What the U.S. Could Learn From Japan About Making Healthy Living Easier

I was born and raised in the American Midwest, but love visiting my parents’ homeland in Japan. Central to every trip there is always the food: Oh my goodness, the food.

Eating is a raging national obsession here, with good reason. Staggering varieties of food are available everywhere; it’s all delicious and — most impressively, to me — always fresh.

Soba noodles come made to order, with flash-fried seasonal tempura vegetables. Mouthwatering sushi and curry rice lunches are sold on train platforms. You can wander past cases of specialty foods, from marbled meats to miso-pickled vegetables to handmade gyoza dumplings, in the depa chicka, or department store basements.