Tools · Free tool
Japanese allergy and diet card generator
Tick what you cannot eat and get a polite, clear Japanese card to show at the counter. It covers the 29 allergens on Japanese food labels (9 required by law, 20 recommended) and common diets.
Last checked · Sources
How to use the card
Show the Japanese text on your phone, or print it and hand it over, before you order. Say sumimasen, arerugī ga arimasu (“excuse me, I have an allergy”) as you do so. Staff will read it, and in most places will either point you to safe dishes or tell you honestly that they cannot guarantee anything — small restaurants prepare everything in one kitchen with shared oil and utensils, and a “no” is a real answer, not rudeness.
Japan requires the nine allergens in the first list to be shown on packaged food; the twenty in the second list are recommended. Cashew nuts joined the first list in April 2026 with a two-year transition period, so some packets may not mark them yet. Restaurant menus are not required to show allergens, though chains and hotel restaurants often do. The hidden-ingredient lines the card adds automatically — soy sauce for wheat and soy, dashi stock for fish, mayonnaise for egg — cover the ingredients visitors most often miss. Note that almost all soy sauce contains wheat, most miso soup and many sauces are made with fish stock, and tempura batter contains egg and wheat.
For vegetarian and vegan diets, the card spells out that fish stock (dashi) is also excluded, because in Japan “no meat” is often understood as “fish is fine”. Buddhist temple cuisine (shōjin ryōri) and a growing number of dedicated restaurants in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka cater fully; convenience stores label the mandatory allergens on their packaged food, which makes them a useful fallback.
Frequently asked questions
Will restaurant staff understand the card?
Yes — it is written in plain, polite Japanese of the kind used on hospital forms. The English below the Japanese text is for you, so you know what the card says.
Does the card cover cross-contamination?
It asks whether utensils are shared and, for the severe setting, states that traces are dangerous. Whether a kitchen can avoid cross-contact is up to the restaurant; many small ones will say they cannot.
Is “gluten-free” understood in Japan?
The word is known in cities but rarely catered for. The card lists the specific grains and says that ordinary soy sauce is excluded, which is the point most often missed. Rice, sashimi, grilled fish with salt, and rice-flour sweets are usually safe choices.
Sources
Official and primary sources used for this page. Checked October 8, 2026.
To cite or link to this page: Japanese allergy and diet card generator — Japan Pocket Guide, https://japanpocketguide.com/tools/allergy-card/