Japanese cards you can print, fold and show
Pick what you need to say, and this site writes it in natural, polite Japanese that a waiter, a pharmacist or a hotel clerk can read in two seconds. Print ten business-card-size copies on one A4 sheet, or save a PNG to show on your phone. Your allergies, medications and contacts are typed into your own browser and never sent anywhere.
Food & allergies
Medical & pharmacy
Hotels, onsen & manners
Everyday phrases
1. Tick what applies to you
Choose your allergens from the 28 items Japanese food labelling law covers, or pick a hotel request, an onsen question, a pharmacy symptom or a set phrase. Each choice adds one short, natural Japanese sentence — not a machine translation, and not a word-for-word list that leaves the reader guessing.
2. Add your own details if you want them
Name, blood type, medication names and an emergency contact are optional free-text fields. They are typed into the page and stay in the page: nothing is posted to a server, so there is no account, no upload and no copy of your medical details sitting in someone else's database.
3. Print it or keep it on your phone
The PDF puts ten business-card-size cards (91 x 55 mm) on one A4 or Letter sheet with cut lines, so one print run gives you a card for your wallet, your day bag and your travel companion. The PNG is sized for a phone screen at roughly 1080 pixels wide, which is legible when you hand the phone across a counter.
Why a printed card still beats a translation app
A translation app needs signal, a charged phone and the other person's patience while you type. A card is instant, works on an aeroplane and in a mountain ryokan, and can be handed to a kitchen and carried back to the chef. Restaurants in Japan routinely take an allergy card into the kitchen — that only works with paper. Keep the app for conversation and the card for the things that must not be misheard.
Why nothing you type is uploaded
Allergies, medication and emergency contacts are health data. Free online generators usually post that to a server, and what happens next is governed by a privacy policy you did not read. Here the phrase database is a static file that ships with the page, and the PDF is assembled by JavaScript in your tab, so the card exists only on your device. Close the tab and it is gone.
Written by Japanese speakers, not by an API
Every sentence on every card is fixed Japanese text written and reviewed by hand, with the English meaning shown next to it so you can check what you are about to hand over. That matters for the awkward cases: "dashi" fish stock hides in almost every Japanese sauce, "shellfish" splits into shrimp and crab as separate legal allergens here, and asking about tattoos at an onsen needs a polite phrasing that does not read as a demand.
Frequently asked questions
Is this really free, and do I need an account?
It is free and there is no account, no email address and no watermark. The cards are generated by the page itself, so there is nothing to pay for and nothing to sign up to. You can use the same page offline once it has loaded.
How many allergens does the dietary card cover?
All 28 items in Japanese food labelling: the 8 that must be declared by law (shrimp, crab, walnut, wheat, buckwheat, egg, milk, peanut) and the 20 that are recommended, which includes cashew, sesame, soy, mackerel, salmon, squid, abalone, salmon roe, beef, pork, chicken, gelatin, matsutake mushroom, yam, orange, kiwi, banana, peach, apple and almond.
What size are the cards, and how do I print them?
The default is the Japanese business-card size, 91 x 55 mm, which fits a wallet. Ten of them go on one A4 sheet, or you can print a single A6 or A5 card if you want larger type. Print at 100% scaling, not "fit to page", or the millimetres will shrink. A Japanese convenience-store copier prints the PDF from a USB stick for 10-50 yen a sheet.
Can I trust the Japanese to be correct?
The fixed sentences were written by Japanese speakers and each one is shown with its English meaning so you can verify it before printing. Anything you type yourself — a medication name, a hotel name, a free-text note — is printed exactly as you typed it and is not translated.
Does this give medical advice?
No. The cards print what you tick and what you type. They are a communication aid, not a diagnosis, a prescription or a certified medical translation. For a severe allergy, carry your own medication and your doctor's documentation as well as the card.