Japan Getting Fatter?

Hahah, that’s the first time I’ve heard the ‘it’s America’s fault’ applied to people getting bigger in Okinawa.

When I was there, I noticed how people were definitely bigger then on the mainland. People offered multiple reasons.

1. The people are a different breed of Japanese. They look more Filipino/South East Asian then mainland Japanese.

2. Pork is a big part of the ‘traditional’ Okinawan diet. Pork is everywhere, and less then healthy. Some of the pork dishes would make me sick just to look at them because there was so little pork on my fat that I wouldn’t say it was a pork dish, but a pork fat dish.

3. People are getting richer = better lifestyle = worse diet.

4. They drive everywhere

5. They drink too much. Not good when combined with #4 for multiple reasons. But also, where as in Tokyo, you can say you have to leave for your last train and stop drinking early, but in Okinawa that’s not an option because there are no trains.

I think it’s the better quality of life allowing for more pork and less exercise that’s doing it. The drinking every night until it’s time to go to work the next morning certainly doesn’t help either.

It’s ironic but when people look at obesity in the U.S., they blame individuals for not being able to stop eating or exercise self-control. When any other country in the world starts to see an increase in obesity rates, they blame America rather than the individuals who choose what and how much to eat.

The implication is the rest of the world is so malleable that they will follow wherever American culture leads and they have absolutely no responsibility for their own lifestyle.

I have first-hand proof that Americans in Japan are also gaining weight