Japan's Dietary Transitions and its Impacts



I read this in early August 2018.  With very comprehensive use of statistics, the writers describe changes and developments
in the Japanese diet. In particular, they investigate the health and environmental impacts of Japanese food intake.
With its high levels of food dependency (from imports), these relate to cultivation and fishing across the globe. It was
interesting to read about the use of nitrogen based fertilisers, which has been at a particularly high level in the case of
green tea cultivation, a product esteemed for its healthy image. It was also interesting to read the discussion of why levels
of obesity remain relatively low in Japan among developed countries. While a high level of fish eating may seem positive,
it is in decline among younger people and the authors indicate its negative environmental repercussions. They consider these
as more severe even than from meat production. The authors also look to the future with an increasingly ageing and declining
population pushing down food consumption, including daily calorie intake.

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