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Changes in diet, sanitary improvements and medical advances have also all played a role not only in boosting the body size of the Japanese, but also in putting the Japanese at the top of the list for life expectancy. This could be regarded as a major achievement of the impressive growth of Japan's industrial economy over the latter half of the 20th century.
The same prosperity has ,however, given rise to new threats to the health of the Japanese. For example, diabetes and other "lifestyle-related" diseases are on the increase. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, there are currently 2.3 million diabetes patients under treatment in Japan, and a further 6.9 million people are thought to be at risk. Viewed as a percentage of total population, these figures put Japan fairly high on the list for developed nations. Whereas the American cancer population peaked in 1995, and has been decreasing since, Japan's is still on the rise. |
As to the cause of the rise, Yasuhiro Nariyama, assistant chief of product development at Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. and an expert analyst of the health of the Japanese, emphasizes the influence of diet: "Japanese today probably spend more on food than any other nationality in the world. Many people eat as much as they want of their favorite foods, and that doesn't make for a balanced nutritional intake. The result is an increase not only in cancer and "lifestyle-related" diseases, but also obesity. In the opposite direction, the number of abnormally skinny people, particularly among young women, is also rising, as a result of mistaken ideas about dieting. The Japanese are traditionally a very sturdy-boned people compared with Westerners, but I'm not sure we'll be able to say the same for the Japanese of the future."
Most Japanese, over 65 years of age would have eaten far more fish than meat during their lives, making for strong bones. While incidence of stroke is slightly higher than in the West, such afflictions as cancer and heart attack are not as widespread, and in general, the health of Japan's aged could be described as excellent. However, there is a strong possibility that Japan will experience a sudden rise in health problems when the postwar generations raised on poorly balanced diets reach old age.
"Until about fifteen years ago, our life insurance product line was really simple, only insurance against death or hospitalization, plus maturity proceeds, but these days we are offering an increasingly wide range of products to cover against risks while still alive, such as cancer, diabetes, and nursing care," says Nariyama. "In other words, we are no longer insuring just life, but also in effect, lifestyle, and so we call these products ‘all-round risk coverage insurance.'"
Lifestyle diseases are not the only emerging problem; changes in the actual build of the Japanese are also causing concern. The National Science Museum's Dr. Baba warns that the way Japanese faces are becoming narrower is a major problem: "Japanese faces are narrower than they used to be, and particularly in recent years, chins are becoming increasingly slight. The reason is that the Japanese no longer eat anything that requires a lot of chewing. Young people seem to think that smaller faces look better, but nothing could be further from the truth. Not only the number of our teeth, but also their size is genetically determined, and small chins mean that there isn't enough room for the teeth to align correctly. That's why the teeth alignment of the Japanese is now the worst in the world. To put the brakes on this trend, we need to educate parents to make sure that their children's chins get sufficient exercise for the jawbones and chin muscles to develop fully."
I've tried This article has tried to focus on the Japanese people as an example of the way in which the human physique has changed in response to social evolution and historical imperatives, but many readers will be aware that similar changes have occurred in their own countries. It makes us all wonder what our descendants will look like 50 or 100 years in the future. Will they be any healthier or happier than we are? If this article has prodded you too to ponder such questions, then it will have served its purpose.
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| Yasuhiro Nariyama, assistant chief of Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. |
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| As much as you can eat of everything you like: But is it really a good thing? |
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