If you’ve ever been to Japan, you may have noticed that it’s really hard to find an obese Japanese person. In the United States, it’s quite a different story. The rate of obesity among adults in America is on average around 30% whereas the Japan obesity rate is only 3.5%.
But what makes the weight of people in these two countries so different? "Why Japanese people?"
The food environment is drastically different from the US. As of 2017, there are over 243,000 Fast food establishments in America. There are only 6,169 establishments in Japan, meaning per person, there are about 15 times more fast-food restaurants in America.
"Why McDonalds?"
Then again, in Japan, fast food, fried food, chips, chocolate, candy, soda, and not-so-healthy things are still available wherever you go. But there’s a huge variety of equally convenient reasonably healthy food.
What’s for breakfast?
Most people’s options are limited to things like a McGriddle with Hashbrowns and coffee, or maybe an Egg and processed Cheese sandwich with tater tots at Dunkin’ Donuts, or some pancakes at Denny’s if you have more time. Surely some people have more healthy options, but I’m trying to think of what most people are going to have access to.
So what’s a quick breakfast in Japan?
While there are more than 6000 fast food establishments in Japan, there are also 5000 "rice bowl" establishments. The big ones are Yoshinoya, Sukiya and Matsuya. And for 4 dollars at Sukiya, for breakfast, you can get Plain Rice, Miso Soup with Seaweed, an Egg, baked fish, and a small potato salad come with it. Or, you can put together a reasonably healthy meal from a convenience store.
Compare this to what’s available in American convenience stores - they’re limited to fried foods sitting under heat lamps or foods loaded with trans fat, sugar, preservatives, and unhealthy additives. If you’re lucky you might be able to get a package of plain nuts with nothing added. So the items in Japanese convenience stores are not top-quality health foods, but they’re not bad. This is big because practically everyone has access to these places, convenience stores like these are everywhere.
Japan has about 55,000 convenience stores meaning there are about 10 times more convenience stores per square kilometer in Japan compared to America. For most, these places are within walking distance. Of course, there are healthy restaurants here and there in America and you can make a healthy meal with ingredients from the supermarket. But when it comes to cheap, convenient, and quick food - it’s almost always quite unhealthy. And of course, many healthier non-chain places offer many different types of cuisine. And this variety is important. It’s going to be much easier to stick to healthier options if you aren’t getting bored of having to eat the same things at the same places over and over.
Even if you’re going out to drink with friends at dinner time, there’s still a variety of good food choices. The standard place to drink at is an izakaya - at 10,000 establishments, there are almost twice as many izakayas as there are fast food places in Japan. Replacing fast food for alcohol is not a good strategy, but let’s see what one of the common izakaya chains has to offer in the way of food. Let me point out one more time that there’s of course much better quality food than what you get at convenience stores, rice bowl chains, or izakayas and this is not what most Japanese people eat daily. I’m not recommending these places either - Most Japanese people wouldn’t think of these places as “healthy”. But, this isn’t about optimal health. I just mean to point out that even someone who puts minimal effort into being healthy can get some reasonable quality meals out of these very convenient places.
By the way, what’s everyone drinking with and between meals?
In America, more often than not it’s soda, considering a survey of 80 countries found that America comes in at rank #1 for soda consumption at 170 liters purchased per person in 2011. Japan came in at rank #56 at 32 liters per person. In Japan, most places serve tea with your meal for free and in general, it’s harder to purchase massive quantities of soda - there are no comically large big gulps at seven eleven, I haven't seen these packs of soda here, and Japan has the smallest “large” cup size at McDonald’s - An American medium-size drink is bigger than a Japanese large. Another factor to thank for keeping people’s soda intake low is again: variety. What’s interesting is despite Japan drinking 5 times less soda than America, soda is available in vending machines everywhere in Japan. There are 5.52 million vending machines, meaning there is a vending machine for every 23 people in Japan - that’s the highest vending machine per capita on the planet.
So what’s in these vending machines?
Why don’t we take a look at this vending machine I came across on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere in Hakone. Among other things, They have black coffee, six different types of unsweetened tea, and water. A typical American vending machine offers 13 varieties of the drink, the only non-sweet one being water. So convenience and variety - simple, but it makes a difference. It’s easier to pick healthy choices when they are just as easy and convenient as the unhealthier choices. Now, this is by no means the full story on Japan and health, but I think these are two key factors.
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