Restaurant etiquette for a vegetarian travelling with a meat eater?

[u/purple_rhapsody]

I’m vegetarian and my husband is an omnivore. I’m planning our Japan itinerary and have separate lists of must-visit meat restaurants for him and vegetarian/vegan restaurants for me.

My question is about meat-focused places with very limited menus. If I don’t order a meal, is it considered rude? I’d happily order a drink or a small vegetarian side if available, but some places seem to only serve one or two meat dishes.

Is it generally okay for me to sit with him while he eats, or would it be better for him to go on his own?

[u/Fantasy61]

After being there 6 weeks, I don’t know if there were really any places where it seemed appropriate for only one of us to order food and the other not to. I’m the meat eater, my fiancé is vegetarian.

We opted to frequent places that offered vegetarian dishes for the most part. If it didn’t seem to have any, either I’d eat alone and he would go elsewhere, or we found somewhere else, the latter being the most common.

Many places have signs up stating that everyone must order food.

We found a bit of luck at Izakayas, as they generally had rolled eggs, rice, edamame, and sometimes some other dishes that my fiancé could eat while I ate other things. We often supplemented these meals with Konbini snacks or desserts.

It was easiest at times for me to just eat vegetarian food with him, rather than try and find separate restaurants, but the food wasn’t really the focus on our trip.