CONVENIENCE STORES
If you want something small to eat, then you can pop in at one of those ubiquitous convenience stores. They usually have a range of bentos and snack foods. For vegetarians though, it's limited to onigiri (umeboshi, konbu, sometimes there are other seaweed/pickle varieties), sometimes sandwiches, salads, pickles and bread products. Check the ingredients though. Of course there are also lots of snack foods and desserts which are ok.

SUPERMARKETS
Supermarkets usually have some ready-to-eat food. You'll probably be able to find onigiri, sushi, tempura, salads, sandwiches, pre-cooked rice, pastry and bread products, fresh fruit, fried food and other items. Just wander around checking the ingredients. Supermarkets often even provide a microwave to heat things up.

DEPARTMENT STORES
If you're near a major train station, head to the basement of a large department store such as Takashimaya, Mitsukoshi, Matsuya, Isetan, Tokyu etc. There will be lots of tiny food shops perfect for grabbing a ready-made meal. Look for the bakeries, onigiri, salad, tempura and tofu shops in particular.

BAKERIES
For a bigger range of better quality bread and pastry products which taste much nicer and have less artificial and animal ingredients, avoid the convenience stores and supermarkets, and head straight to one of the small or European-style bakeries. Of course plain bread and sweet foods can be found, but also savoury bread products and sometimes sandwiches. A knowledge of katakana will help avoid unwanted ham surprises. Japanese style bread tends to be very soft, a bit sweet and almost always white. Japanese bread products sometimes contain shortening which could be made from animal fat.

BENTO SHOPS
Bentos are ready-cooked or made-to-order meals available from bento shops like Hokka Hokka Tei, Origin Bento, and independent shops. Usually all bentos are not suitable for vegetarians, but these shops also often sell onigiri, salads, tofu and self-serve dishes which are sometimes ok for vegetarians.

SUSHI SHOPS OR DANGO SHOPS
You can get inari, kappa-maki, kanpiyo-maki, natto-maki etc from small take-out sushi shops. Dango shops are small shops which sell Japanese sweets made from rice and beans. Often there is a small take-away counter which sells sweets as well as some kinds of sushi.

You won't have trouble finding Italian restaurants in Japan. If you can eat cheese, pizza is a good option as most places have a few meatless pizzas, or others that you can ask for without meat. There are usually meatless pasta dishes like tomato, arrabiata, pepperoncino etc. But sometimes they contain bacon for some reason, so ask for 'be-kon nashi.' A problem with pasta is that sometimes chicken or beef stock is used in the sauce, so it's good to ask, and avoid the soupy pasta dishes. Try to find the more authentic Italian restaurants for more vegetarian choices. Sometimes Japanese-style spaghetti (made with soy sauce, nori, shiso/mushrooms/spinach/kimchi/natto/etc) suitable for vegetarians can be found, but again check if they use fish or animal stock. Unless you can communicate well with the chef, vegan options can be limited in Italian restaurants.

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