One of the biggest surprises of all when I visited Japan (a fabulous two week trip to Tokyo and Kyoto last year) was to discover that 7-Eleven convenience stores - which were everywhere - had the most delicious and economical food! Yes you heard me right. That was not a misprint. 7-Eleven!! Of all places.
They had all kinds of amazing and tasty fish dishes, as well as vegetables and other things that I'm not really certain of what they were, and of course, sushi. I marveled that their convenience foods could be so healthy. How disappointed they must be when they come to the U.S. only to discover Slurpees and hot dogs.
I noticed this too when we walked along the local tourist-oriented shops in Ohara (a lovely rural spot an hour's bus ride away from Kyoto.) The tourists seemed to be mostly Japanese (I guess kind of how we might make a weekend trip to Santa Barbara from Los Angeles) or from other nearby Asian countries. I did not see many Western faces.
There were many food shops - apparently it is particularly common in Japan to bring home local food delicacies for friends and family to try after a trip. I was surprised how so many of these shops featured huge varieties of fermented vegetables and pickles, ginger, matcha/green tea, seaweed and fish variants. All beautifully packaged and displayed. There were sweets too, but much less and in smaller portions than we are used to seeing.
The Nishiki Market in Kyoto is an immense and completely overwhelming food hall. As was the basement food court at Takashimiya department store in Tokyo. Do not miss either if you are ever in the area! And again I was struck by the amazing variety and preponderance of healthful food items displayed. We tried many things, though far from everything and I found there were many new things that I liked but some that I just didn't care for, even though they were considered delicacies by the Japanese. I wonder if I kept at it, would I develop a taste for it or is it a taste that has to be inculcated from childhood?
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| Picking out candied ginger at Nishiki Market. |
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| Traditional Japanese breakfast we enjoyed in Ohara. |
And even back in Los Angeles, shopping at my local Japanese Market, Mitsuwa, I notice that the produce and fish sections are huge and filled with variety, whereas the dairy and bread/cake sections are almost nonexistent. Although sadly I have noticed a trend over the years to more sweets and frozen and convenience foods, just like their Western counterparts. But their portion sizes tend to be much smaller, so even the junk food doesn't seem as bad.
So I guess it is not terribly surprising that Japan has the highest life expectancy in the world and that our obesity rate in the U.S. is 10 times that of Japan. 30% vs 3%. Or that their heart disease deaths are 30 per 100,000 people compared to our 106 per 100,000 people. They do have more smokers than we do - 30% vs 17% - which actually makes the heart disease rates even more impressive. Imagine if they didn't smoke! They also have significantly lower rates of breast cancer and Alzheimer's disease than the U.S. Interestingly, we also spend three times more on health spending per capita than they do. Which tends to confirm my belief that the food one eats is the single most important factor in health and longevity. Health care, exercise, genetics and environment are important, but it seems to me that diet trumps all.
