Japan is a vegetarian paradise wrapped in a vegetarian hell. https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/topics/diet/vegetarian/japanese 96 Vegetarian Japanese Foods posted by John Spacey, January 29, 2015 updated on July 02, 2019. Japan is mostly mountains and has little arable land. It's also an island with a high population density. Love of seafood is deeply engrained in Japanese culture.