With its pale, unadorned interior, untreated wooden beams and semi-open kitchen, Vegan Store, a two-story "convenience store" that opened in late 2019 near Tokyo's Kappabashi kitchenware district, is as unlikely a konbini that you will find. With a remit to only stock and serve vegan food, Vegan Store hopes to change the way vegan food is viewed in the capital.
It's difficult to source exact numbers on what percent of Japanese are vegetarian or vegan, but according to a 2019 survey by Frembassy, a startup aiming to create an accommodating food culture in Japan, only 2.8 percent of those surveyed identify as vegan, and only 4.8 as vegetarian. Three and 5 percent of Americans identify as vegan and vegetarian, respectively.
