Virginia Review of Asian Studies



I WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT: JAPANESE AND AMERICAN RESPONSES TO OBESITYVIRGINIA POPE MARY BALDWIN COLLEGEAbstractToday over two-thirds of Americans are overweight, and one third of Americans are obese. While Japan is often touted as having one of the smallest obesity rates in the world, Japan operates on a modified Body Mass Index (BMI) scale. According to this modified scale, just over a fifth of the population is obese. Both Americans and Japanese are extremely concerned with their weight and seek ways to reduce it. This has resulted in both cultures focusing on dieting and government policies. Both Japan and America have developed “dieting cultures” that do little to actually decrease the obesity rate, and potentially contribute to it. Each country has also looked to political regulations to reign in the problem, but their actions to date will likely create more ill health effects than they solve. Americans are becoming used to larger sizes as normal, while simultaneously putting pressure on the population to be normal or underweight. America has taken political action in the form of educating children and has also debated the use of bans and taxes as a form of consumption control. Japanese reject larger sizes despite the growing waistlines in the country. In Japan, the pressure and the desire to be thin or underweight is strongest for women under forty, which has contributed to the appearance of eating disorders. The Japanese government has passed laws that state that those with a waist measurement exceeding a certain number must receive diet and lifestyle re-education courses. Until education about weight issues is improved in both countries and society moves away from dieting culture, the obesity problem will likely continue to grow.IntroductionGrowing up, my mother always had her nose in the latest dieting book. ?When I was in elementary school, she was into the Zone diet. When I was in high school, she got into a diet that dictated that you must eat your salad after?your main course because it changes the way the food is processed in the body. After my sophomore year at college, she decided she was going to go on a gluten-free, starch-free and only-vegetables-for-carbs diet. My father would often get roped into these diets as well, because my mother did all the cooking. My sister admits to being a yoyo dieter and goes through periods of time when she adheres to a strict diet and exercise program, only to at some point (usually around the holidays) break the diet and have to start all over again after a few days to weeks off. ?My mother's sister moved after a divorce and decided that she was going to lose weight and completely revamp her lifestyle. She cut out almost all meat, switched to eating only vegan and homegrown foods, and limited herself to a small amount of carbohydrates per day. She would only occasionally "splurge" with one item during the holidays, and whenever she visited anyone she would bring her own food to eat.When I traveled to Japan in 2008, I dropped three belt notches, despite being there for only two weeks. ?My host mother at the time was incredibly happy for me and instructed me to "continue losing weight". When I returned to Japan in 2012, I had expected a similar response from my new host mother because my host father and sister were both on diets. ?My host father, a Japanese men's size L, was working to lose his small "spare-tire", and my host sister just seemed to be dieting to lose weight even though she was average sized. When I told my host mother I went down a belt loop, she gave me a look of horror. ?It seemed that it was okay for me, the guest, to remain obese by Japanese standards while her family dieted. ?I never saw my host father eat a whole portion of a dessert, and he would lift what looked to be about 10 pound weights before he took his bath each night. After seeing a segment on TV about how stretching like a cat twenty times each night for a month could help you drop several kilograms, he added that to his nightly routine. While my host sister would occasionally snack or eat a dessert with me, she would often not eat her rice at dinner or shove portions of her food onto her mother's plate. My host mother kept shoving cake at me when I got home from school, and I found myself actively trying to limit my caloric intake at school so I wouldn't gain weight like my host mother wanted. All of these are stories of people trying to lose weight. Every family has one, and almost every woman has a personal story to tell about dieting. ?Dieting has become so ingrained in our culture today that it appears in almost every form of media. We have diet books; news outlets occasionally give dieting advice; characters in movies and TV-shows often diet as well. ?Whether the culture of interest is Japanese or American, it's hard to ignore dieting. Of the above stories, only a few seemed to really be succeeding. My host father saw a small decrease in weight over the time that I was there, but whether he will keep it off in the long run is something I do not know. My family often succeeds at weight loss in the short term, but regains it in the long run. Only my Aunt has seen any success in long-term weight loss, and it is for one major reason: she does not really diet?so much as the fact that she changed her diet.The fact that both countries have giant dieting industries that have thrived for years, yet waist lines continue to grow in each country alludes to a problem in the system. The fact that so few ever see success in shedding excess weight in the long run also hints at problems. Japan and America are both greatly concerned with the weight and health of their citizens, specifically the obesity and overweight rates. Both countries are responding to these problems in different ways, but neither are handling the problem in a way that will end with desired results, and may even serve to worsen or create new health problems in the population.MethodologyI have been collecting information for this research in various ways over the last two years. Many of the sources I use to build my argument are psychological and sociological studies, while others are studies carried out with the purpose of specifically looking at the obesity rate or some factor related to it. The World Health Organization compiled the records of BMI and calorie consumption across the world.In the fall of 2012, I spent a semester in Japan. During this time I experienced the culture first hand and was able to absorb a great deal through my everyday life. However, I felt this was not enough and also conducted a questionnaire about dieting habits. 39 college-aged women answered my questionnaire and the findings have been incorporated into this paper. When possible, I have backed up my personal findings with previous research.The Definition of DietThere are two definitions for the word diet. Diet, used solely as a noun, means the food that one consumes on a regular basis. If one eats eggs and bacon for breakfast, ham sandwiches for lunch, and steak and potatoes for dinner every single day without change, then one's diet?consists of eggs, bacon, ham sandwiches, steak and potatoes. This is the diet?that appears in terms such as "the American diet", "the Mediterranean diet" and "the Japanese diet". ?"The American diet" consists of foods that Americans regularly consume because the food is easily accessible and does not fall within food taboos. ?For example, Americas eat beef but not crickets, while other parts of the world exclude beef from their diet for religious reasons and others include crickets because of their nutritional value.The second definition of diet?means to restrict calories in an effort to lose or maintain weight. It is this diet?that has corrupted terms like "the Mediterranean diet" from "the food people in the Mediterranean region eat because it is plentiful and to their tastes" to "the food people in the Mediterranean eat that keep them thin, so those in the rest of the world should try it and lose weight". ?This second definition is also the one that the majority of people associate with the word. It has become a word that many use every single day. However, for now I shall focus on the first definition.Definition of BMIBMI stands for Body Mass Index and is a scale that measures body composition by looking at a person's height and weight. In the Western world, a BMI above 25 is considered overweight, while a BMI of over 30 is considered obese. ?In much of Asia the scale is shifted to recognize racial differences, with Japan's standard stating that 23 is overweight and 25 is obese. Across the globe, a BMI less than 18.5 is considered underweight. Any number that falls between 18.5 and the overweight cut-off number is considered normal. The scale is one of the most widely used indicators of health risks in the world because it is incredibly easy to calculate.?Most people are well aware of the effects of being overweight: cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes; the list goes on. However, people are often less aware of the effects of being underweight: weakened immune system, cessation of the menstruation in women, and osteoporosis to name a few.The Japanese View of DietingJapan has experienced great social and economic changes since the conclusion of World War II. Japan had been left in ruins after numerous bombings to the mainland—almost every major city was reduced to the ground. The American occupation rebuilt the government allowing for the country to rebuild its economy and infrastructure. Japan saw rapid economic growth during the Korean War, which continued until Japan’s economy burst in 1989. Japan’s diet saw typical changes associated with modernization and economic development in Asia: Japanese total calorie consumption increased; consumption of cereals decreased; and consumption of protein, vegetables and sugars increased. These changes took place roughly from the 1950s until 1989, when the Japanese diet evened out and the average calories consumed per day actually began to drop slightly. Japanese consumed about 278 calories more per day in 2001 than in 1961, but consumed about 100 calories more on average per day in 1988 than in 2001. The diet changes can be attributed to the growing wealth of the country—meat and fruits are very expensive in Japan, and as the average person earned more, they could afford to consume more. They also gained trading partners allowing foods that were unavailable before to enter the market. Today fast food restaurants are as common in Japan as in America, and import stores can be found in major train stations and shopping centers.Today’s Japanese diet consists of rice, noodles, vegetables, chicken, beef, pork, seafood, bread, and sweets. In the year 2001, the average Japanese citizen consumed an estimated 2746 calories per day. Of this, 27% was from oils/fats/sugars, 19% was from meat/eggs/fish/milk and 39% was from cereals. This equilibrium has undoubtedly changed as American fast food businesses find a growing consumer market in Japan, as they are often popular with the youth. In 2001 about 23.4% of Japanese adults had a BMI of 25 or greater. This means that just over three-fourths of the country fell into the international standard for “normal weight”. An estimated 3.1% of Japanese people had a BMI equal to or greater than 30 in 2001. When the World Health Organization (WHO) reports obesity rates in countries, they use the percent of the population with a BMI equal to or greater than 30, thus Japan is reported to have an obesity rate of 3.1%. However, Japan uses a revised BMI scale that is backed by the WHO, and considers 23.4% of its population to be obese.American Views on DietingThe United States has also seen dramatic changes since the conclusion of World War II. America had been struggling to recover from the Great Depression, and World War II lit the fires in the war machine. The United States came out of the war thriving economically. America’s economic growth anchored it as the biggest economy in the world, though there was fear that Japan would over take it in the 1980s. With the Women’s Rights movement in the 1970s, more mothers continued to work after childbirth. The social structure within America changed greatly—increased amounts of two income families and single mothers changed the way meals were presented in the home, allowing the fast food and instant food industries to take hold. The economic success of the United States can be seen in the changes to the American diet. Americans in 1961 ate nearly 900 calories less than Americans in 2001. Unlike the Japanese, who mostly shifted where their calories came from, Americans ate more of everything. The biggest changes over the years came from increased consumption of cereals, sugars and fruits. Americans consumed 429 more calories from sugars, fat and oil in 2001 than in 1961.The American diet consists largely of beef, various poultry, pork, seafood, bread, rice, noodles, vegetables and sweets. ?In 2001, the average American consumed an estimated 3766 calories per day. Of this, 39% was from oils/fats/sugars, 24% was from meat/eggs/fish/milk and 23% was from cereals. Americans consumed about 600 calories more in 2001 than in 1980. If this trend is stretched to the present day, it is likely that Americans in 2013 consume around 3900 calories a day. The distribution of BMI is almost the opposite of Japan's. Approximately 66.9% of Americans in 2006 had a BMI equal to or greater than 25. Of that, approximately half had a BMI equal to or greater than 30. This means that about one third of the country falls into the category of "Obese". On the other end of the spectrum, approximately 2.4% of the population was underweight in 2002.The Culture of Dieting「瘦せたい。」 Yasetai. “I want to lose weight,” is one of the most common phrases I hear. Be it the girls around me in America, the girls around me when I was in Japan, or even from my own lips, I hear that phrase more often than I should in an ideal world. Overall, the percent of people with a BMI over 25 in America is dramatically higher than Japan—23.4% of people in Japan in 2001 compared to 66.9% in America in 2006. This can be attributed to a number of differences between the two countries. First, the average Japanese person consumes about a thousand less calories than the average American. The portion of our diets that come from cereals and oils/sugars/fats are opposite, with 39% of American’s calories coming from oils/sugars/fats and 39% of Japan’s calories coming from cereals. Figure 1 Source: “Global Database”, World Health Organization.The Japanese lifestyle is also considerably more active than the American. Japan is a country where most people walk, ride a bike, take a bus, or ride a train to their destination. Train stations often do not have escalators or ramps, forcing commuters to at times climb or descend as many as three flights of stairs just to exit a station or reach their platform. In the city, stores are often nestled in out of the way places, up several flights of stairs and without elevators. Homes are still often in a more Japanese style, and require individuals to sit and sleep on the floor rather than raised chairs and beds found in Western style homes. Japan is not a good country to visit if one is walking-impaired, but Japan’s lack of accommodations and environment that encourages physical activity likely decreases the number of impaired individuals that suffer because of diseases related to obesity and physical inactivity. Both sets of my host parents are in much better physical condition than my parents despite being around the same age. It is common to see middle aged and elderly riding bicycles around the streets.This is a sharp contrast to the majority of America, where it is difficult to go anywhere outside the city without the aide of a car, which drastically reduces the number of calories Americans burn in a day. 55% of Americans wish to walk more; however, the majority of Americans have reported that the set up of their neighborhoods actually discourage biking and walking. Outside of a city setting, American neighborhoods are often large housing districts that are far from stores of any kind. When stores are close, there are usually few to no sidewalks and sporadically placed major roads that prevent safe travel. Because most neighborhoods are not designed for pedestrian traffic, bike lanes are rare and cross walks at major intersections are even rarer. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that only about a fifth of Americans get even 30 minutes of exercise a day. Only 5% of college-aged women in Japan in 2012 claimed to have never dieted in their life. Japanese girls and American girls are exposed to the idea that they must diet to lose weight until they reach an idealized weight or to maintain a desired weight from a young age. While the majority of media figures who diet are women, men are now being increasingly targeted as well. In America, it is difficult to turn on the TV and not see commercials for proportioned meal plans such as Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem For Men. It is about as equally difficult to turn on the TV in Japan and not see a segment on the news or a variety show about how using a thigh roller will make your thighs thinner, and stretching like a cat for a month will make you lose several centimeters off your waistline. Both markets are saturated with tips that actually have no real impact or do not fix the problem in the long run.The major problem is that few people are aware of what a healthy weight is, what it looks like, and how such a weight is obtained and maintained. People have taken hold of the second definition of diet and hold it as an escape. “I want to look like Goo Hara of the popular Korean girl band KARA; I will diet until I have a 20 inch waist like her,” a woman might say in either Japan or America. This statement exemplifies everything that is the diet culture in both countries. “I will diet until I’m a healthy weight.” “I will diet so my blood pressure goes down.” “I will diet so I can fit into my 3 sizes too small designer wedding dress.” We, as humans, give ourselves a goal to reach, but the moment we attain this goal, we are no longer on a diet. Once the diet ends, we return to sitting on the couch and watching the four-hour marathons of NCIS on the USA Network instead of running on the treadmill and doing armcurls at the gym. We celebrate by eating our favorite foods: all the sweets and carbs that we’d been denied. Within a few weeks to months, suddenly we have regained the weight we had lost, our blood pressure is back up, and the wedding dress no longer fits. This is not the lifestyle of a person who looses weight and keeps it off.Figure 2: Goo Hara from the Korean girl idol group KARA during promotions in Japan. Her BMI at the time was about 14.9 and she had a 20-inch waist. Photograph, 2011, 1992 National Institutes of Health Conference on Voluntary Methods for Weight Loss concluded that nearly 30% of weight lost during a diet is regained within a year of ending the diet. Though doctors have officially stated this, any veteran dieter in America can attest to this without needing a doctor’s confirmation. While the diet industry in Japan is set up slightly differently from America’s, Japan is close on America’s heels. Puterbaugh claims that America’s diet system is the only one in the world that is based on unnecessary, optional exercise and diets focused solely on the nutritional value of foods, but Japan’s health conscious society is quickly gravitating towards the American Model. Calories are a major concern to most Japanese, and in the words of my host mother, “Most Japanese prefer low calorie, filling food”.My questionnaire revealed that in Japan, the average college-aged woman does not skip meals, but cuts out snacking between meals and limits portions of rice when they are on a diet. About 59% of college-aged women in Japan in 2012 reported that they walked or jogged as a way to help lose weight through exercise. In addition to walking or jogging, many women participated in sports or dance as a way of staying fit, with some women participating in multiple forms of physical activity. However, with an average height between 157 and 158 centimeters (5’2”) and an ideal average weight of 44.8 kilograms (98.8 pounds), the average young woman in Japan would find it difficult to achieve this thin ideal without adding miscellaneous other activities and tricks to their diet. These tricks and activities are often forgotten about when one thinks about dieting. Drink diet soda instead of regular; buy the fat-free, sugar-free salad dressing; use a thigh roller each night before bed. However, these tricks aren’t solely limited to Japanese dieters, as similar tricks are often advocated in American “health articles”.Japanese Response to Weight IssuesIn Japan, and Asia in general, the ideal weight for a woman hovers around 45 kilograms for a woman of average height or taller—less for a woman shorter than average. In my survey, the most reported ideal weight was 45 kilograms; female Korean idols active in Japan weigh less than 50 kilograms (110.2 pounds), and are often 45 kilograms or less; the 20 most popular members of Japan’s most popular female music idol group, AKB48, have an average waist measurement of 56.9 centimeters (22 and 2/5 inches). The media standard is set at such small numbers that young women that weigh 50 kilograms or above feel an intense pressure to meet these beauty ideals for both self-fulfillment and cultural-fulfillment. As a culture that is highly collective, there are strong forces that push and pull Japanese women to fit into roles and ideals that she may not necessarily chose if the decision was completely left up to her. As a result, Japan has seen a slow rise in eating disorders over the last several decades. In 1988 an estimated 2.9% of college women met the criteria for Bulimia. In 1996, an estimated 6.3 to 9.7 people per 100,000 suffered from Anorexia Nervosa in Japan. The fact that eating disorders are present in Japan at all should signal to the West that big changes are occurring in the country, as Eating Disorders are considered a primarily Western problem.There has actually been an interesting phenomenon occurring in Japan in the last 30 years in regards to BMI: the population with a BMI of 25 or greater steadily increased between 1976 and 1995, but the average BMI of women between the ages of 20 and 39 fell. According to Shimazu’s study of BMI in Japan over a twenty-year period, the average woman between 20 and 29 in 1976 had a BMI of 21.02, while the average women in the same age group in the early 1990s had a BMI of 20.43. In the same age group, an average man went from 21.49 in 1976 to 22.17 in the early 1990s. The change in BMI is approximately the same in both age groups, but in opposite directions. In 1976, 9.14% of men and 7.8% of women between the ages of 20 and 29 had a BMI over 25. By the early 1990s 17.02% of men and 6.16% of women between the ages of 20 and 29 had a BMI over 25. In 2001, 10% of women between the ages of 20 and 29, and 16% of women between the ages of 30 and 39 had a BMI below 18.5. These low rates of obesity are only present in the youth, however. After the age of 40, the percent of the population with a BMI equal to or greater than 25 spikes to over 20% in each age group. This brought the percent of the Japanese population with a BMI of 25 or larger to 23.4% in 2001.1995 actually saw a lower number of obese young Japanese women than 1976, despite the overall obesity rate in the country rising during the same period. While obesity in Japan continues to climb, young women still have an over whelming desire to be thin—to be underweight. The average height of a woman in Japan is between 157 and 158 centimeters (approximately 5’2”) and the average college-aged woman’s average personal ideal weight was 44.8 kilograms (approximately 98.8 pounds). This means that the average college-aged woman desires a BMI of 18.14. When asked what celebrities have their ideal body type, college-aged women responded with actresses or models or idols that were very thin, with small waists, and thin arms and legs.Figures 3 & 4: Model/Actress Kiritane Mirei in a swimsuit and modeling for a summer issue of the magazine Non-No in 2012. 4 of 39 surveyed women listed her figure as their ideal. Figure 3 Source: ; Figure 4 Source: . 28.2% of college-aged Japanese women considered themselves to always be on a diet. 12.8% said they have dieted more than 11 times, and 41% said they dieted between one and three times. Only 2 of 39 surveyed said that they had never dieted. These numbers are startling, but similar trends have been confirmed in other studies: in 2001/2002, at least half of college aged females with a BMI between 18.5 and 23 in Japan dieted for extended periods of time.While many women in my survey idolized the bodies of media figures, the media is not the only place where the pressure to be thin exists. In any culture, clothing dictates the physical norm: shirts are designed to fit the “average” or idealized average physical proportions, and are available in a range of sizes that is considered normal to that population. Japan is a country of highly varied fashion styles meant to fit a limited range of sizes. I experienced this first hand while clothes shopping in Japan. One-size-fits-all dresses, shirts, skirts, and pants are not uncommon in more fashionable clothing chains, though many retailers offer up to three sizes. These clothes can range anywhere from a maximum waist of 72 centimeters (28 inches) with a maximum bust and hip of 87 centimeters (34 inches), to a maximum bust and waist of over 130 centimeters (51 inches). The key to note, however, is that the tags inside larger clothing will sometimes list the intended size of the customer rather than the clothing’s actual dimensions. This will often lead to shirts that claim to fit a maximum bust of 87 centimeters but can fit a bust up to 120 centimeters (47 inches). These large sizes are almost exclusively available for dresses and shirts. It is difficult to find pants that will fit a person with a waist above 77 centimeters (30 inches).These clothing sizes present a box for Japanese women to fit into. While it is possible for women of larger sizes to find clothing, the sizes found in stores often reflect the measurements of healthy individuals, and the Japanese government even encourages that Japanese citizens above the age of 40 stay as close to these measurements as possible as they age. In 2008, the Japanese government passed a law aimed at fighting obesity by requiring all men with a waist circumference larger than 85 centimeters (33.5 inches) and women with a waist circumference larger than 90 centimeters (35.4 inches) to attend weight loss education classes. This law is supposed to be enforced through yearly check-ups, and insurance companies are expected to face heavy fines if their client’s weights are not decreased overtime. The remedial classes are aimed at teaching those who have excessively large waistlines to eat and exercise properly in order to decrease their weight and risk for metabolic disease. Whether this approach will work is still being questioned, but this policy shows how seriously the Japanese government is taking the situation.Despite the competitive snack market and growing fast food industries, Japan tends to have more healthy foods than America. The typical Japanese housewife goes grocery shopping daily, and buys food in portions that will last only one to two days. Fresh foods are overwhelmingly preferred. Food is rarely kept around the house long after it is bought or opened. Ingredient lists tend to be shorter, and foods tend to have fewer preservatives. Condiments aside, most packaged foods come in single servings or fewer than 3 servings.Portion sizing in Japan is generally much smaller than in the West. When one goes to StarBucks in Japan, there is an extra size to choose from: short. When one goes to McDonald’s—or any other fast food burger place—and orders a S sized meal (a regular size in American terms), one receives French fries and drink portions that we expect in a child’s meal in America. Noodle stores will sell hefty portions, but are rarely gut popping without side dishes. The majority of restaurants will serve portions that are similar, if only slightly larger, than portions served in the home. Meals are often made up of several small dishes, which usually leads families to order several dishes to share when they eat at restaurants.However, Japan’s food scene is changing. More and more restaurants are taking advantage of a genius marketing ploy: digital menu pads that allow the customer to order food at any point during the meal. These menu pads can be found in karaoke boxes, izakayas, merry-go-round sushi houses, barbeque restaurants and more. If the environment encourages customers to stick around, chances are that the table will have a digital menu. These menus, for the simple fact that they do not leave the table and do not require interacting with a waiter, encourage customers to order more through the meal. This results in impulse purchases and people eating more than they initially desired.All-you-can-eat buffets are also quite common in Japan—as common as in America. Referred to as Viking, these restaurants often play off a theme that attracts customers, such as Ninja House and Sweets Paradise in Kyoto. While the rules at these restaurants are different from American buffets, Japanese buffets still allow for plenty of gorging.However, the changing restaurant scene does not change Japan’s focus on being healthy and idolizing thin media figures. Women’s fashion magazines will often take part in instructing women how to shave off excess fat, and depending on the target audience, will also teach women how to cook healthy and delicious meals. Magazines aimed at Japanese sub-cultures are also notorious for extremely thin models, extreme photoshoping, plastic surgery ads, and diet pill commercials. Among the most offending magazines are those aimed at the Gyaru subculture, specifically the hostess aimed Koakuma AGEHA magazine. A typical issue of AGEHA will contain around ten pages dedicated to plastic surgery, diet pills and supplements. AGEHA’s diet pill advertisements are often eye catching because they feature before and after pictures of women along side how much weight they reportedly lost and how much their body measurements changed. The models’ starting weights are usually between 50 and 60 kilograms (110 and 132 pounds), but usually advertise a final weight of 40 kilograms (88 pounds) or below. While diet pills seem like they are limited to only subcultures, 40% of college-aged women had reported using diet pills and drinks, according to one study in 2001. This shows that their influence in the dieting industry is much greater than one may first realize.Figure 5: Diet Ad. “Cla-Alpha.” Advertisement. Koakuma AGEHA, November 10, 2012, 116.This cultural emphasis on thinness, combined with a cultural emphasis on health, is the most likely origin of today’s young women dieting as much as they do. Yet the weight goals of most young women are increasingly unhealthy, and many of them seem to not care or not realize this. At the same time, Japan continues to see increased waistlines in men of all ages and women over the age of 40. Despite the efforts, despite all the emphasis on avoiding metabolic disorders and maintaining healthy weights, Japan’s population is going in two completely different unhealthy directions with its weight.American Responses to Weight IssuesThe range of weights in America is about as vast as the origins of its people. Because there are such dramatic differences between demographics throughout the country, it would be hard to come up with just one number that could represent the ideal weight of American women. A specific number is difficult to pin down for an American ideal weight. However, most college-age women I know seem to want to have weights between 100 and 140 pounds, and usually want to be smaller than they currently are.Clothing in America comes in a wide range of sizes to match the large amount of diversity within the country; just about anyone with a waist circumference above 26 inches can find clothing that fits. Women’s sizing is complex—juniors sizing is labeled in odd numbers (00, 0, 1, 3, 5) and women’s sizing is measured in even numbers (00, 0, 2, 4, 6) and roughly correspond with each other. Sizing in these sections can also be labeled as Extra Small (XS), Small (S), Medium (M), Large (L), and Extra Large (XL). Women’s plus size is measured with a number and an X (1X, 2X, 3X) or with an even number larger than 14 along side the letter W (18W, 20W, 22W). Vanity sizing in the West has separated these arbitrary labels from any real measurement that they once may have represented. Clothing manufactures have been slowly increasing the pattern size of clothing over the decades to play to vanity sizing. When my grandmother was 20 years old in 1949, she weighed about 120 pounds and wore a size 12. In 2012 at 20 years old, I weighed over 150 pounds and wore a size 10. This drastic change in clothing sizes has taken part in fueling the debates surrounding obesity and eating disorders.In an issue of PLUS Model Magazine, a plus sized model posed with a normal sized model. The plus sized model was a size 12 and the normal sized model was a size 0. Amongst the spread were facts: models used to be only 8% smaller than the average woman, but are 23% smaller today; the median size of American women is a size 14 but the average store caters to those sized 14 or smaller; plus sized models are usually between a size 6 and 12. However, when one takes a look at the way sizing has changed over time, half of these arguments fall flat. Twenty years ago, the average woman weighed less, and much of America’s obesity problem arose in the last thirty years. The obesity rate (% population with a BMI equal to or greater than 30) rose from 14.7% in 1980 to 33.9% in 2006. Vanity sizing has probably helped to contribute to the problem in the United States.Figure 6: Two pages from PLUS Model Magazine, depicting a size 0 model next to a size 12 model; Photography, January 2012, As sizes slowly grew larger, Americans subconsciously began to accept larger and larger sizes as normal and healthy. However, American’s eventually found themselves with a large population of people that still did not fit into the constraints of sizes S through L; Plus sizes were created in an effort to fit the exceedingly large (for XL and 1X are often the very similar in size, and technically mean the same thing), and sizes 0 and 00 were created to fit those who were exceedingly small. Those who fall into the outer sizes often receive criticism. “Eat a burger” is one of America’s favorite lines to say to a person who wears a size 00, while “Go on a diet” is one of the favorites to say to a person who wears a size 4X. Yet through the years, what falls into the range of “normal” has slowly grown in size. This has resulted in criticism flying everywhere. Realizing that a size 12 today is not the same as a size 12 half a century ago, complaining that the average clothing retailer does not cater to the average woman only helps facilitate the American population to accept weights that put women at a higher risk for various health problems. But in opposition to this, the media and cultural beauty ideals are heavily invested in portraying beauty as underweight, thus culturally shoehorning American women into feeling a constant pressure to diet and be thin in order to feel good about themselves. Women in America are thus forced into a situation that set us up for a yo-yo diet lifestyle.This sets Americans up for a variety of eating disorders. An estimated 0.5% of Americans suffered from Anorexia Nervosa in 2006, while an estimated 2 to 3% of Americans suffered from Bulimia Nervosa. Some estimates of Eating Disorder rates estimate that numbers are even larger, potentially as high as 5% of the population. Solid statistics for eating disorders are difficult to find because nearly every study comes up with a different rate. However, the occurrence of eating disorders in America is due in part from the pressures placed on women to fit into certain societal roles, and the pressure to be thin only contributes to the problem. The rate of eating disorders has led activists such as those at PLUS Model Magazine to fight back against the skinny advertising norms.Weight is a beloved topic in American culture. For each activist talking about the fashion industry’s preference for small sizes fueling eating disorders, there is a politician equally set on making the population fit into those small clothes through legislation. In recent years, the most prominent political figure in the fight against obesity is Michelle Obama (1964-present). Since becoming the First Lady in 2008, Michelle Obama has been pushing for reforms in school food policies. Two of her major initiatives are to make nutritional information on food packaging easier to read and to get Athletes to help endorse healthy lifestyles to school-aged children. She has also pushed for laws that will increase nutritional information taught in school and regulate food sold in schools through government standards. She has called for junk food manufacturers to clean up their recipes and make their snacks healthier, as well as pushed for schools and childcare facilities to serve healthier foods. Michelle Obama has taken the issue of obesity and the way we raise our children in an unhealthy manner and forced America to consider alternatives.Michelle Obama’s actions are filled with good intentions, but the enacted policies have created other problems, as well as ignored other issues with youth diets. Many parents have gotten in arguments with their children’s school as a result of the new food regulations. These regulations often ignore individual preferences in children, as well as call into question a parent’s ability to properly feed his or her child. This has opened a debate as to whether parents or the government know the proper way to provide nutrition to children. Many doctors, dietitians and other health experts expressly disagree with the government’s food pyramid, and a plethora of alternate pyramids have been created to reflect this. Parents who disagree with the government’s pyramid are forced to abide by it as long as their child is in school. The government’s food pyramid is also highly susceptible to lobbying. Despite all the studies on the chemical breakdown of food in the body, the food pyramid advocates more grains and fewer vegetables than many dietitians would consider optimal for weight loss. Farming industries and food manufacturers actively lobby to protect their place in America’s food industry.Schools also often provide the students with meal and drink options that many dietitians and doctors would flinch at. While many schools ban the sale of soda on campus, vending machines often contain juices and sports drinks instead—both of which are just as sugar laden as soda. While school menus have been cleaned up through Michelle Obama’s initiatives, the options are still not always the healthiest—especially school breakfast programs, where carbohydrate and sugar heavy breakfasts are often the most popular or only choices.Schools are not the only places that are seeing political action about dieting; New York has been in the news because of a short-lived ban on the sale of sodas in quantities larger than 16 ounces. Taxing sodas is also a popular alternative that many politicians have debated over the years. Taxing is one of the most popular monetary policies that a government can use in order to control the consumption of a good. This is a serious consideration for governments because the tax revenue can be used for other programs aimed at decreasing obesity rate.RecommendationsDieting culture has led to a spiral of weight loss and weight gain. Sometimes diets are started with the intent of making a lifestyle change that never comes to fruition, other times it is because we lack foresight and knowledge about how weight is actually gained and lost. Both can be fixed through better health education, though not necessarily through nutritional education. For all the controversy around what Michelle Obama is pushing in the political realm, she is on to something. The world needs more education about weight issues, but what needs to be taught needs to go far beyond just teaching children the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods. Both Japan and America need programs that are aimed at teaching children and teenagers the biology of weight gain and weight loss, as well as the poor health conditions that can result from being extremely over and underweight. We should not have to wait until college to learn about the detailed biology of the human body.Education about weight issues should start from a young age. Students should learn what a healthy weight looks like for a variety of different levels of physical fitness. The chemical breakdown of food, the processing of food in the body, and the meaning behind the various measures of health should all be explained from a fairly young age. School Physical Education PE classes, in all levels of schooling, should also be revamped to help students find exercise activities that they find enjoyable and want to carry on for life. Students, especially in America, should be encouraged to participate in extracurricular sports, exercise classes and exercise-based clubs.Japan specifically needs to look at what is happening to its young women. The social and cultural position of women has drastically changed over the last several decades. This has no doubt affected how young women perceive themselves and how they should look, resulting in dieting and eating behaviors that could potentially hurt the population as a whole. Underweight women have a high risk of becoming infertile due to not having enough fat to support pregnancy. As a country that is facing a shrinking population and wants to increase its fertility rate, Japan’s government should look into putting more emphasis on women that are in a more healthy weight range.America specifically needs to work on infrastructure in non-urban areas. Pedestrian traffic should be accommodated through increased sidewalks and crosswalks, better suburban planning, and increased public transit. This is incredibly expensive to change, but the benefits to the health of our population would be great. America has moved away from walking and biking, but at least making the incentive to do those two things more often will help decrease America’s obesity rate.America should also consider passing taxes on foods that are linked to obesity issues rather than pursuing bans. Taxes will meet less resistance than bans, and will make the incentive to buy cheaper junks foods over more expensive health foods smaller.Both countries need to shift away from dieting as a solution to the problem altogether. Emphasis should be placed on living a healthy lifestyle rather than placing temporary limits on food. Both Americans and Japanese need to shy away from diets and focus on their diet and how it can be improved permanently to make a difference. Japan has attempted this with its programs aimed at those over the age of forty, but it is difficult to force people to lose weight that way. The best thing that each country can do in this regard is to educate their population on the basics and allow people to make the decision on their own. Educated parents can educate children. Dieting culture has played into the idea that weight gain can easily be reversed and that it is an individuals sole responsibility to lose weight. As humans, we need to move away from putting individuals to blame for their weight, and work towards changing our life styles as a society. Appendix A: Diet Survey in JapanIntroduction and MethodsIn the fall of 2012, while I was in Japan, I conducted a survey of college-aged women in Japan on their dieting habits. The original ideas for each question were first written in English. I then refined and constructed each question in Japanese with the aide of Japanese language professors and teaching assistants. While I tried to provide a variety of options for each question, I decided to include a blank spot to allow participants to add additional information. To collect the data, I asked college-aged women if they were willing to fill out the survey. The only restrictions on the survey were that participants must be female, and must be between 18 and 23. In total, there were 39 participants. Included in the survey, the number of respondents that chose each option will be listed.Survey and Results１）理想の体重は何キロですか？ What is your real height and ideal body weight?ID#Height (m)Weight (kg)AVGHeight (meters)1.573243243Ideal Weight (kilograms)44.84615385Ideal BMI18.1412092211.5752.5MEDIAN1.574518.0661673421.6850MODE1.584518.0259573831.625041.65051.65061.5355071.754981.634891.648101.5748111.646121.5846131.6345141.6145151.5845161.5845171.5845181.5745191.5645201.5545211.5843221.5143231.5743241.5340251.5340261.5340271.5339281.4530291.5645301.54546311.48433242.5331.58433443351.538361.6150371.5239381.5344391.6650２）ダイエットしたことがありますか？何回ですか？ Have you ever dieted? How many times?（３７）はい　Yes（１６）１?３回　1-3 times（３）４?６回 4-6 times（１）７?１０回 7-10 times（５）１１回以上 more than 11 times（１１）いつもダイエットしています。I’m always dieting（２）いいえ No３）いつダイエットしますか？（季節と大事なイベント）?複数回答可?When do you diet? (Season, and big events) [Chose all that apply]（３１）夏summer　　（９）春spring　（９）冬winter　（３）秋fall（２）デート前に Before a date　　（４）旅行前に Before a vacation trip　（１）休み前に　Before a break/vacation　（８）休み中　During a break/vacation（３）結婚式前に Before a wedding　（３）卒業式前に Before graduation　　（３）留学から帰ってから　After studying abroad（６）その他 Other＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿４）ダイエットするとき、どんなことしますか？?複数回答可?When you diet, what kinds of things do you do? [Chose all that apply]（１８）{ }を食べません　I don’t eat { }（２９）{朝ごはん?昼ごはん?晩ごはん?間食}をたべません　I don’t eat {Breakfast/Lunch Dinner/In between meals}（１）ダイエットサプリを飲みます　I take diet supplements (diet pills)（１６）その他 Other＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿５）痩せるために運動しますか？どんなことをしますか？　Do you exercise for the purpose of losing weight? What kinds of things do you do?（３４）はい　Yes（１１）スポーツ Sports（７）ダンス Dance（２３）ジョギング?ウォーキング Jogging/Walking（０）ウェートリフティング Weightlifting（８）その他 Other＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿（５）いいえ No６）有名人で誰が理想の体型ですか？　Within Famous People/Celebrities, who has the ideal body?Appendix B: Korean Idol Weights and BMIsIntroduction and MethodsKorean Music companies often publish the height and weight of each member in an idol group when the group debuts. This information can often be found on a group’s official website, or will be published in some magazines when a group does a photo spread. This information is some taken down, but fans tend to keep meticulous records and will often have these measurements in their archives. The data I collected is from one such fan archive. The weights are subject to change, but are rarely updated, or are real. Height and weight is often fudged to represent an ideal weight and height. Thus, even if the data is not correct for each girl at any moment, it presents a cultural ideal. I have taken the weights and heights of each girl from the following Korean girl groups that are promoting in Japan and calculated their BMI.Source:'s GenerationHeight (m)Weight (kg)BMITaeYeon1.624416.76573693Jessica1.634316.18427491Sunny1.584317.22480372Tiffany1.625019.05197378HyoYeon1.624818.28989483Yuri1.674516.13539388SooYoung1.74515.57093426Yoona1.664717.05617651SeoHyun1.684817.00680272RainbowHeight (m)Weight (kg)BMIJaekyung1.684515.94387755NoEul1.644416.35930993SeungAh1.674516.13539388YoonHye1.664717.05617651Jisook1.644115.24390244WooRi1.654416.16161616HyunYoung1.64116.015625KaraHeight (m)Weight (kg)BMIJiYoung1.684817.00680272Nicole1.674516.13539388Hara1.644014.87209994SeungYoon1.64316.796875Gyuri1.6-4minuteHeight (m)Weight (kg)BMIJihyun1.685017.7154195Gayoon1.654917.99816345Jiyoon1.654817.63085399Hyuna1.624818.28989483Sohyun1.594919.38214469Appendix C: Three Measurements from Mega Girl Idol Groups in JapanIntroduction and MethodsJapanese music companies will often publish a set of measurements often referred to as the “three measurements” for idols at or after debut. The three measurements refer to bust circumference, waist circumference, and hip circumference. Height is also included with these measurements, but weight is not. Japanese music companies rarely make an idol’s weight public. Like Korean idol information, the data is published on official sites but often removed at a later date. Fan run websites keep archives of this info. Below I have listed the three measurements of the 20 most popular members of AKB48, and 20 members of the group SKE48. Source: topHeight (cm)Bust (cm)Waist (cm)Hip (cm)WHR1Yuko Oshi1527755780.7051282052Wata Mayu154725582.50.6666666673Kashi Yuki1637654810.6666666674Sashi Rino159735381.50.6503067485Shino Maki1688757850.6705882356Taka Mina148.57353780.6794871797Kaji Haru1648060860.6976744198Ita tomo1547555780.7051282059Matsu Juri1607459830.71084337310Matsu Rena1627552850.61176470611Miya Sae1648059840.70238095212Kasa Tomo1538059820.71951219513Kita rie1577857830.68674698814Mine Mana1588060860.69767441915Yoko Yui1587460860.69767441916Ume Aya151.57859820.71951219517Taka Aki16482.556880.63636363618Yama Saya155---19Wata Miyu154.5---20Aki Saya1668661850.717647059Mean158.27577.8055555656.88888889830.685653682Median15877.557830.697674419Min148.57252780.611764706Max1688761880.719512195SKE48Height (cm)Bust (cm)Waist (cm)Hip (cm)WHR1Oya Masa1587459810.7283950622Kato Rumi1527359810.7283950623Kita Yuri1547661840.7261904764Kito Momo1598061900.6777777785Kino Yuki1607558830.6987951816Suga Nana160816185.50.7134502927Suda Aka1607757750.768Degu Aki1627957860.6627906989Nishi Yuu1617559840.70238095210Matsu Juri1607459830.7108433731Aka Riri1667860860.6976744192Igu Shio1748160880.6818181823Ishi Anna1537256810.6913580254Kato Tomo1587860800.755Goto Risa1577359800.73756Sato Seira1588859870.678160927Sato Mieko1487957800.71258Taka Aka154.27559820.7195121959Hata Sawa1538057810.70370370410Furu Airi1558061860.709302326Mean158.1177.458.9583.1750.709527432Median15877.559830.71007285Min1487256750.662790698Max1748861900.76Bibliography?Cargill, Thomas F., and Takayuki Sakamoto. 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