When I was in the States, I’d heard a statistic that most Asians are lactose intolerant. As such, I was somewhat surprised to find that milk and dairy products are in fact pretty common in Japan, and most Japanese people I’ve met have no issue eating ice cream or adding milk to their coffee.
Lactose Intolerance Doesn’t Seem to be a Big Topic Here
However, the longer I stay here, the more I wonder if it’s not so much that no one has lactose intolerance, just that no one talks about it in terms of “having” it. I’m not sure why exactly; most likely it’s just not considered polite conversation since the Japanese people are generally very big on manners.
However, while I can understand not sharing that information with complete strangers or acquaintances, even my husband, who I’m pretty sure is lactose intolerant, denied having it when I asked him about it directly. He’s always had gastrointestinal issues after consuming milk, but he simply says he can’t have too much milk. Maybe my husband’s just the oddball out, and most Japanese people would have no problem being straight and saying they have it. I need to get out more and make some more Japanese friends so I can find out.
One thing I will note, however, is that my husband’s issues with milk haven’t always been as bad as they are now, which is backed up by the studies that have found that lactose intolerance is something that you can get (or can worsen) as you get older. For further personal anecdotes, I’d site my mother-in-law and her friends, who once refused milk in their tea, but when I mentioned I’d be putting soy milk in mine, they were happy to accept that alternative.
(As a side note, anecdotal examples make for horrendous scientific data. For all I know, mother-in-law and friends are perfectly fine with dairy and were just trying to be polite, which is a very Japanese thing to do.)
Milk Alternatives to Choose From
So, back to the title. Regardless of what percentage of people in Japan are actually lactose intolerant, milk alternatives are very popular here. There’s soy milk as mentioned above, as well as almond milk and even oat milk. Liquid yogurts and milk-based drinks (which are often in milk carton-esque containers, but are not the same as whole/skim milk) are also widely available.
Above is a picture I took of the almond milk available at my local Valor (a popular supermarket chain in Japan). Almond milk is, as far as I can tell, relatively new here in Japan, with the Almond Breeze brand only showing up in my area in the past couple of months. Almond milk usually comes in three flavors — original, unsweetened, and coffee; however, I really like the “three-nut” flavor (which tastes of almond, walnut, and cashew), plus the cocoa flavor, which tastes like a candy bar.
Soy Milk Galore
Soy milk, on the other hand, has been around for a while, and there are a plethora of flavors. Just below, you’ll be able to pick out banana, coffee, matcha (green tea), fruit mix, and black tea flavors, plus the more “regular” soy milk, including one that is basically just soybean juice with no additives (useful if you want to make dairy-free baked goods).
However, this is actually a pretty limited selection. In other places, I’ve seen vanilla, pudding, caramel, watermelon, and melon soda ice cream flavors — people really love soy milk here. (By “people,” I am speaking in general terms, and specifically, not including my husband. He absolutely hates soy milk.)
I’m not really an authority on the subject. I only started consuming non-dairy milk after the birth of my third kid; I figured out pretty early on that, like his father, he has trouble with milk, and since I’m breastfeeding, I have to make sure to limit my dairy intake so that he doesn’t end up with any problems.
Regardless, it’s interesting to see how Japan handles non-dairy milk versus the U.S. or some other country. One thing I like about soy milk is that it is really cheap here — cheaper than milk (and as a cheapskate, I stan). I’ll continue stocking up on it for the foreseeable future and look forward to other milk alternatives that might pop up while I’m here.
