@eldando7659
I like that in Japan the idea is not “get as much as you can worth your money” but instead “get exactly what you are gonna consume and not waste food”, it’s beautiful actually.
@GeorgeP-uj8xc
A huge component is also WALKABILITY. Even Japanese suburbs are made to be pedestrian first and car second.
@kray97
1. Healthier options at 7-11 2. Less sugar in most processed foods 3. Portion control built into serving sizes
@leagueestates
I've always been overweight in the US, but after just 3 months living in Japan, I lost over 30lbs without dieting, just ate whatever I wanted.
@glissemaster
A friend who just returned from Japan said people don't consume their food or beverages on the go. If you order food, you stand there and eat it, then give the dish back. Or at Starbucks, she had to drink the whole coffee before she left. This might be one of the reasons the portion sizes for food and beverages are smaller.
@oldschoolgreentube
In Japan I walked EVERYWHERE! If I wanted to eat some KFC or McD's, I'd have to walk about a 1/4 mile to get it. Grocery shopping. I walked there, and carried my groceries home. I walked to the train station, from the train station I walked to the bus station, from the bus station I walked to work. Coming home I did it all in reverse. 5 to 7 times a week. When I went out in the evening to a bar or club, I walked. Walk, walk, walk, walk. Everywhere. In the US, I sit. I sit in my car to go to work. I sit at work. I sit when I go out. Daily walking distance are measured in yards. In Japan I walked miles daily.
@Ziggy9000
Two months in Japan and my gut histamine issues cleared up. No runny nose from eating and my anhedonia and brain fog was lifting more and more. Then I came back to the US and got severe food poisoning and months later still feeling worse than before I left for Japan. I'm planning on moving to Japan partly for health reasons. The food was healing me.
@Whataboutbob-b4w
America: quantity over quality Japan: quality over quantity
@jlanderson21257
When my daughter in law, who is born and raised in Korea, brought her family over to stay with me in the States for the first time, I made a big breakfast, and also had donuts. I could tell her relatives were so confused. Not only too much food, but the donuts were the most confusing part. My daughter in law said, that while they have seen them before, they only saw them as some sort of desert after a dinner. It was like I was giving them a birthday cake as breakfast. By the time her family left, I completely changed my way of eating meals, beginning with breakfast!
@SuperJacques96
I think the biggest factors are: 1. Foods are not highly processed or filled with sugar. 2. Japan is very walkable with the exception of remote towns.
@BernhardWelzel
Biggest point is missing: social pressure. being overweight is not accepted in Japan. Update 30.05. I also wrote "Some employees have contracts that enforce yearly checkups and overweight = risk to your job. " - His seemed to be an oversimplification by me. Thank you all for helping me to learn more about this topic!
@mundos1585
Everything in this video is true, but what I must add is that Asian people tend to walk a lot because car ownership is made optional due to the efficiency and comfort of public transportation. Walking even just 6000-7000 steps a day will make a world of difference when it comes to health. One thing I want to point out is how inaccessible fruits are in Japan. If you pause at the 12:09 mark of this video, you can see how expensive fruits are (1USD = 144Yen), that bag of grape the woman is holding cost $40USD.
@VarsVerum
The first video I saw on this channel was on why everyone in Japan is so thin. Can't believe it's been almost 8 years since then.
@hayatejohnny
I am Japanese. What you are saying makes sense, but people in Japan are not necessarily health because they look skinny on average, hardly anyone I know does any active physical activity besides walking. You can see it in the elderly in the way they walk, they start looking almost like robots-- weak joints and not a lot of muscle. I would also like to emphasize the fact that in the last 10 years I've seen a very noticeable increase in my area of people who are definitely overweight, and many who are straight up obese, in my area of Saitama (prefecture adjacent to Tokyo). Whereas 10 years ago you would be hard pressed to even see anyone overweight, nowadays it seems like the norm, especially in younger people-- many lower class working folks have a diet that practically only consists of cheap, high calorie fast foods like ramen bowls. Japan, is definitely on a similar, slowly engorging path as other western countries, just not at the same speed. Just because half of the population in the US is morbidly obese (hyperbole), doesn't mean overweight people in other countries should be considered "skinny".
@j_lemy
1. People walk a lot. 2. People work a lot. 3. Minimally processed and healthy food is everywhere.
@NombreApellido-mz6xn
Honestly, as a European, this isn't about US vs Japan as much as US vs the rest of the world.
@peterfmodel
When I worked in Tokyo my office in Yoga was next door to a girls high school and a lot of the girls were overweight. But in my office no one was overweight. I asked one of my female co-workers about this and she said at high school most girls spent all their time studying and eating. When they graduate and go to work they go on a diet to get their weight down. It should also be noted that being overweight is regarded as a health issue.
@ainternet239
One thing that struck me, a European, when I visited the US on a business trip in the 1990s: the hotel I was in served me more food at breakfast than I usually ate in an entire day
@scottmichaelharris
It’s almost like US fructose is subsidized to be cheaper than healthy food.
@WhatIveLearned