Japanese food allergy and dietary card
Tick what you cannot eat and this writes it out in short, polite Japanese a waiter can read in two seconds, then prints ten wallet-size cards on a single A4 sheet. It covers all 28 allergens Japanese labelling recognises and the five diets that most often get lost in translation here.
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This tool only prints what you type. It gives no medical advice, makes no diagnosis and guarantees no translation of anything you write yourself.
All 28 allergens Japan labels
Japanese food labelling names eight ingredients that must be declared — shrimp, crab, walnut, wheat, buckwheat, egg, milk and peanut — and twenty more it recommends, including cashew, sesame, soy, mackerel, salmon, squid, abalone, salmon roe, beef, pork, chicken, gelatin, matsutake, yam, orange, kiwi, banana, peach, apple and almond. All 28 are on this page as tick boxes. Note that "shellfish" is not one category here: shrimp and crab are separate legal items, and molluscs such as squid and abalone are separate again.
The two sentences that do the most work
Two optional warnings are ticked by default because they catch out more travellers than anything else. The first says that Japanese stock is usually made from fish — bonito flakes or dried sardines are in almost every sauce, soup and simmered dish, including things that look entirely vegetable. The second says that shared fryer oil and shared utensils transfer traces, which is the difference between a kitchen saying "no shrimp in this dish" and it actually being safe for an anaphylactic allergy.
Severity changes the wording, not just the tone
Set the allergy to severe and the card adds 少量でも重い症状(アナフィラキシー)が出ます — even a small amount causes a severe reaction. Japanese kitchens treat that sentence as a hard stop rather than a preference, and it is the line that gets a chef to check a sauce base rather than glance at a menu. Choose mild and the card says so honestly instead, which keeps your credibility for the times it matters.
Religious and lifestyle diets
Vegetarian, vegan, halal, kosher and gluten-free each print two sentences: the restriction, and the caveat that Japanese kitchens do not expect. Vegetarians get the dashi warning, halal covers the alcohol in mirin and cooking sake, and gluten-free names soy sauce and curry roux as wheat sources. A pregnancy option covers raw fish, raw meat, raw egg and alcohol.
Printing, and why nothing is uploaded
The default card is 91 by 55 millimetres — Japanese business-card size, so it lives in a wallet — and ten fit on one A4 or Letter sheet with cut lines. A6 and A5 single cards are there when you want bigger type. Print at 100 percent scaling, not "fit to page". Everything happens in your browser: the phrase database is a static file that ships with the page and the PDF is assembled by JavaScript in your tab, so your allergy list never reaches a server.
What this tool does not do
It gives no medical advice: the generator prints exactly what you tick, and nothing is diagnosed, verified or professionally translated on your behalf. Text you type yourself is printed verbatim and is not translated. For a severe allergy, carry your own medication and your doctor's documentation alongside the card.
Frequently asked questions
Which allergens does the card cover?
All 28 in Japanese food labelling: the 8 mandatory items (shrimp, crab, walnut, wheat, buckwheat, egg, milk, peanut) and the 20 recommended ones (almond, abalone, squid, salmon roe, orange, cashew, kiwi, beef, sesame, salmon, mackerel, soy, chicken, banana, pork, matsutake, peach, yam, apple, gelatin). Each also has its own page with the dishes it hides in.
Why does the card warn about dashi?
Because bonito or sardine stock is in most Japanese savoury cooking, including miso soup, simmered vegetables, noodle broth and many sauces. A dish can be entirely vegetable and still be built on fish. Any fish allergy, and any vegetarian or vegan diet, needs that sentence to be on the card rather than assumed.
How many cards do I get, and what size are they?
Ten cards at 91 by 55 millimetres on one A4 sheet, with cut lines, as a single-page PDF. You can also choose A6 (four per sheet) or A5 (one) for larger type, switch the sheet to US Letter, or add a second page carrying the English text for the reverse.
Will restaurants in Japan actually read it?
Generally yes, and often the card goes into the kitchen and comes back with a recommendation. Chain restaurants frequently keep printed allergen charts. Small independent kitchens sometimes say they cannot guarantee anything, which is a useful answer in itself.
Is my allergy list uploaded anywhere?
No. There is no server, no account and no analytics on what you tick. The sentences are a static file bundled with the page and the PDF is generated in your browser, so the card only ever exists on your device.