Super Size Me, Tokyo

Here's an intersting article that explains Costco's and the American diet's effect on Japan. It really relfects the Japanese mentality. I had a colleague return from American recently who said they realized I wasn't that big after having gone to America and having seen all the obese people:

Super-Size Me, Tokyo Style By John Feffer, AlterNet Posted on December 17, 2004, http://www.alternet.org/story/20728/

It looked like they were giving away food.

The crowd was practically euphoric at the recent opening of Costco's third Tokyo-area store along the bay in Yokohama. The aisles were filled with shoppers who marveled at the almost cartoonish quantities of produce and formed polite lines in front of the more popular food samples. Customers were checking out the non-food items – the cookbooks and clothes and even the shiny new snowmobile – but when it came to filling their shopping carts, they reached for the enormous frozen pizzas and bags of onions.

"We have fun here, that's why we come," said one couple, who were sharing pizza and hotdogs with their child in the cafeteria. "It's like a theme park."

The theme of Costco, whether in Japan or the United States, is consumption to the max. The newest Costco in Japan might differ in some particulars from its American version – large containers of Japanese pickles for sale, samples of lychee liqueur on offer – but the overall experience is identical, down to the layout of the store and the fast-food menu at the cafeteria.

For SUV-owning Americans, with our extra freezers and basement pantries, such consumption fuels a super-sized, high caloric lifestyle. But how exactly were these Japanese customers cooking those enormous pizzas, storing those giant mustard jars, and eating those gigantic cuts of meat?

After all, the average Tokyo apartment is so small that it can make even a New Yorker feel like a caged animal. And only a cooking-averse undergraduate could love the typical Japanese kitchenette with its half-size refrigerator and an oven that can grill fish but not much more. To get around the lack of storage space, Tokyo shoppers shop more frequently than their American counterparts and tend to buy a lot of fresh food at local stores. The size of the classic Japanese meal – a few pieces of raw fish or a modest bowl of noodle soup – contrasts sharply with such American faves as the double bacon cheeseburger or the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet.

"That was always the fear that the large packs wouldn't sell," says Richard Chavez, who once ran the Asian operations for Costco. "But I have to say, they do very well."

Ken Theriault, manager of the new Yokohama store, agrees. When the first store opened, he says, "People didn't know Costco. Obviously the foreigners came in, they knew how to shop. The Japanese had to learn how to shop."

During the trade wars of the 1980s between the United States and Japan, legislators in Washington sledge-hammered Japanese-made televisions and politicians in Tokyo claimed that the Japanese digestive system couldn't handle American-grown rice. Where Americans saw protectionism, Japanese asserted simply a different system of producing and selling goods. Until the 1990s, mom-and-pop stores still ruled the consumer landscape, and Japanese legislators locked arms to keep out "big box" retailers. As a result, Japanese continue to spend about twice as much for food, which has helped to keep small retailers in business and small farmers on the land.

The Japanese have also pointed to a different way of consuming. Japanese tourists in the United States are appalled at the huge portions at the restaurants, the amount of wasted food, and the way suburbanites fill their shopping carts every week as if they were closet survivalists.

Not to mention the sheer size of Americans themselves.

Thanks to an influx of American-style food, Japan is changing. In the 20 years from 1980 to 1999, Japanese spending on fresh produce dropped 10 percent, while expenditures on Western processed foods jumped 20 percent. Over the same two decades, obesity figures for Japanese males rose 40 percent. In the last 40 years, obesity in the population as a whole has more than tripled.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Comments

[Arie]

I have to vent. There is lazy think going on in this article.

Yes, I've gained 15 lbs since returning from Japan, but I don't blame Costco. Have you ever ordered a SportsDon from Hokka Hokka Tei. -- That'll supersize ya.

Here is what does it:
1. I don't have to walk over a mile each day as part of my commute - or miles when out on weekends.
2. I work at Micro$oft and they give me free drinks and coffee and other goodies all the time.
3. I got married and don't have the free time to exercise that I used to.

I don't like the use here of cultural cliches and urban legends to support an obvious agenda - even if it's one I agree with. I mean come on how many Japanese do you know who will ever have room for US style fridges?
BTW, Yuki was never appalled at the food portions here, in fact she loves the buy one meal get two more in left overs concept. (She is appalled when she sees someone finishing off a super meal, but who isn't?)

Yes, Over consumption is bad, but Costco has little to do with it.

[MC]

I understand what you're getting at, but I think the main idea is valid: Costco represents American overconsumption and its reliance on processed foods. I think the main difference between Japanese and American consumption is that housewives usually shop daily for fresh vegetables and cuts of meat, rather than on frozen or canned goods. Unlike my parents they don't have a freezer overstuffed with frozen french fries, cuts of meat, ice cream, etc... Idon't know if you read the whole article but this quote is telling as well:

"Despite these changes, obesity rates in Japan remain the lowest in the industrialized world. Relatively thin people who are spending a lot on food? Talk about opportunities for growth. After the United States pressured Japan to change its Large Scale Retail Store Law in 1990, food discounters like Costco and the French giant Carrefour rushed in to teach Japanese how to consume properly."

Okinawa used to have the healthiest people in the world and now the are the least healthy in Japan. They have co-opted the American lifestyle and diet-i.e. eat processed foods and drive cars more than before. (I think your point about walking and daily exercise is valid-most Ameican's feet rarely touch the ground-drive to work, drive home and watch TV).

I think the Japanese themselves promote the myth of the heathly, sushi eating populace. Generally, Japanese people eat more healthily, they are startign to get soem bad eating habits. In an interview Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me) said some Japanese journalists were trying to say that Japanese people all eat healthy and don't have to worry about issues Spurlock brings up in his movie. But you and I know that there is a McDonald (or Lotteria, First Kitchen, KFC, Wendy's, at every station) and they are always packed. I see more obviously obese people than even 7 years ago.

Perhaps the biggest difference in consumption, though is portion size. Maybe Yuki isn't appalled by the portions, but I am. I can't believe that I used to eat most/all of a burrito from Gordito's. The portions here are reasonable, you are mosre likely to eat whatever is on your plate whether you are full or not. An article in Harper's pointed this out in an article about obesity a few years back, citing the difference between American and the French. French food is very rich, fattening, but they don't have the obeseity problems we do, becasue they teach children at a young age to stop eating when they are full.

Most Japanese people I know complain about the portions in America and how everything is too sweet. Just about every Japanese person I have met who has lived abroad gained weight, whether this is from stress caused from culture shock or the change in diet I can't say, but it is a common occurance.

In addition, I was fascianted by the success of Costco, liek you said there isn't a lot of room in Japanes ehouses for the huge portions of goods that Costco sells, osthe "treasure hunt" concept seems fascinating to me. A friend bought the food for a camping trip in Nagatoro(Costco delivers so it makes sense a little, since they can deliver it to the camping lodge) for 4 people two nights and 14 for one night and we had to pay almost $100-he bought giant jars of spghetti sauce, giant containers of salt and pepper, boxes of pastries,etc... the leftovers, all of which he kept, I sure as hell didn't need it-I cook once a month, and I didn't want to cart all that stuff two hours by train-wastefull in my mind nontheless. I mean really, we were only there for basically two meals!

[Arie]

Yes, I agree with many of these points and that's why the overt generalizations get to me. I see as oversimplified points that Costco = American Overconsumption = bad influence on Japan = oversized servings = cultural war on health = the death of mom and pop stores = unhealthy obese Japanese. It's not so black and white (nless you have an anti-corporate agenda)

Mom and pop stores have been overtly protected by the Japanese government and many still are. This means (as many japanese policies lead to) higher consumer prices, but better availability. I think this is fine for those who can afford higher prices, but not all Japanese are rich. I boycott Wal-Mart, but I can afford to and I don't look down on those who can't.

I believe that the long hours we work (over work) and sedentary lifestyles have a greater impact on our weight than Costco, McD's, and super sizing. I also believe we simply eat too much and we have these politically correct cultural taboos not to talk about it. The first thing my inlaws in Japan always tell me is how fat I look - you don't get that kind of love over here :).