More info on eating gluten free in Japan

I wrote this blog entry about going gluten free in Japan http://from-japan-with-love.blogspot.com/2008/09/going-gluten-free-in-japan.html and I have received several emails with questions from people living in Japan so I thought I would give more info. Please remember that I'm not a doctor-I'm only passing on info that I have learned while living here.

First I've been asked to give the Japanese for certain words for those who can't read Japanese.

Wheat-小麦
soy sauce (Kanji) 醤油 (しょう油)
soy sauce (hiragana) しょうゆ

In English, those who need to avoid gluten need to avoid wheat, barley, rye, oats (though there is debate about this one) but in Japanese they all use the same Kanji (for wheat).

What I've learned here is that you need to avoid ALL soy sauce in Japan-ALL soy sauce contains wheat in Japan. And MOST sauces in Japan, contain soy sauce-I have even found it in Italian salad dressings or soy sauce powder in lots of pre made powders (like the steak spice package that comes with many steaks), sauces etc. So...buying anything in a sauce is risky.

For those new to eating gluten free here veggies, meat, seafood, fruits, nuts (plain), dairy, tofu etc are safe....most other things are risky (even senbei has soy sauce). ALWAYS READ THE INGREDIENTS and even then, know that there will be times when you will eat some.

Ok...shopping! Shopping for gluten free food is easy thanks to a few online shops in Japan...easy but not cheap.

For wheat free tamari (like soy sauce) I buy it from http://www.alishan.jp/shop/nfoscomm/catalog/
the link is http://jbayles.netfirms.com/shop/nfoscomm/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=3008&osCsid=3df00be057ba94990a5febb045eb7020

I also buy brown rice flour for when I make gluten free butter tart squares.
http://jbayles.netfirms.com/shop/nfoscomm/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=3030&osCsid=3df00be057ba94990a5febb045eb7020

Most of the gluten free foods I buy from www.fbcusa.com . This online store has 2 food stores...one that has food already in Japan and can be delivered to your house in 5-7 days (called "the deli") and the other store- you order your food and it is delivered from the U.S in about 1 month (this is called "the general store") . Most of the gluten free food I order comes from the "general store" and therefore takes a month but it is worth it. When you enter the "general store" you can search for "gluten free" , "wheat free" or even "rice"(for rice pasta etc). I highly recommend the following:

Tinkyada pasta-this is the BEST brown rice pasta...people who need to eat rice pasta can't tell the difference! http://www.fbcusa.com/gs/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=0&keyword=tinkyada

Arrowhead mills brownie mix. http://www.fbcusa.com/gs/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5047

Enviro Kidz cereal http://www.fbcusa.com/gs/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=0&keyword=enviro

Bob's Red mills pancake mix http://www.fbcusa.com/gs/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=11289

FBC also offers many other gluten free products.

Other online options
www.fbcexpress.com (a sister site to www.fbcusa.com) has a shipping service. With this service you can order from American companies and have them ship to fbcexpress who will then ship them to you. I use this service a lot. For example... amazon.com offers many gluten free products in bulk size so if you know what you like, you can have amazon.com ship them to fbcexpress and then they will ship them to you. It is explained here http://www.fbcexpress.com/cart/customer/pages.php?pageid=11

I have also had food delivered from Canada www.elpeto.com They have THE BEST breads and other treats. I had them ship to fbcexpress and then they delivered to me. I would only do this in the winter. They do use a vacuum pack system for this type of mailing but I wouldn't risk it in the summer. Of course, ordering bread you would need a big freezer to keep it all in once you get it.

Supermarkets in Japan

Katakuriko (potato starch) is a great substitute for flour for coating chicken etc. Also almond flour/meal/powder (this can be found in the supermarket but it buying from bob's red mills and having it delivered via fbcexpress is cheaper if you use it a lot).

Pasta substitutes are "harusame" (green bean thread) and "bifun"which are Chinese noodles made from rice. Many supermarkets also have Vietnamese rice paper for "wraps".

Crackers-many senbei have soy sauce so read the ingredients. I love "happy turn" and there are some plain thin rice crackers which are ok but frankly I don't eat them because I love "happy turn" so much!

Eating out
As I stated in my other blog post, eating out is difficult. I always carry a plastic bottle filled with my gluten free soy sauce. The 2 easiest things to eat out are sushi and yakiniku. Sushi is the easiest....order only sushi that doesn't have a sauce (avoid eel which almost always has a brown sauce) and just use your own soy sauce. Yakiniku is a bit tricky at first. You have to explain to the waitress not to put any sauce on the meat before they bring it to the table. You also need to make your own sauce. What I do is ask for garlic paste (niniku), red pepper flakes (tougarashi) and a small dish. I then put some soy sauce in the dish, add some garlic, red pepper and water from my cup to make a sauce. I LOVE it. And,if you are a regular at a yakiniku place they will get used to it. If a place gives you a hassle and asks why you don't want sauce etc just tell them (if you don't mind a little lie) " moshi shoyu ga tabemono ni haite itara zensouku ga demas" (if I eat something with soy sauce, I will have an asthma attack). This was actually true for me for many years and no matter how I tried to explain they would hassle me until I told them this so this is what I say even now if I am hassled. You can also substitute "shoyu" for "komugi" (means wheat) and tell them you will have an asthma attack if you eat anything with wheat.

I have also learned that most Japanese don't know much about food allergies in general but wheat allergies in particular are a new thing so asking a waiter if there is something in the food doesn't mean you will get the right answer. Most Japanese don't know that there is wheat in soy sauce so just be warned.

I'm sure that I'm forgetting something I wanted to mention. If you have any questions, please ask!

CANADA DAY SALE!!

Canada Day is coming (July 1st) and I'm missing it again!! I miss the celebrations ...and the fireworks...hanging with the family etc! So I decided to have our first ever sale...a Canada Day Sale. Here is the exact words from my shops...don't mind the all caps announcement...I didn't want anyone to miss it on our stores' front page!

TO CELEBRATE CANADA DAY (JULY 1ST) ALL ORDERS OVER $25 GET 10% OFF THE ENTIRE ORDER (INCLUDING THE SHIPPING). JUST ORDER AND PAY AS USUAL AND WE WILL REFUND YOU THE 10%!! WE WILL COMBINE ORDERS FROM ANY OF OUR STORES. THIS OFFER IS VALID ONLY ON JULY 1 2009 (AS LONG AS THE DATE ON THE ETSY RECEIPT SAYS JULY 1ST) AND CAN'T BE COMBINED WITH ANY OF OUR SHIPPING DISCOUNTS NORMALLY OFFERED.


OFFER VALID IN THE FOLLOWING STORES:

http://www.fromjapanwithlove.etsy.com/

http://www.decosweets.etsy.com/

http://www.fabricfromjapan.etsy.com/

http://www.vintagefromjapan.etsy.com/

http://www.souzoucreations.etsy.com/

http://www.from-japan-with-love.etsy.com/

www.bonanzle.com/fromjapanwithlove

Now Offering Advertising!

I have been busy! We opened another etsy store-FabricFromJapan.etsy.com We don't have much up yet but it is all set and I will be adding new things daily. I just felt that our main store was too big so now we have 5 etsy stores, 1 yahoo store and 1 bonanzle booth!

We decided to open a bonanzle booth (they don't say "store") because we wanted something where we could sell anything but we didn't want to join ebay (love shopping there but didn't want to sell there). Everyone is always talking about not putting all your eggs in one basket and while there are many sites out there they either didn't accept supplies(or our other goods like bentos etc), didn't have the traffic or just didn't feel right but with bonanzle it is another way to get our name out there and be able to sell everything. Time will tell how it goes.

I also revamped both my blogs and I'm quite happy with the results! I am now also accepting advertising-people's etsy minis (2x2) for $3.5 a month. I am so excited to be able to help out other etsy sellers! I found out about the ad directory while searching the etsy forums about advertising. I didn't quite understand project wonderful (a form of advertising) and I had read stories about how it didn't work for people. And then I found this thread on the forums while researching about project wonderful http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6184253 I followed the link to Tara's blog (she created the ad directory) and it just made sense to me! Tara is super sweet...she helped me figure out how to change my blogs to 3 columns and she will add me to the directory so others can find me and I am advertising on her blog. Win win situation all around!

I'm offering the advertising on both blogs. On this blog I can tell you that I get about 800 visits a week with over 1100 page views per week and it is growing. If you would like to advertise, after you pay, just email me your etsy 2x2 mini code via any of my etsy store's or through the email in my profile here on my blog. If you have any questions, please ask! And please check out Tara's blog for more info.

Swine flu has hit close to home and other news

Well, the weekend is here and I'm happy! I went out today and took this picture of the mountain we live near....beautiful!


We are supposed to be in the middle of "tsuyu" or rainy season but so far it has not rained much. This is bad since the rice needs the rain. As you can see from the pictures I took yesterday from work, the rice fields have been flooded and rice is being planted. Soon beautiful green rice will be everywhere! (It looks like a work at a jail with the wire in the glass windows...but I don't!)

You can tell that it is getting hot out when you see ladies using umbrellas to keep the sun off them...no it isn't so much a concern about skin cancer but tanning....they HATE tanned skin here. I always hear my students' mothers talk about how "kuro" or dark their skin is due to the sun and then they touch my skin and say "iina!!" (means they are jealous) and then I have to tell them that only in Japan is my very white skin not embarrassing to me. I remember my dad telling me my legs looked like the underside of a dead fish....needless to say I spent a lot of money on tanning beds at one time in my life.

Well, swine flu has hit Fukuoka (the state I live in) and actually pretty close to where I live. Sadly, an exchange student from Australia brought it with her to an all girls school in the big city near me so the school has been closed and all students must stay home (one of my students was absent at my school because she goes to that school) so that is why today, when I went to the mall, I saw hand sanitizer on a table between the inner and outer doors to the mall. Also, the McDonald's' staff were all wearing face masks....they didn't look happy about it either but since this is the land of face masks, it wasn't that surprising.

This next picture I meant to put in my last blog entry but forgot. This is corn tea. Every time we go to our favorite yakiniku restaurant, they give us this stuff at the end and (to me) it is pretty awful. I am assuming they roast corn and then make a tea out of it. Which reminds me of another tea I hate in Japan which is "mugicha" or "wheat tea" . Wheat tea is a summer drink and frankly reminds me of an ashtray. Anybody ever had it and liked it? Thankfully there are other teas I love to drink!!

Hisashiburi! Long time no blog!

It has been a while since I blogged-I've been busy! I finally get to go pick up my spousal visa so I'm so relieved that it will be over with! I've also been booking appointments back in Canada...eye doctor, dentist, lawyers to make a will...etc etc. We will be busy in Canada...perhaps not as relaxing as I would like it to be. So...I don't have too much to say except it is getting hot here!!! UGH..."tsuyu" or rainy season has started so it has been getting humid. Needless to say, the air conditioner will be my best friend for the next 4-4.5 months. At least for 2 weeks I will have better weather in Canada!
Since not much is new, I thought I would share some pictures.


The first 3 pictures are taken at a local mall....kids were trying to catch fish with paper nets.




Here are some bottles of sake that are decorated and ready for summer!

In Japan, many people stand and read (not open and glance at it...I mean READ) magazines at the bookstore and at 7-11 stores, so they have to wrap them to stop people from reading them. They might leave 1 open so people can check it out.

Here are some pics of my favorite little guy (he is my student's little brother)





Their mom (the kids in the pics above) made these beads from round PET bottles (for colas etc). Her whole neighbourhood is making them to use for decorating something for a children's festival.




She told me how to make them....hope I got this right. She takes the round PET bottles and cuts off the smooth parts (which is at the top and maybe the bottom-wherever it is smooth). Then she cuts along the seams so she gets 2 pieces. Then she cuts them into 1cm wide x 2 cm long strips. She paints the inside of the little strip (so the side that would have touched the cola). Then she prepares a toaster oven (not a regular toaster) to get real hot. Then she puts the strips on the little toaster pan with the painted side up. When the oven is super hot she puts them in for 10 SECONDS and they curl up. She pulls them out and lets them cool and voila...beads! I might be the only one who thinks they are cool but man...they were pretty cool to see and my boss loves giving her his round bottles...less for him to recycle!

Our vintage shop is open!

We just opened our vintage shop! I'm soooo excited about this! We only have 3 things up now but we will be adding more!

I just adjusted all the front pages of my etsy shops to include this shop and it really got me thinking...I mean I can't believe we have 5 online shops (4 etsy and our yahoo store). I NEVER could have imagined it yet I'm so happy. Well...gotta run...got shopping to do!! (^__^)

You can click on the picture to be taken to my shop.

Hotaru!

I love this time of year!!! "Hotaru" or fireflies (or as my honey once asked me....what's that bug with a light on its ass?) are easily found. It literally is like walking among fairies! The other day my honey and I went searching for them and we found a few but it was strangely cold and with typhoon like winds so we aren't sure if were too early or the weather was making them hide. But it is magical when you do see them. We are lucky to be living in the countryside which almost always has fresh running water which my honey says is almost the only place you see them. I do know that I don't see them near our apartment (or my work)...we have to walk into the darker countryside areas to see them and indeed there is always fresh running water nearby.

Btw-this picture was taken (not by me) in Nagoya and NOT digitally enhanced but I am guessing that the person used a special lens or camera or something cause I wouldn't ever be able to take this kind of pic!