How to eat the way Japanese people do, and why

Eat less, except for veggies, and cook more. Also, 7 other things worth your time.

I’ve never traveled to Japan. But with the Summer Olympics going on right now in Tokyo, it’s a good time to take a look at a study suggesting that Japanese children are associated with two enviable statistics compared to children in other countries, and why that might be.

The key numbers, according to the British medical journal The Lancet, are 73 and 84:

On average, a typical Japanese child can expect to grow to age 73 with no major life illnesses or disabilities, and has a total average life expectancy of 84.

Compare that to the United States, where the expected ages for all children born today are much lower: around 65 and 76, respectively.

So, what accounts for the eight-year difference? One theory is that it has to do with cultural norms that have evolved in Japan around diet and exercise in children.

This brings us to Naomi Moriyama, a writer who grew up in Japan but now lives in New York. Together with her husband William Doyle, she wrote a bestselling book called Japanese Women D…