Virginia Review of Asian Studies
I WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT: JAPANESE AND AMERICAN RESPONSES TO OBESITY
VIRGINIA POPE MARY BALDWIN COLLEGE
Abstract
Today over two-thirds of Americans are overweight, and one third of Americans are obese. While Japan is often touted as having one of the smallest obesity rates in the world, Japan operates on a modified Body Mass Index (BMI) scale. According to this modified scale, just over a fifth of the population is obese. Both Americans and Japanese are extremely concerned with their weight and seek ways to reduce it. This has resulted in both cultures focusing on dieting and government policies. Both Japan and America have developed “dieting cultures” that do little to actually decrease the obesity rate, and potentially contribute to it. Each country has also looked to political regulations to reign in the problem, but their actions to date will likely create more ill health effects than they solve. Americans are becoming used to larger sizes as normal, while simultaneously putting pressure on the population to be normal or underweight. America has taken political action in the form of educating children and has also debated the use of bans and taxes as a form of consumption control. Japanese reject larger sizes despite the growing waistlines in the country. In Japan, the pressure and the desire to be thin or underweight is strongest for women under forty, which has contributed to the appearance of eating disorders. The Japanese government has passed laws that state that those with a waist measurement exceeding a certain number must receive diet and lifestyle re-education courses. Until education about weight issues is improved in both countries and society moves away from dieting culture, the obesity problem will likely continue to grow.
Introduction
Growing up, my mother always had her nose in the latest dieting book. When I was in elementary school, she was into the Zone diet. When I was in high school, she got into a diet that dictated that you must eat your salad afteryour main course because it changes the way the food is processed in the body. After my sophomore year at college, she decided she was going to go on a gluten-free, starch-free and only-vegetables-for-carbs diet. My father would often get roped into these diets as well, because my mother did all the cooking. My sister admits to being a yoyo dieter and goes through periods of time when she adheres to a strict diet and exercise program, only to at some point (usually around the holidays) break the diet and have to start all over again after a few days to weeks off. My mother's sister moved after a divorce and decided that she was going to lose weight and completely revamp her lifestyle. She cut out almost all meat, switched to eating only vegan and homegrown foods, and limited herself to a small amount of carbohydrates per day. She would only occasionally "splurge" with one item during the holidays, and whenever she visited anyone she would bring her own food to eat.
When I traveled to Japan in 2008, I dropped three belt notches, despite being there for only two weeks. My host mother at the time was incredibly happy for me and instructed me to "continue losing weight". When I returned to Japan in 2012, I had expected a similar response from my new host mother because my host father and sister were both on diets. My host father, a Japanese men's size L, was working to lose his small "spare-tire", and my host sister just seemed to be dieting to lose weight even though she was average sized. When I told my host mother I went down a belt loop, she gave me a look of horror. It seemed that it was okay for me, the guest, to remain obese by Japanese standards while her family dieted. I never saw my host father eat a whole portion of a dessert, and he would lift what looked to be about 10 pound weights before he took his bath each night. After seeing a segment on TV about how stretching like a cat twenty times each night for a month could help you drop several kilograms, he added that to his nightly routine. While my host sister would occasionally snack or eat a dessert with me, she would often not eat her rice at dinner or shove portions of her food onto her mother's plate. My host mother kept shoving cake at me when I got home from school, and I found myself actively trying to limit my caloric intake at school so I wouldn't gain weight like my host mother wanted.
All of these are stories of people trying to lose weight. Every family has one, and almost every woman has a personal story to tell about dieting. Dieting has become so ingrained in our culture today that it appears in almost every form of media. We have diet books; news outlets occasionally give dieting advice; characters in movies and TV-shows often diet as well. Whether the culture of interest is Japanese or American, it's hard to ignore dieting. Of the above stories, only a few seemed to really be succeeding. My host father saw a small decrease in weight over the time that I was there, but whether he will keep it off in the long run is something I do not know. My family often succeeds at weight loss in the short term, but regains it in the long run. Only my Aunt has seen any success in long-term weight loss, and it is for one major reason: she does not really dietso much as the fact that she changed her diet.
The fact that both countries have giant dieting industries that have thrived for years, yet waist lines continue to grow in each country alludes to a problem in the system. The fact that so few ever see success in shedding excess weight in the long run also hints at problems. Japan and America are both greatly concerned with the weight and health of their citizens, specifically the obesity and overweight rates. Both countries are responding to these problems in different ways, but neither are handling the problem in a way that will end with desired results, and may even serve to worsen or create new health problems in the population.
Methodology
I have been collecting information for this research in various ways over the last two years. Many of the sources I use to build my argument are psychological and sociological studies, while others are studies carried out with the purpose of specifically looking at the obesity rate or some factor related to it. The World Health Organization compiled the records of BMI and calorie consumption across the world.
In the fall of 2012, I spent a semester in Japan. During this time I experienced the culture first hand and was able to absorb a great deal through my everyday life. However, I felt this was not enough and also conducted a questionnaire about dieting habits. 39 college-aged women answered my questionnaire and the findings have been incorporated into this paper. When possible, I have backed up my personal findings with previous research.
The Definition of Diet
There are two definitions for the word diet. Diet, used solely as a noun, means the food that one consumes on a regular basis. If one eats eggs and bacon for breakfast, ham sandwiches for lunch, and steak and potatoes for dinner every single day without change, then one's dietconsists of eggs, bacon, ham sandwiches, steak and potatoes. This is the dietthat appears in terms such as "the American diet", "the Mediterranean diet" and "the Japanese diet". "The American diet" consists of foods that Americans regularly consume because the food is easily accessible and does not fall within food taboos. For example, Americas eat beef but not crickets, while other parts of the world exclude beef from their diet for religious reasons and others include crickets because of their nutritional value.
The second definition of dietmeans to restrict calories in an effort to lose or maintain weight. It is this dietthat has corrupted terms like "the Mediterranean diet" from "the food people in the Mediterranean region eat because it is plentiful and to their tastes" to "the food people in the Mediterranean eat that keep them thin, so those in the rest of the world should try it and lose weight". This second definition is also the one that the majority of people associate with the word. It has become a word that many use every single day. However, for now I shall focus on the first definition.
Definition of BMI
BMI stands for Body Mass Index and is a scale that measures body composition by looking at a person's height and weight[1]. In the Western world, a BMI above 25 is considered overweight, while a BMI of over 30 is considered obese.[2]In much of Asia the scale is shifted to recognize racial differences, with Japan's standard stating that 23 is overweight and 25 is obese.[3] Across the globe, a BMI less than 18.5 is considered underweight. Any number that falls between 18.5 and the overweight cut-off number is considered normal. The scale is one of the most widely used indicators of health risks in the world because it is incredibly easy to calculate.
Most people are well aware of the effects of being overweight: cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes; the list goes on. However, people are often less aware of the effects of being underweight: weakened immune system, cessation of the menstruation in women, and osteoporosis to name a few.[4]
The Japanese View of Dieting
Japan has experienced great social and economic changes since the conclusion of World War II. Japan had been left in ruins after numerous bombings to the mainland—almost every major city was reduced to the ground. The American occupation rebuilt the government allowing for the country to rebuild its economy and infrastructure. Japan saw rapid economic growth during the Korean War, which continued until Japan’s economy burst in 1989.[5]
Japan’s diet saw typical changes associated with modernization and economic development in Asia: Japanese total calorie consumption increased; consumption of cereals decreased; and consumption of protein, vegetables and sugars increased.[6] These changes took place roughly from the 1950s until 1989, when the Japanese diet evened out and the average calories consumed per day actually began to drop slightly.[7] Japanese consumed about 278 calories more per day in 2001 than in 1961, but consumed about 100 calories more on average per day in 1988 than in 2001.[8] The diet changes can be attributed to the growing wealth of the country—meat and fruits are very expensive in Japan, and as the average person earned more, they could afford to consume more. They also gained trading partners allowing foods that were unavailable before to enter the market. Today fast food restaurants are as common in Japan as in America, and import stores can be found in major train stations and shopping centers.
Today’s Japanese diet consists of rice, noodles, vegetables, chicken, beef, pork, seafood, bread, and sweets. In the year 2001, the average Japanese citizen consumed an estimated 2746 calories per day.[9] Of this, 27% was from oils/fats/sugars, 19% was from meat/eggs/fish/milk and 39% was from cereals.[10] This equilibrium has undoubtedly changed as American fast food businesses find a growing consumer market in Japan, as they are often popular with the youth.
In 2001 about 23.4% of Japanese adults had a BMI of 25 or greater.[11] This means that just over three-fourths of the country fell into the international standard for “normal weight”. An estimated 3.1% of Japanese people had a BMI equal to or greater than 30 in 2001.[12] When the World Health Organization (WHO) reports obesity rates in countries, they use the percent of the population with a BMI equal to or greater than 30, thus Japan is reported to have an obesity rate of 3.1%. However, Japan uses a revised BMI scale that is backed by the WHO, and considers 23.4% of its population to be obese.
American Views on Dieting
The United States has also seen dramatic changes since the conclusion of World War II. America had been struggling to recover from the Great Depression, and World War II lit the fires in the war machine. The United States came out of the war thriving economically. America’s economic growth anchored it as the biggest economy in the world, though there was fear that Japan would over take it in the 1980s. With the Women’s Rights movement in the 1970s, more mothers continued to work after childbirth. The social structure within America changed greatly—increased amounts of two income families and single mothers changed the way meals were presented in the home, allowing the fast food and instant food industries to take hold.
The economic success of the United States can be seen in the changes to the American diet. Americans in 1961 ate nearly 900 calories less than Americans in 2001.[13] Unlike the Japanese, who mostly shifted where their calories came from, Americans ate more of everything. The biggest changes over the years came from increased consumption of cereals, sugars and fruits. Americans consumed 429 more calories from sugars, fat and oil in 2001 than in 1961.[14]
The American diet consists largely of beef, various poultry, pork, seafood, bread, rice, noodles, vegetables and sweets. In 2001, the average American consumed an estimated 3766 calories per day.[15] Of this, 39% was from oils/fats/sugars, 24% was from meat/eggs/fish/milk and 23% was from cereals.[16] Americans consumed about 600 calories more in 2001 than in 1980.[17] If this trend is stretched to the present day, it is likely that Americans in 2013 consume around 3900 calories a day. The distribution of BMI is almost the opposite of Japan's. Approximately 66.9% of Americans in 2006 had a BMI equal to or greater than 25.[18] Of that, approximately half had a BMI equal to or greater than 30.[19] This means that about one third of the country falls into the category of "Obese". On the other end of the spectrum, approximately 2.4% of the population was underweight in 2002.
The Culture of Dieting
「瘦せたい。」Yasetai. “I want to lose weight,” is one of the most common phrases I hear. Be it the girls around me in America, the girls around me when I was in Japan, or even from my own lips, I hear that phrase more often than I should in an ideal world. Overall, the percent of people with a BMI over 25 in America is dramatically higher than Japan—23.4% of people in Japan in 2001 compared to 66.9% in America in 2006. This can be attributed to a number of differences between the two countries. First, the average Japanese person consumes about a thousand less calories than the average American. The portion of our diets that come from cereals and oils/sugars/fats are opposite, with 39% of American’s calories coming from oils/sugars/fats and 39% of Japan’s calories coming from cereals.
Figure 1 Source: “Global Database”, World Health Organization.
The Japanese lifestyle is also considerably more active than the American. Japan is a country where most people walk, ride a bike, take a bus, or ride a train to their destination.[20]
Train stations often do not have escalators or ramps, forcing commuters to at times climb or descend as many as three flights of stairs just to exit a station or reach their platform. In the city, stores are often nestled in out of the way places, up several flights of stairs and without elevators. Homes are still often in a more Japanese style, and require individuals to sit and sleep on the floor rather than raised chairs and beds found in Western style homes. Japan is not a good country to visit if one is walking-impaired, but Japan’s lack of accommodations and environment that encourages physical activity likely decreases the number of impaired individuals that suffer because of diseases related to obesity and physical inactivity. Both sets of my host parents are in much better physical condition than my parents despite being around the same age. It is common to see middle aged and elderly riding bicycles around the streets.
This is a sharp contrast to the majority of America, where it is difficult to go anywhere outside the city without the aide of a car, which drastically reduces the number of calories Americans burn in a day. 55% of Americans wish to walk more; however, the majority of Americans have reported that the set up of their neighborhoods actually discourage biking and walking.[21] Outside of a city setting, American neighborhoods are often large housing districts that are far from stores of any kind. When stores are close, there are usually few to no sidewalks and sporadically placed major roads that prevent safe travel. Because most neighborhoods are not designed for pedestrian traffic, bike lanes are rare and cross walks at major intersections are even rarer. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that only about a fifth of Americans get even 30 minutes of exercise a day.[22]