- One in five Japanese women aged 20–29 are underweight
- Being underweight causes serious harm
- Strong social pressure to be thin
Welcome to January, the month in which we all make resolute vows to forgo the
- One in five Japanese women aged 20–29 are underweight
- Being underweight causes serious harm
- Strong social pressure to be thin
Welcome to January, the month in which we all make resolute vows to forgo the excess that we indulged in over the winter holidays for a healthier, more responsible lifestyle. Out go the frozen pizza and instant ramen, in come the salads and tofu. Such is our fraught relationship with food.
But how do the Japanese grapple with the issue? Japan is known worldwide for its traditionally healthy diet, but behind this tradition of balanced diets that are low in fat and high in nutrition lie some alarming modern statistics.
According to the most recent national survey published by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on those overweight (defined as body mass index (BMI) equal to or greater than 25 kg/m2), the rate of men was 31.3% and 20.6% for women.
Meanwhile, the percentage of underweight (defined as a BMI of less than 18.5 kg/m2) women has significantly increased over the past 10 years, with 11.6% of women falling into this classification in the 2016 report, compared with 9.1% in 2006. What is noteworthy is the particularly high prevalence of underweight young women, which means that approximately one in five Japanese women aged between 20 and 29 are classified as underweight.
The Japanese population’s supposed immunity to the global epidemic of obesity and being overweight is often seen as being due to genes and relatively healthier eating habits. But data shows that Japanese young women’s leanness is in no way a natural state, and it is attained by unnatural pursuits intended to achieve a too-thin standard.
Recent government statistics have shown that the average daily caloric intake for women between 20 and 29 is the lowest ever at 1,628 kcal. This is not only drastically lower than the standard intake for women of this age range, but, even more alarmingly, it is less than the national average calorie intake reported during the serious food shortages that occurred after World War II.
Regardless of being at a low, normal or high weight, for a young woman living in a society where one in five of her peers are abnormally skinny, it is very difficult not to feel and be affected by the strong socio-cultural pressure to be thin.
The implications of this worrying trend are significant. Whether the reason for wanting to be thin is for beauty, fashion or misguided beliefs about health, being underweight causes serious harm to the body, including amenorrhea, heart beat irregularities and deterioration in bone strength.
Researchers have proposed that the more this thin standard is internalised in the individual, the 