When I first came to Japan, I was a "quasi-vegetarian". That is, I never ate red meat of any kind, and mainly focused on chicken or on avoiding all meat. Trying to be even "quasi-vegetarian" in Japan is difficult because many restaurants don't understand what it means. You can ask if there is meat in a dish, and they'll say there is not, but then you'll get something with minced meat pieces in it or that uses meat-based sauces or flavoring. Vegetarianism isn't very popular here, and people are often confused or misunderstand what it means and how important it is for some people to avoid animal-flesh-based foods.
I won't miss the difficulty involved in getting vegetarian meals.
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