Hi I'm Hiroto, and my job is helping find Vegetarian places for Taiwanese people both in Japan and in Taiwan.
My job currently involves:
・Dealing with Vegetarian Media
・Consulting with various restaurants about their vegetarian menu.
・Helping spread Vegetarian information


The reason I am making this crowdfunding project is to raise money for a guidebook written in Traditional Chinese about 「Vegetarian Restaurants in the Kansai Area」
I want to before starting on the in depth parts of the guidebook, talk about why I'm doing this project and why it's important to me.


「I want to make fans of Japan」- This is my life goal.
This aim of mine goes all the way back to when I was a student studying abroad.
While in countries like Thailand and China, living there I was able to both see the charms that Japan had but also realise that these charms, these appeal points of Japan aren't reaching far enough.
From then, I looked to create and build a sightseeing group that looked to be volunteer guides for visiting foreigners!



During that period one of the biggest difficulties that I faced is the focus of these project, helping vegetarians.

After spending the time and money to get to Japan, only to not be able to find a restaurant they could eat at,
it pained me to see them eating cup ramen and riceballs that they could have found in their own country.

And at the same time it was embarrassing.
Japan is hosting the 2020 Olympics, they're putting their efforts into the ideas of [Hospitality]... Right?
I felt exasperated at the idea of visitors coming and having to go through what I saw.

I thought to myself, "This isn't right. Things must change".

From that point, I put effort into both:
Helping restaurants in the forms of seminars and consulting, helping them to understand what they can do to change.
Increasing the amount of knowledge out there about Vegetarian menus and restaurants, so that when people come they know where to go!

In Autumn 2017、when i visited Kaohsiung for the first time, I was able to have a fateful meeting with the vegetarian community there!

Connecting over SNS I was able to meet up and they took me to eat with them everyday!
The meeting with that community was like something out of a dream!

With this I decided to take a look into the figures and found out that [13% of the population in Taiwan are Vegetarians]. Imagine my surprise!

A quick maths calculation and I figured with over 5,000,000 people coming to visit from Taiwan each year, that at least 600,000 people are vegetarian!

Then it hit me.「If all these vegetarians are coming to Japan, what are they doing? Are they also having hardships while being here?」

I decided that I need to do something and started a Facebook group looking to put out Vegetarian information in Chinese.
https://www.facebook.com/JapanVegeReataurant/



My predictions were true, and the page reached 10,000 followers in half a year.

With more followers came advice such as "we want the information to be more structured", or "we want it to be more organised in one place".

While the posts I make are regular, they are quite disjointed.

Then I thought what could I do and it popped into my mind

「A GUIDEBOOK!!」

So one year ago or so, I launched a crowdfunding attempt to create a guidebook for the Tokyo area!
I realised that while crowdfunding allows us to reach over borders, it isn't decidedly easy!

The number one thing that kept me going was the people that follow me and my story.

・The people that backed my project
・The people that helped when it came to restaurant shoots
・The translators that translated the book to Traditional Chinese
・The people that helped with taking pictures

The end result of all these people following me and pushing me forward was the success of the project and the first publication of the guidebook in December 2018

I'm so grateful for all the people that helped to make the first project a success

In regards to what's happened since the release, it's been featured on Taiwanese TV, as well as received high reviews from many different bookstores! And it wouldn't have been possible without all the backers and followers!

With this success, there has been a growing call for a Kansai Version to be released!

Not wanting to disappoint, I created this project to answer the call!


①Osaka・Kyoto・Nara・Kobe! Introducing you to various Vegetarian restaurants!

②Lining up restaurants that also feature near popular tourist spots!！

③Easy to understand grading system of the featured restaurants! （Example）純素 / 五葷素 / 蛋奶素 / 非素



④Easy to eat at places, even if you don't speak Japanese! We'll start a way to communicate with the staff! May〜：Start of on location shooting
June〜：Translation
July-October： Editing
November：Publication!（Planned）
*This is just a planned schedule. As such things may not go to plan and might take longer to release.
This time due to the guidebook being focused in Kansai, transport and other fees are a lot higher than my previous campaign. As well as this due to being in Kansai, accommodation as well as additional writers are necessary.
With the money raised I plan to create a plan that allows us to get all the writing done for a lot less time which will lower other costs!!


Additional Writers fee：¥375,000
Transport Costs for 4 people：¥100,000
Accommodation Costs for 4 people：¥100,000
Translation Costs：¥200,000
Crowdfunding Costs：¥225,000
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Total ¥1,000,000 1000 Yen Plan
・Name in the guidebook
・Thanks Mail
　
5000 Yen Plan
・Name in the guidebook
・Handwritten Thanks Mail

10000 Yen Plan（Limited to 20 people）
・Name in the guidebook
・Special PDF version of the Guidebook filled with snippets and unpublished hints and info!
・Handwritten Thanks Mail
・Finished Guidebook（Limited to those living in Taiwan）

30000 Yen Plan（Limited to 10 people）
・Name in the Guidebook
・Special PDF Version of the Guidebook filled with snippets and unpublished hints and info!
・Handwritten Thanks Mail
・Finished Guidebook（Limited to those living in Taiwan）
・Invitation to the Guidebook Anniversary Party in Taiwan Planned for 2019 November(Dates to be confirmed)!
＊For those that can't participate on the day, we'll provide you with vegetarian souvenirs from Japan!

3000 Yen
・A special behind the scenes guidebook pdf! (Information and behind the scenes stories that couldn’t be published in the main guidebook!
※This will come as a PDF

7000 Yen
・Name included in the guidebook!
・A special behind the scenes guidebook pdf! (Information and behind the scenes stories that couldn’t be published in the main guidebook!
※This will come as a PDF
・The choice of either the Tokyo Vegetarian Guidebook or 10% off coupon from one out of a selection of restaurants featured in the new Kansai Vegetarian Guidebook (Valid for One year)








※I plan to send reports on the progress monthly! Included in this might also be stories from my time finding restaurants!

※The completed book will be sent from Taiwan, therefore this guidebook can only be sent from Taiwan at this stage. Please be careful when it comes to backing the project!
As well as Facebook, I'm also slowly starting up my Youtube and Instagram channels. By doing so, I can reach out to my community even more and help with the promotion of Vegetarian lifestyle in Japan! Click the pictures to jump to the individual profiles or search the following:
Youtube: Shanqi TV
Instagram: japanese_vege_restaurant


When it comes to travelling abroad food is a massive part of being satisfied with your trip.

I feel that in order for visitors that are coming to Japan and have certain dietary requirements, this book is fundamental in making their stay as great as possible.

This isn't just a book for the readers, but for those that wish to bring in visitors of all walks of life and that want to make their time here amazingly enjoyable. We hope that this starts a trend of creating books that focus on these other alternative dietary lifestyles and helps Japan catch up to accommodating them!
Please back this project and support us!