<< Is it hard to be Vegan in Japan? >>========
Aside from political issues, which takes so
much work and energy (haha), today I am going to talk about an agenda which
seems to be discussed by many Westerners who are into Vegans living in Japan.
Japan is the longest longevity country in
the world for a long time whereas South Korea is very short longevity among
Asians (meaning polar opposite due to no cultural connections to each other
historically), therefore, Vegan concept which stemmed from Western countries
never can be prevailed in Japan because it isn’t convincing at all before the
world longest longevity people as Vegan is a healthier way of eating.
I am not rejecting the idea of Vegan as I
always say everybody has freedom of choice. If you would like to eat only
vegetable, that’s fine. You should do what you love to do.
However, did you know humans are designed
to eat animal protein? Those animals such as horses, cows, rabbits, goats,
camels eat only weeds but they can produce essential amino acids from eating
only weeds because they have a special enzyme whereas humans, lions, dolphins,
whales, some kinds of birds, dogs, cats, etc., don’t have any enzyme to produce
essential amino acids from eating veggies to build their healthy body so they
need to eat animal protein to avoid becoming malnutrition.
If you exposed a juicy steak before horses
and cows, they’d just turn their heads away because their natural instinct says
it is disgusting smell meaning their body is naturally rejecting to eat meat because they don’t have an enzyme to digest animal protein. But humans, dogs
and cats get their saliva drooling from smelling it because their body craves
for essential amino acids which can be found only in animal protein (meat,
eggs, cheese, fishes, shrimps, crabs, clams, etc.,) so naturally their body
reacts as it smells the best meaning their body is sensing that it is the best
food for their body.
Even some of Vegans are dying to eat meat because their body is craving for essential amino acids (animal protein) so
Vegans come up with a fake steak made from Tofu (soy beans) and fake cheese to
cheat on their natural instinct of their body which is screaming “Let me eat
meat! I need to eat an egg and cheese!!”
I think you don’t need to torture and cheat
on your body. If your body craves for meat, you should eat real meat instead
of fake meat unless you care less about your health but doing it for a
philosophical reason like monks. Although eating veggies is very important for
your health, but living like rabbits eliminating animal protein must be
difficult to live for humans.
Anyway, this writing isn’t for the purpose
of criticizing Vegans but I saw many westerners complaining that it was very
hard for Vegans to live in Japan. So the purpose of this writing is to give an
advice for Vegans living in Japan.
If you live in Japan, you shouldn’t expect
to find Vegan menu although nowadays a lot of tourists are visiting Japan, so
many restaurants are adjusting their menu to serve for Vegans in large cities like
Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, still not as much prevailed as it is in US and
those Vegan oriented countries in Europe.
< Why Japanese people live long? >============
According to many studies, the reason why
Japanese people live so long is because Japanese people eat a lot of fishes in
their diet. When talking about fishes in Japan, first thing comes into your
mind would be Sushi. But that is not the only way Japanese people eat fishes.
Japan is an island surrounded by oceans. So
Japanese food is traditionally seafood based diet.
The number of death tolls from heart
disease and cardiovascular disease in Japan is significantly low compared to
Western countries. Scientists confirmed that DHA and EPA, which are the
substances found abundantly in bluish skin colored fishes such as Mackerels,
Sardines, Tuna, Pikes, Salmons, is the reason for reducing the chances to have
a heart disease and cardiovascular disease among Japanese people.
So if you care for your health but don’t
like to eat fishes, you should take it by supplements.
Many people say “if you eat mackerel once a
day for a week, your cholesterol level in blood and all become greatly improved”.
If you are overweight concerning about your heart disease, it is worth to try
it by taking it from supplements.
< My style of Eating >===========
I have
been lifting weight since I was 14. So I pay attention to what I eat.
I don’t eat out because any food served at a restaurant is high in sodium (salt), fat, and carbohydrate.
When I see people around my age, they
always say, “Really? Is that your actual age?” because they look very old.
Although they say “You look very young!”
There are a lot of people who go to gym and
lift weight regularly in Japan, nevertheless, some people look older than their
actual age while some people look younger than their actual age.
I think the difference comes from what we
eat because our body is made from what we eat.
Putting aside mental stress factor
influencing your health, when talking about diet, if anything I am different
from ordinary health conscious eaters, it will be limiting the sodium intake
and carbohydrate (sugar, starches) intake.
Those who are on Atkins diet avoid eating
carbohydrate but most of them don’t care about sodium intake.
I consider sodium intake should be as minimum
as I can. Sodium can make you look old too. And it is well-known that both
sodium and carbohydrate are the main cause of Adult diseases such as a cancer and obesity.
That being said, there is something I care
about what I eat at night.
< Vegan style at night? >======
I
introduced a fried Tofu called “Ganmodoki / Hiryozu” before when talking about
Oden.
Ganmodoki is available anytime of the year
at anywhere including convenience stores in Japan.
Ganmodoki is the same as the Vegan hamburger
steak.
Because it is already cooked, all you have
to do is popping it in a microwave oven and letting it warm for about 40 seconds. And
done! Ready to eat!
Ganmodoki doesn’t have any taste so you
should use your favorite sauce. It can go with any kind of sauce and condiment such as ketchup,
Tabasco, vegetable dressings, etc.
Or you can simply pour some Soy sauce or
salt or Ponzu.
What’s great about Ganmodoki is that it
doesn’t have taste so just like steamed rice, you can eat it 3 times a day
without getting tired of eating it.
Atsuage (ah-tsu-ah-ghe)
This is also fried Tofu but the texture is
different from Ganmodoki. The texture of Ganmodoki is like a meat whereas
Atuage has more moisture and soft, fluffy, and plump texture.
You can eat it the same way as Ganmodoki.
Both Ganmodoki and Atsuage are available at
convenience stores. So if you go out and want Vegan foods, look for them at a convenient store or at supermarket.
You can find them in a section where they sell Tofu Konnyaku Natto Fishcakes.
It costs about less than one US dollar.
There is a microwave oven at any convenience store in Japan so you buy it at
the cashier, then you put it in the microwave oven (make sure to rip open the
packet to avoid explosion) and press the button. That’s all! You can't buy Vegan hamburger steak at a convenience store in US, right? But you can in Japan.
I stock Ganmodoki and Atsuage in my fridge a
lot. However, because it doesn’t have preservative in it, it doesn’t last long (4 days or so).
So I store most of them in my freezer.
I eat them when I am hungry before going to
bed. I prefer low carb and high protein diet before going to bed so they are
the best snacks at the cheap price for me.
If you are Vegan, you can put Ganmodoki in buns
so that you can enjoy Vegan hamburger in one minute!
I hope Vegans will find it easier to live
in Japan.
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