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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajinomoto

Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (味の素株式会社 Ajinomoto Kabushiki-gaisha?) is a Japanese food and chemical corporation which produces seasonings, cooking oils, TV dinners, sweeteners, amino acids, and pharmaceuticals. In particular it is the world's largest producer of aspartame, with a 40% global market share.[2]

The literal translation of Aji no Moto is “Essence of Taste,” used as a trademark for the company’s original monosodium glutamate (MSG) product.[3]

Its head office is located in Chūō, Tokyo.[4]

Ajinomoto operates in 26 countries, employing around 27,518 people as of 2013.[1] Its yearly revenue in the fiscal year of 2013 stands at around US$12 billion.[

MSG in Japanese food?
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g2 ... Japan.html

Unfortunately, MSG is found in all kinds of foods in Japan. It is sold as "ajinomoto" which is both a company name and the catch all word for MSG. It's in most prepared foods you can buy in supermarkets/convenience stores, most packaged salty snacks, soups (especially cup ramen types, but also present in large quantities in restaurant noodles too unless it's a REALLY top quality place), curry...it's actually easy to find in just about everything. Top restaurants won't use it, nor will "health" food shops or healthy restaurants. But, most places will use it.

You can ask if there is ajinomoto in the food, or if there is amino-san in the food (the catch all phrase for flavoring, which is almost always MSG).

The good news is that I'm allergic to MSG and have lived in Japan and traveled in Asia for over 12 years without trouble. You just need to be careful...not eating junk food or convenience foods will help a lot.

You can still buy food, just buy good stuff, and ask if you aren't sure. When you arrive in Japan, have your hotel write out for you the words for ajinomoto and for amino-san so you'll be able to recognize it on packages and so you can show it in restaurants.

PRODUCTS TO AVOID IN JAPAN:


AJI-NO-MOTO®
HONDASHI®
knorr®CupSoup
Cook Do®

scandal & TROUBLE:

Lysine price-fixing (1990s)

Ajinomoto was a member of the Lysine price fixing cartel in the mid-1990s. Along with Kyowa Hakko Kogyo, and Sewon America Inc., Ajinomoto settled with the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division in September 1996. Each firm and one executive from each pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain to aid in further investigation. Their cooperation led to Archer Daniels Midland settling charges with the US Government in October 1996 for $100 million, a record antitrust fine at the time.[6] The cartel had been able to raise Lysine prices 70% within their first six months of cooperation.[7]
2000 to 2008

By mid-2000, Ajinomoto's acquisition of NutraSweet and 'Euro-Aspartame' from Monsanto had been completed.[5]

In early 2001, Ajinomoto was involved in a scandal in majority-Muslim Indonesia when it emerged that a pork-based enzyme had been used in its production of MSG.[8]

In January 2006, the company bought the cooking sauce and condiments manufacturer Amoy Food from the French dairy product company Groupe Danone, which had run the division as the "Amoy Asian food unit".[9] At the time of the acquisition, Ajinomoto was the largest Japanese maker of seasonings.[9]

interesting article & comments:

Put me down as one of "the small section of the population that shows sensitivity to it". My symptoms are classic: “numbness at the back of the neck, gradually radiating to both arms and the back” and “general weakness and palpitation.” In my case, the numbness included the tongue, which would also have a very salty taste. The intensity would vary from mild, to very bad, but I never passed out or had to go to a hospital, as some people did. Drinking a lot of water to wash it out seemed helpful. I believe it was when people started dying after eating at Chinese restaurants that it became big news.

....

Gradually I got used to checking that restaurant food was MSG free, then, as fewer restaurants even had the stuff, I became complacent about it, only occasionally getting caught out while traveling and eating at unfamiliar restaurants. The pattern was usually as follows: I'd tuck into a dish and, by the end of the meal or soon thereafter, the classic symptoms would start. I'd find myself unconsciously rubbing the back of my neck, right at the base of the skull. It would gradually intensify until it became the unmistakable MSG poisoning I'd all but forgotten about. The most intense symptoms would include a very bad headache and numbness from my tongue and head all the way down to my fingers, and a gradually intensifying salty taste.

In 1986 I began living in Japan and remained until 2011. I discovered that the Japanese had no problems with MSG and most had never heard of it (or vegetarians!), but everyone had heard of the big company called Aginomoto. My Japanese wife learned to look for the ingredient, aginomoto, in foods at the supermarket and eventually I did, too, but at restaurants it was harder. In the early years, nobody knew what we were talking about. MSG awareness gradually grew among Japanese with more exposure to caucasian foreigners, and it became known as a problem of this group of people, though, as noted in the article, not all of even this group have problems with it. Eventually, I discovered the most egregiously MSG laden food is a type of sauce used on "yakisoba" and "okanomiyaki" dishes. I sadly learned to avoid these very popular dishes or, when I couldn't, to ask that the "soosu" (sauce, usually meaning this particular kind) be left off and to ask for "shoyu" (soy sauce) instead. Later, when foreign style health foods began to make an appearance, my wife found the type of sauce used in those 2 dishes, but sans MSG. Okanomiyaka and yakisoba became two of my favorite home cooked meals.

MSG is often listed as 調味料(アミノ酸等) in packaged food so you'd want to check the label for those words.

book that lists places in japan with no MSG

http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E7%84%A1%E5%8C ... 4902615401

very alarmist website about MSG but worth reading:

http://www.msgtruth.org/avoid.htm

If you have the heart to keep reading after learning about the Codex Alimentarius, in addition to what is on the Codex list, most fast food establishments should be avoided - the worst offender by far is KFC®. It should become obvious as well, that the foods most likely to give someone an MSG reaction at ANY restaurant are: CHICKEN and SAUSAGE products, RANCH dressing, PARMESAN items, GRAVY, and DIPPING SAUCES and fries with any kind of seasoning on them except plain salt. FLAVORED salty snack chips - ESPECIALLY Doritos® and Cheetos® and items with cheese powder added.
At regular restaurants, you want to avoid PARMESAN encrusted ANYTHING, SOUPS, CEASAR salad, FISH SAUCE or EXTRACT, SOY SAUCE, BOARS HEAD® COLD CUTS and beef jerky (usually made with soy sauce) and anything that comes out of a can. Go to restaurants that make things from scratch - you can ask what is in food and also ask for special items without the offending ingredients. You WILL be glad you spoke up BEFORE you eat the wrong thing. DON'T smother your choice in the parmesan cheese at the table either- Parmesan cheese is 1% straight MSG by weight.

At your friend's and relatives' homes - the hardest place to avoid MSG - avoid your aunt's "secret" recipe, anything that has Accent® in it, anything with a boullion cube or meat extract or "seasoning" packet, the Latino seasoning Goya Sazon®, Lawry's® seasoning salt, Gravy Master®, tuna with "broth" or hydrolyzed or autolysed ANYTHING on the label, potato chip dip or hamburgers with Lipton's® Onion Soup Mix in them, Vegetable dips with Knorr® vegetable soup mix in it, Italian foods smothered in Parmesan cheese, Hamburger Helper, canned soups - especially Progresso® and tomato or mushroom soup, the "green bean casserole" heck, ANY casserole. Check packages of prepared baked items and avoid any with soy protein, casein, wheat gluten, malted barley, and non-fat dried milk as an ingredient. Avoid aspartame, Nutrasweet®, "diet" drinks and artificially sweetened desserts. If you aren't sure - just eat the raw vegetables but don't dip them - eat them plain. Skip the hotdogs and cold cuts altogether unless you know they are safe. Have some iced tea and add plain sugar and fresh lemon. BRING foods you can eat so you aren't tempted and weak when your relatives ask why you aren't eating their prized recipe - and you cave in and poison yourself just to make them happy. Avoid Ultra-pasteurized dairy products, cheeses, cream, and half and half with carageenan added. Look for plain Pasteurized whole milk to put in your plain coffee and avoid low fat and non-fat milk - because low fat dairy products usually have dried, high-free glutamate, non-fat dried milk added to boost the protein content.