Special

Article 2

Yoga & Vegetarianism
in Japan

By Mohan Gopal
In the Ueno area of Tokyo is “Bon”, a vegan restaurant specialisingin a traditional and exquisite type of Chinese Buddhist cooking, known
as Fucha cuisine. It was here over a private lunch that the editor-inchief of Japan SPOTLIGHT, Naoyuki Haraoka, initiated the theme ofthis article. Knowing that I am both closely engaged with one of theworld’s largest yoga organisations, the Art of Living, and am avegetarian, he asked me to write an article that encompasses yoga andvegetarianism in Japan.
Let me begin with what this article is not intended to convey. It is
not an informative list of yoga centers and vegetarian eateries in Japan– a search on the Internet will throw up an extensive lineup of these.
Also, as much as I am ever ready to be of assistance to a hungry,
Japanese-language-illiterate vegetarian (or vegan) traveling in Japan,that help may not be available to any significant extent here. In short,
this essay is not intended to be a survival kit for the fastidious vegan orvegetarian visitor to Japan.
I attempt in this article to weave a tale based on some factual
experiences, as to the deeper significance of yoga and vegetarianismin the context of Japan – a bit of the past, some of the present, andwhat it could harbor for the future.

Terminology – Vegan & Vegetarian
Before I get into the article proper, let me clarify some key
terminology. The term “vegan” means a person whose diet completely
excludes animal products – that is, dairy items and honey are also off
the plate. On the other hand, a “vegetarian” diet is one that eschews
eating animal flesh, but permits the consumption of items produced byanimals, like milk and honey. Thus, eggs fall in a grey area; many eggeating vegetarians (including myself) restrict themselves to hen’s eggs
which in present day supermarkets are, hopefully, infertile. Some
cultures make a distinction between animals and fish – they consider
the latter as an extension of plant life and thus an integral part of theirotherwise vegetarian diet. In modern times, specific terminology has
been coined – at least in the English language – to accurately classify
each type of vegetarian. An ova-lacto-vegetarian is one who eats egg
and dairy products; a pescetarian is a fish-eating vegetarian, and soon. Many airlines go into considerable detail to describe their in-flightcatering options, though, in spite of choosing carefully, the passenger
may be sadly surprised to see something different during mealtime.
Many a time, even though I had selected the ova-lacto-vegetarian
option while booking, I have eyed the whipped butter and deliciouslooking cake on my neighbour’s meal tray with mouth-watering envy,
as I reluctantly consumed the margarine and vegan oatmeal cookie I
had been served instead. Far better of course than finding a piece of
40 Japan SPOTLIGHT • July / August 2024

Author Mohan Gopal

meat or fish in one’s ostensibly vegetarian meal. I understand that thisdoes happen by mistake at times.
In this article, vegetarian means someone who eats neither meat nor
fish, but can eat dairy products and honey,

The Concept of Yoga
The word yoga mostly conjures up an image of a lissom person
engaged in rather complex body movements. However, it is not so.
These physical maneuvers are just one small component of yoga,
called yoga asana. In actuality, yoga is a holistic practiceencompassing food, breath, meditation, lifestyle, and wisdom, in
addition to asana. Yoga is the union of body, mind, and soul. An
outcome of yoga is the urge to serve without strings attached and witha joyful mind. Western historians state that yoga was born in India amillennium or two back. However, it may be inaccurate to date theancient teachings of India based on Western science with its inherent
limitations. Indeed, the birth of yoga in India may have been several
hundreds of millennia ago, altogether in a different period of theplanet’s evolution. Sage Patanjali is credited with cognizing thissystem. There are ancient Sanskrit scriptures – notably the Yogasara
Upanishad and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali – which detail thecomplete requirements for holistic Yoga, including food.
The type of food one eats, the quantity and timing, impacts thequality of yoga. Simplistically stated, a vegetarian diet impacts it
positively. The converse is also true. That is, the sincere practice of
yoga may inculcate a natural tendency to move away from a nonvegetarian diet. Many practitioners of yoga have experienced this in
their lives, even though they grew up on a non-vegetarian staple diet.

A Delightful Vegetarian Café in the Woods ofKiyosato
Marina Navashelova ,a long-time resident of Japan, is a yoga
teacher of the Art of Living tradition. With the Covid-19 pandemic
taking a significant toll on her main travel business, she moved herbase from Tokyo to a far more cost-effective location 200 kilometers
to the west in Kiyosato, Yamanashi Prefecture. The move for her was a
blessing in disguise. With crisp and clean mountain air, delightfully
frigid winters and pleasant summers, and bountiful fresh vegetables,
the place was a replica of Marina’s Siberian roots. Here, she could
create her dream vegetarian café and both practice and deliver the
benefits of yoga in serene surroundings. Over a bowl of delicious
vegetarian borscht accompanied by salad and home-baked Russianbread, I enquired about her vegetarian journey. Marina said that as she
https://www.jef.or.jp/journal/

Photo 1: Author

Kiyosato no Maria café flanked by its menu and founder

dived deeper into holistic yoga, an inner strength to surmountproblems developed, along with a natural inclination to become
vegetarian, without any qualms about leaving behind the nonvegetarian diet she had grown up on (Photo 1).
As of date in Japan, there are about 50 certified teachers of the Art
of Living holistic yoga programs. Most of the teachers are Japanese –hence, they were born into and grew up with non-vegetarian food
habits. Like Russian-born Marina, they transitioned naturally into
adopting a vegetarian diet, being complementary to their yogic pursuit.

A Historical View of Veganism in Japan
Until the end of the 19th century, the Japanese people were mostly
pescetarian and eating meat was generally considered unacceptable.
Like many other matters, the situation drastically changed in the Meiji
Era with a conscious attempt by the government to imitate the West,which was perceived as a role model at that time. As a result, meat
consumption increased significantly.
While in modern times the West started developing veganalternatives due to the number of people following such a dietincreasing, Japan continued a very non-vegetarian trajectory with few
food options available for a vegan or vegetarian visitor. Time graduallyerased the concept of vegetarianism with even Buddhist clergy
adapting to Japanese dietary homogeneity. A smattering of temples –primarily in Kyoto, Nara Prefecture and the grand temple of Eiheiji in
Fukui Prefecture – continued to follow the strict tenets of Japanese
Zen cuisine (known as Shojin Ryori ), but by and large this exquisite
and healthy culinary delight was regrettably unknown to the average
person. For those Japanese who had heard of it, it was more of an
exotic fare to be tried as a tourist to some monasteries in their own
country.
Today, there is a small but rapidly growing number of Japaneseestablishments that see a need for considering vegan options. This
need is either driven by a strong feeling that veganism is tied towellness and sustainability or that it can cater to the burgeoning
number of overseas visitors with dietary restrictions, or a combinationof both these factors.

Nayuta – a Vegan Resort in Fukuoka
About 45 minutes from Fukuoka, Kyushu’s largest city, towards thehills in the northeast, is Nayuta, a vegan resort. It is a lovely andluscious place, offering space, freshness, tranquillity, and generalwellness through strictly vegan and organic food options. The
brainchild behind Nayuta is the young CEO, Kouhei Maeda. During his
several visits to India, he had been impressed by the yogic traditions
and wisdom in that country, including the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Wanting to capture the essence of the wisdom, while at the same timeensuring a sound business proposition, he bought a hot spring hotel
which was up for sale near his hometown. The resort – to quote
Maeda, “a theme park for healing” – is still in its infancy. Located on
an expansive rolling green areawith woods and walking paths, it
Photo 2: Author
currently includes a spacious
architect-designed main building,two vegan restaurants and anorganic juice bar, a herb garden
and “tent” saunas – a facility
resembling the traditional
woodfired Finnish sauna (asagainst the modern versions inJapanese cities with television sets
installed inside the saunachamber). The tent saunas arecollectively named “The Vanish” –to signify an atmosphere where
one’s identity vanishes, leaving one
Nayuta – The Theme Park of Healing
with just one’s true self (Photo 2).

A Solution to a Moral Conflict – Vegan Meat
I have mentioned two factors as the primary drivers encouraging
more vegan options in Japan. One, is wellness and sustainability; thesecond is the ability to cater to a wider customer base – especiallyfrom overseas. There is yet another reason, which is an original basis
to vegetarianism and veganism – the moral standpoint of whether
humans have the right to kill another living creature to satisfy theirhunger. This thinking is a key factor in the strict traditions of Jainism,
Buddhism, and some forms of Hinduism. It also occurs in many otherspiritual traditions, though perhaps not on a continuous basis but as a
dietary restriction to be observed on holy occasions. In ancient China,monks developed an innovative way out of the conflict between the
tongue and morality, by creatively developing meat-like food using
vegetable products. In modern times, this has taken the form of veganmeat – products which have the consistency of flesh but are madefrom soybeans.
I attended a vegan festival in Tokyo recently. I was surprised to see
over 70 food booths and by lunch time a lot of the food had sold out.
The crowd was large. Were they all vegans/vegetarians? I would say,no, far from it. Except for some foreigners, who may of course havebeen vegan, it was essentially residents out on a warm spring holiday
and savoring an exotic food option. It goes to show that there could bea potential market even among the local population.
A week after the vegan event, I was in Oita in Kyushu to deliver a talkon yoga and vegetarianism to a small group of people at my friend’scafé which uses local organic produce. I was met at the station by oneof the participants, Keiko Kawasaki. During the 30-minute drive to thecafé, she mentioned somewhat apologetically that she ran a meat shop
Japan SPOTLIGHT • July / August 2024

41

Photo 3: Author

Vegan lunch at Oita café run by Tsuyoshi Kaneko and his motherin the city. She added that it really was not her preferred choice ofbusiness, but an unfortunate family circumstance had led to thecurrent situation. She said that her dream was to engage in thebusiness of food that was healthier and more sustainable, and could
be eaten by all who come to Japan. I suggested to her that vegan meat
could be the solution and a sound business proposition to boot.
The café is in the hills of Oita city on thousand-year-old ancestral
lands owned by the brother, Tsuyoshi Kaneko, of my acquaintance. A
notice board at the entrance of the café announced that it was reserved
for the day for a “vegetarian food and yoga” event. The cozy place isrun by Kaneko and his elderly mother, acclaimed for both her cooking
and warm hospitality in the local community. Most of the vegetables
and rice they use are grown organically by them in their own fields.
Gazing over these fields, the vegan lunch was a delight. My small
audience seemed rejuvenated by the lunch and refreshed by the talkand meditation which followed it (Photo 3).

The Indian Spinning Wheel in Remote Kagoshima
While Fukuoka and Oita prefectures together account for thenorthern and northeastern part of Kyushu, at the southern extremity of
the island is Kagoshima Prefecture. It consists of a tail-like archipelagoextending southwest through the South China Sea up to Okinawa, anda main crab-shaped peninsula on Kyushu. The claws of the crab inthemselves form a peninsular pair almost enclosing Kagoshima Bay

between them. In one of these peninsulas – the Satsuma Peninsula –is the historic area of Chiran, and it is here that Indian-born Art of
Living teacher Amit Kanaskar purchased an old Japanese house with
the intention of using it as a base to disseminate the benefits of yoga
and meditation to the whole of Kyushu, 1,000 km away from his
principal place of work and residence in Tokyo. In his search forvegetarian options there, Amit had chanced upon Yasue Iwasaki. A fanof both India and spinning-looms, she had implemented her passion in
the guise of a homely guest house offering vegetarian fare, named
Charkha after India’s iconic spinning-wheel. The guest house with its
ancient gate is in the historic Samurai quarter of Chiran which dates toover two centuries ago. The quarter consists of a half-kilometer-longcentral street, bordered by two-metre-high rock walls and neat hedgesof residences. Unspoiled by telephone poles, overhead electricity lines
and vehicles, the area preserves its ancient character (Photos 4 & 5).
It may sound ironic that today the charkha – a symbol of Mahatma
Gandhi’s non-violent struggle for Indian independence – and a peacepark are the hallmarks of Chiran, which was the launching pad for
kamikaze fighters in World War II. It is further significant that Amit
complements this yearning for peace through holistic yoga.
Kagoshima, like much of the Japanese archipelago, is volcanic and it isthese eruptions that are the foundation of Japan’s bounty of hot
springs. Is it again a matter of irony that fury and violence in nature,
years later transform into benefits for mankind? Yogis would say thatboth negatives and positives appear real to us, and when thisperceived dichotomy is transcended, one realises what is truly real.
From Chiran, I spent a restful night at the serene Kirishima hot
springs, 70 km away.

The Vegetarian of Iihatov
The upper part of the main island of the Japanese archipelago
begins about 200 km northeast of Tokyo and stretches for about 500
km before meeting the Straits of Tsugaru which separate it fromJapan’s northernmost island Hokkaido. The region is called Tohoku,
literally, “the northeast”. It is regarded as the most inward-looking,rural part of Japan. Unlike their ebullient compatriots in the southwest– especially the people of Kansai and Kyushu – the natives of Tohoku
are in general rather shy and reclusive, these traits being more thanmatched by their naivety, innocence, and innate warmth. The

Photo 4: Author

Traditional gateway of Charkha Guesthouse with the owner peering through and Amit
Kanaskar (right)

42 Japan SPOTLIGHT • July / August 2024

Photo 5: Author

Japanese traditional Shokki and Indian Charkha

topography of the land alternates between snowy mountains, hills andforests and vast rolling fields suitable for rice cultivation. Winters are
hard and long; the short summers are lively. The region is bordered on
the west by the frigid and grey waters of the Sea of Japan, and on theeast by the relatively warmer and blue Pacific Ocean. However, thiscoast is not always as pacific as it sounds. A detailed look at the map
will show a highly fissured coastline – the sad result of tsunamis
caused by earthquakes across thousands of years, the most recent
one being the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011. Whilethe largest city in the region is Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, the largest
prefecture is Iwate to its north. In Iwate’s central region is the city ofHanamaki, which 100 years ago was home to a great poet, writer andhumanitarian and a staunch vegetarian, Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933).
Kenji was born the eldest son of a prosperous business family,
juxtaposed against the dire poverty of the local rural community. Fromchildhood this contradiction impacted him and by nature being rather
devoid of an appreciation of the realities of business, he chose a path
far removed from the riches which could have been his. A brilliant
scholar, he had a passion for learning, was a prolific poet and writerand an educationist. He had a deep interest in nature, the universe andall its constituents, ranging from plants and planets to rocks andanimals. It was this adoration of life in all its forms which moved him
to eschew killing and become vegetarian – a feat at any time in Japanand more so a century ago. Several of his stories do portray killing,
though in a rather quixotic way. For example, in “The Restaurant ofMany Orders” two hungry travellers get lured into a haunted restaurant
and then themselves become the prospective meal for a few magicalwild cats who had created the eatery with the objective of satisfying
their own hunger. However, my take on this is that Kenji wanted hisreaders to understand the terror of being killed, which he was certain
animals experienced when they came under the butcher’s knife.
Much against the wishes of his father, he also developed a passion
for the Nichiren sect of Buddhism and became an ardent follower.
Poignantly, his father finally accepted Kenji’s passion a few years after
his demise. He had his beloved late son’s remains transferred to the
Nichiren temple Shinshoji in Hanamaki and himself converted to the
sect.
Kenji was fascinated by the landscape of his home province. With
his fervent imagination, he visualised a utopian land which
encompassed Iwate and the sky and stars above, a land where all life
is respected. He named this country, Iihatov. Many of his stories andpoems are based here. Kenji also held a deep compassion for the
downtrodden and this prodded him to even engage in the physicalSobe’s café with ancestral rice fields

Photo 6: Author

Kitakamigawa river on the flood plains and land that Kenji tilled, and Shinshoji, his final
resting place

work of a peasant in the fields that he loved. Unfortunately, his
physique was hardly suitable for any kind of physical labor. He had
had health problems from childhood, and this combination ultimately
contributed to his death at the age of 37. His swan song – discovered
and published posthumously – sums up his life. Respect all; avoid
anger, desire nothing; pray for a strong body to be able to serveincessantly – and let nothing defeat you in this endeavour (Photo 6).
Hanamaki breathes Kenji. As an integral aspect of this, I waswondering if it would be a vegetarian paradise, but alas, like elsewherein Japan, the food business revolved around non-vegetarian dishes.
That is, until I chanced upon Sobe’s Café.

Sobe’s Vegan Café
Sayuri Sobe started her dream business in the year 2000. She
decided to return to her ancestral home and continue the tradition ofher rice-growing ancestors, but with a difference – her farming andproduce would be organic. She would implement her key phrase“Value and Respect Life” and provide healthy vegan food that can beeaten by people with dietary restrictions too. To use her words, “Thefood here is grown and prepared with a sense of gratitude for theearth’s blessings.” When I mentioned the purpose of my visit toHanamaki, Sobe enthusiastically exclaimed, “the spirit of Kenji
Miyazawa runs through me.” Kenji would have been pleased (Photo 7).

The Future
We can see a vision unfolding – a dramatic vision where the castconsists of people like Keiko Kawasaki, Sayuri Sobe, Kouhei Maeda,
Yasue Iwasaki, and the teachers of holistic yoga. A vision of holistic
wellness, compassion and a oneness with nature
coupled with economic sustainability. A vision
Photo 7: Author
where the universe is celebrated. The Iihatov
visualised by Kenji Miyazawa embracing Japan.
Mohan Gopal is an IT professional living in Tokyo
since 1991. He is a multi-culture specialist, teacher
and sales coach and is closely associated with global
humanitarian organization The Art of Living as special
advisor in Japan.

Japan SPOTLIGHT • July / August 202443