30/01/2019
Why is obesity so rare in Japan while it's becoming the norm in the United States? Moving back and forth between both nations over the last 35 years I will share my observations on what I believe are 5 key factors.
1. EDUCATION - Japanese believe schools have a role to play in teaching children how to keep their bodies healthy. So they don't just provide information on food and nutrition, lunch time is a school community activity where students cooperate together and share healthy meals they have helped serve or prepare. This community lunch period usually lasts 40 minutes to an hour each day, in elementary and junior high school. It's also frequently followed by an additional 40 minute recess, every single day.
School Lunch in Japan - It's Not Just About Eating! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL5mKE4e4uU&t=13s
2. MARKETING - Unhealthy junk food can be found everywhere in Japan, but it is packaged and marketed differently. Cookies, snacks and ice cream come in much smaller packages, as a healthy serving size. Television marketing may include subliminal messages about the connection of obesity with overeating, as compared with US commercials which do all they can to deceive viewers and hide that connection. Check out these two commercials as examples:
Japanese Donut commercial with Matsuko Deluxe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKQdk9-kTT4
Häagen-Dazs commercial with Bradley Cooper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3zY4Trz7po
3. HEALTH CARE - When one visits a Japanese doctor for a checkup they measure your waist size, inform you of your BMI level and warn if one is overweight. The technical English term "metabolic syndrome" is used to describe being overweight, and carries the same negative connotations as "obesity" in the United States.
My own observation (and experience) is this makes people feel uncomfortable being even just a slight bit overweight, motivating them to eat healthy and exercise more way before they might become obese. Thus 5% of Japanese are obese, about 20% overweight, as compared to 39% obese in the US, about 30% overweight. In Japan, being healthy is the norm.
4. EXERCISE - Japanese adults walk, bike and exercise much more than the average American, in my opinion. Many people go shopping and to work by bicycle or by walking. Fitness clubs are popular for adults, and especially senior citizens. When I go to the sports club during the day the majority of members I see are retired, ages 60-85.
In schools, children get about 10 minutes recess each hour, with an additional 40 minutes free time outside (in good weather) after lunch and physical education 3 times a week. This is mandatory, nationwide. There also appears to be awareness that exercise is crucial to help children stay focused in the classroom and study better. A similar awareness exists in Finland, where (like Japan) ADHD is rare and test scores are high.
How Finland Keeps Kids Focused Through Free Play https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/06/how-finland-keeps-kids-focused/373544/
5. FOOD CULTURE - Japan has a traditional food culture, called "washoku" (和食), which has developed over hundreds of years. A key idea with Japanese meals is that they should taste good, look beautiful and be nutritionally balanced. It's this last idea I find missing when I return to the United States, where I find many people value foods more for the pleasurable sensation in the mouth than nutrition.
Japanese also enjoy sweets and high calorie food but seem to be much more aware (and concerned) that pleasurable taste is balanced by nutritional value. They view unhealthy foods as something to eat in moderation, and with caution. Most importantly, most grow up eating healthy so it just feels natural to them to continue eating that way as adults.
Christopher Chase
Fukuoka, Japan
Related: Fast food, Fat profits: Obesity in America
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slwgXXVXM3I
