I printed out :D
That's really neat! I have known some people that are allergic to chocolate and strawberries. (Which is really sad! I couldn't survive without them) How would you put those? Also, how would you handle informing them that you are diabetic and are their any sugar-free options? My friend is diabetic, and I think it would be good for her to know.

I wonder if anyone has made cards like this for Korea.
アレルギーのため いちご がいっさいたべられません  -strawberries (instead of いちご you could also use ストロベリー ) アレルギーのため ショコラ がいっさいたべられません  -chocolate i'm not sure about diabetic, maybe i'll post it on the blog and see if she'll make one up but sugar is さとう so i guess you could just use the allergy one and replace the other items with sugar
The Wheat Allergy card --- I think you will be starving :)
in Japan? i imagine it's easier there than in north america. we depend on wheat a lot over here, Japan depends more on rice so i don't really think it would be that difficult to go wheat-free
LF, did you get and answer about what card to use for diabetes?
yeah, so I wrote something about diabetes and then did something weird and byebye post... diabetes is tounyoubyou とうにょうびょう 糖尿病 (literally "sugar urine illness"... lovely...) I honestly don't know a lot about dietary restrictions for diabetics (no sugar? low sugar? what about carbs?) But here are some options... mutou na mono = "something without sugar" or satou ga haitte inai mono = "something that no sugar is in" or toubun ga hikaeme na mono = "something without a lot of sugars" (satou is like sugar cane sugar, toubun is more general sugar/sweetener, like fructose/glucose/sucrose etc) after "mono" add -ga arimasu ka? So a full sentence would be "tounyoubyou desu ga, ________________ mono ga arimasu ka?"
Oh and the other thing I was going to say, is that the cards are great if you are using them as cards, but honestly if you say them out loud just like that, the waiter will first be really surprised that a foreigner is using words like "go ryoushou kudasai," which would be all well and good if your goal is to impress them, except that were a native Japanese person actually to speak like this in a restaurant it might sound almost too formal, and therefore kind of abrupt, and almost rude.

A slightly more natural/softer way to say it would be...

[diabetic/vegetarian/___ allergy] desu node, [meat/sugar/fish/etc] ga taberanain desu ga, [meat/sugar/fish/etc] ga haitte inai mono ga arimasu ka? (I am ________, so I can't eat __________, is there anything without __________?)

Instead of the repeat of whatever it is that you can't eat (especially if there were mulitple things) you can use "sore ga" or just eliminate that part altogether and start from "haitte inai mono ga"

For that last part you can also say "haitte inai mono wa nan desu ka" or "dore desu ka" (what doesn't have XX? or which one doesn't have XX?)

These are for the cases when you have no idea what is in anything, or think there might be few options to suit you.

If you have something that looks safe, and you want to make sure it doesn't have any problem foods in it...

Point at the item on the menu, and ask:

"kore ni [eggs/meat/fish/etc] wa haitte imasu ka?" (Is there XXX in this?)

If you want to add explanation, so they understand the seriousness of your inquiry, use the first two parts of the above sentence. Also, adding "issai" (absolutely) before "taberarenai" makes it a little stronger, but the rest of the sentence should balance it out so it isn't rude.

If you start with a "sumimasen" that should make it even nicer.

It is sufficiently formal for a restaurant situation, without being out of place.
Sleepy I honestly forgot completely hahaha but looks like kurinezumi's got us covered. thanks for the tips, i thought it sounded a little formal =/ and being able to ask 'is there fish in that' will be very helpful for me :D
Sakana ga haite imasu ka