Just Hungry

I would add to the peer pressure thing that amongst my friends in Japan, if anybody ever complained that they were fat, no matter how thin they were, nobody would say “You’re not fat at all! What are you talking about?” whereas people would in the UK. If I complained about feeling fat in front of my friends in the UK, everybody would assure me that I wasn’t, but in Japan, people would just agree with me.
I also think that the size that people are aiming for is much smaller in Japan than in the UK. A lot of my friends who would be counted as slim or thin here were desperate to lose weight in Japan, because they weren’t as thin as they could be.

Food in most parts of Asia are very cheap and readily available and snack/street food are so tantalising and delicious. But most people are smaller in size and obesity (although an increasing concern in most countries) are much less of an issue. I have definitely noticed the much larger food portions in the US (my friend and I used to share a main course whenever we eat out!) and even here in the UK. My family and friends have always expressed their surprise that I have not put on weight, but then I do a lot of home cooking!

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great post

This is so true! I’m not Jappanese (I’m Korean). I was adopted and grew up in America. I didn’t have a weight problem growing up, my weight happened when I hit high school and beyond. When I was in college, I had a chance to go back to Korea for 3 months. I was just a little overweight, maybe around 10-15 pounds. While there, I ate everything in sight, but I also walked everywhere. I also ate more veggies, and more rice, and again, I walked everywhere…usually in atypical day I was walking close to 3-5 miles. When I came back to the states, my Mom automatically thought that I had been starving because I was so slim. Sure enough,1 month later I had gained back all my weight.

There was a big diet trend a little while back that spoke to that. It had people focusing on what their heritage is and then eating and being like the people from their heritage. Now whenever i feel the need to drop some weight, I heavily go back to my Korean roots and the weight just seems to come off. I usually have more energy and just feel more at peace. But it takes so much time, and that is a premium these days.

My husband’s grandmother remembers a time in Tokyo when most young women were quite rounded/’tubby’, when the fashion changed so did their shape. Peer pressure and a will of steel (as well as a non-car lifestyle… even in offices people will kind of ‘jog’ between tasks to show a sense of urgency) seems to be the main reason most people are slim.

Another of the many reasons is that ‘public’ snacking is kind of discouraged - plenty of folk will tuck into a chocolate bar, bag of crisps/chips and even chips/fries on a London train or bus but few people would eat a kitkat or onigiri on a Tokyo bus or subway

Personally, I gain a significant amount of weight on my visits to Japan (and I don’t even eat Ramen) because prepared food there is cheap, readily available and utterly irresistible. My husband initially gained weight when he returned from Japan to England to live with me. The reason is that we both gorged on food not commonly available to us (I have a lot of Spanish friends who also gained weight when they came to stay in London - it’s a natural phenomenon not confined to those crossing the East/West divide).

It often takes a year (or more, or never) to adapt to a new diet and become happy and content enough in your new surroundings to have the strength of will to deny yourself those newly discovered treats and comfort food. As that is something I won’t do on a short visit to Tokyo I’ll assume I’ll always gain weight there. The food itself isn’t necessarily that lean, those with big appetites can opt for high calorie food in places where a large/omori portion costs only a little more or just have several meals one after the other (you can easily have two/three meals served to you in the time and for a similar price than it takes for one moderate meal in England).

But too many people would rather believe that it’s somehow genetic and/or solely diet related rather than acknowledge the astonishing degree of willpower exhibited by most Japanese people and the sometimes subtle, sometimes explicit range of cultural pressures that keeps their appetites in check.

Well…I’m a 17 year old American girl and the new eating plan I’m on is certainly working for me as it appears that I’m losing weight everyday (it varies to a pound or a half pound daily). But despite what people think about my country, not all of us who gain weight eat junk food to comfort themselves or overeat. I gained weight simply because my mom never had the time to cook when I was a kid, so it was easier to pick up fast food or snacks at the store because of the convinience of it.

You also have to factor in not just diet and exercise when it comes to weight, but also how hormones and genes can affect it, too. I only started gaining weight when I hit middle school because I just hit puberty. Add that to the fact that I basically ate nothing but junk then, I was shocked to how much weight I gained. O.O Before that, I was a skinny little thing. xD And now…I’m finally losing it all.

But I do agree with you for the most part. The public transportation thing is a huge factor, I think. I never really had to use public buses and stuff in my own little town because my mom always drove me in her car. But in Japan and many other European and East Asian countries, they always either walk, ride bikes, or use public trains and subways to get from place to place. I actually wish I could find opportunities in my daily life to move more and sometimes I find myself wanting public transportation. I’ve never even been on a train or a subway and I seldom ride buses. O.o

But overall, I really hate to say things like “Oh, Americans are mostly fat” and say “Oh, the Japanese are mostly thin”. x3

That is rediculous that you can't lose one pound a day in a healthy way. You can easily gain a pound in a day you can also lose 1 pound a day. I have a goal of losing 30 lbs and I have been losing consistantly 1 pound a day for 2 weeks now..in 14 days I have lost 15 lbs. I only eat meat and veggies with no carbs. Which causes my body to be in constant fat burning mode. I eat as much as I want and I have more energy than I have ever had in my life. It has also lowered my bad cholestorl levels. Carbs turn to sugar and your body burns some of it but if you don't eat carbs your body burns fat as fuel. I don't eat breads or any processed carbs. Just meat and veggies. But not potatoes or corn...only greens and healthy veggies. I started out with no exercise but after two weeks on this diet I have so much more energy I have started going for long walks with my dog in the last 2 days. Will continue this diet as a way of life...I no longer crave sweets or nasty processed foods.