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Gluten free · checked October 29, 2026

Gluten-free Tokyo

Eating gluten free here: Good, with care

Tokyo looks easy for coeliacs and isn't: soy sauce, miso and most soba have wheat in them. But it now has fully gluten-free tempura, izakaya, okonomiyaki and bakeries, so you can eat the real thing.

Gluten-free food in Tokyo
A photo like it · Wilfredor, CC BY-SA 4.0
What to ask
私はセリアック病です。小麦・大麦・ライ麦は少量でも食べられません。普通の醤油や味噌も使えません。これは大丈夫ですか？

I have coeliac disease. I can't eat wheat, barley or rye, even a little. That includes regular soy sauce and miso. Is this OK?

Where to eat

100% gluten free

The whole kitchen is gluten free. Order anything.

Coeliac-careful kitchen

Not a gluten-free kitchen, but trained for coeliacs: accredited, a separate fryer or a separate menu with real protocols.

Good gluten-free options

Plenty you can eat and staff who get it, in a kitchen that also uses flour. Say it's coeliac, not a preference.

Before you go

Soy sauce has wheat.

So does most miso, unless it's made from rice. Ask for gluten-free soy sauce, or carry your own packets.

Source: Legal Nomads (Jodi Ettenberg, a coeliac traveller, updated Aug 2026)
Sushi rice can have it too.

Some sushi vinegar blends in barley malt or wheat. Ask, or stick to places that say they're gluten free.

Source: Legal Nomads (Jodi Ettenberg, a coeliac traveller, updated Aug 2026)
Soba is usually part wheat.

Only juwari (十割) soba is 100% buckwheat, and the broth or dipping sauce usually has soy sauce in it.

Source: Legal Nomads (Jodi Ettenberg, a coeliac traveller, updated Aug 2026)
At an izakaya, ask for shio.

Salt-grilled yakitori skips the soy-based tare. Check the meat wasn't marinated first and the grill is kept apart.

Source: Legal Nomads (Jodi Ettenberg, a coeliac traveller, updated Aug 2026)
Bring a detailed card.

A short card that says no wheat isn't enough here. Use one that names soy sauce, miso and local ingredients.

Source: Legal Nomads (Jodi Ettenberg, a coeliac traveller, updated Aug 2026)

Watch out for

Source: Legal Nomads (Jodi Ettenberg, a coeliac traveller, updated Aug 2026)

Help on the ground

Legal Nomads: gluten-free Japan: A coeliac traveller's long Japan guide, and the source of a detailed Japanese coeliac card.

Find Me Gluten Free: Tokyo: Coeliac diners' reviews of Tokyo restaurants.

Know someone who eats gluten free?

Send them this before their trip. Save the places to your Chef Amazing and he'll remember them for you, with what to order.

Save the whole list in Chef AmazingAsk Chef

More in Tokyo

Where to eat in TokyoThe Tokyo food mapMy food trip

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How Chef checks: every place here says it on its own site, or a coeliac writer who ate there does, and we link which. We checked on October 29, 2026. Kitchens change, staff change: if it's coeliac disease, say so every time. Photos marked "a photo like it" aren't of that place. No place paid to be here.

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