The average Japanese person consumes something like 900 calories less than the average American and 400 less than Europeans. They eat mostly lean meat, fish, and veggies, with rice and noodles being the main carb staple (and beer, if salaryman). It's not rocket science, just just eat less.
Pretty much this. There's also a physical component - most Japanese people live in cities that are highly walkable or bikable, making that even if you're just walking a half mile to work from the subway stop or whatever, you're still getting exercise. America especially lacks this in most places, and it's subpar in a lot of places that do have it.
I was watching a fitness YouTuber and they were saying that most influencers are basically on some type of drug(s). However, those that aren't... if they want to maintain a good lifestyle that focusing on just exercise isn't going to burn as much as you think. A lot of the day-to-day things like walking have a larger effect than you think. If you have a desk job you're going to have to put a bit more effort to burn those calories.
When I used to live in the UK, I used to walk 20K steps per day without trying. Moved to Canada and I struggle to hit 10K. I have friends that make fun of me for parking further away and say "who enjoys walking?".
Isn't the average Japanese person smaller in general than a Westerner?
When I looked into this from what I could tell it's not really that fruits and vegetables are more expensive in Japan. For the most part some are a little more some are a little less so it just varies like any other country.
However there does seem to be a caveat to that. Average prices might be higher depending on how you look at it due to this odd luxury fruit industry Japan has. Stores where fruit is individually inspected to be perfect then polished and packaged specially and then charged huge amounts for.
I was gonna say ... If you only looked at the strawberries/apples/etc. that are individually packaged and traditionally given as gifts, then yes fruit would appear to be horrifically expensive
It really depends. A medium bell pepper is 198 yen now in my countryside area. The minimum hourly wage here is roughly 1000 yen of which maybe 20% goes to tax/insurance/pension. A stick of celary is that or more. On the other hand, cabbage is usually cheap.
Anything grown locally is cheap when it is in season. Transport costs, bad harvests, etc. can make anything expensive (due to weather and impacts of fuel costs, cabbages went to like 4x regular price last year and that's the main green).
Anything imported, niche, and/or off-season is going to demand a high premium. My second job (starting this year) is as a small-scale veg farmer in rural north Japan.
It’s called good healthcare. I come from those European countries americans simp for our universal healthcare.
Well we still have like 4 months waiting to got anything done or any good medical appointments.
Now Japan, you’ll get anything you need within two weeks.
Now Japan, you’ll get anything you need within two weeks
That's definitely an exaggeration, particularly for elective or even preventitive things in busy areas. That said, I've never waited long for anything urgent.
Eat fewer calories and move more. I expect life expectencies to drop judging by overweight office workers eating fried shit and Maccas every day in Tokyo. The old way of life that created those long lifespans is fading quickly, particularly in the cities.
