Skinny women
The first thing I notice when I get off the plane when returning to America is how large the people are on average when compared to Japan.
Japanese people are thin. Especially females.
Here is some interesting data collected from the World Health Organization.
This graph has the percentage of underweight females on the Y axis, and the a countries GDP on the X axis. Plotted on the graph are countries from around the world.
You would expect that as the GDP of a country increases, the percentage of underweight women would decrease. Generally this is true, but Japan is an exception.
According to this data, 12.24 percent of Japanese women are under weight, while countries in the same GDP range as Japan, such as Canada, Sweden, the UK, and Australia, are all under 5 percent. On the other end, Pakistan and Bangladesh have low GDP and an extremely high percentage, around 30%, of underweight women.
The definition of “abnormally thin” is when your BMI (Body Mass Index) is less than 18.5%. BMI is a calculation based on body weight and height.
The categories of BMI break down like this.
Starvation: less than 15
Underweight: less than 18.5
Ideal: from 18.5 to 25
Overweight: from 25 to 30
Obese: from 30 to 40
Morbidly Obese: greater than 40
They’re getting skinnier and skinner. The population is decreasing! Japan is gonna disappear!
Interesting analysis. Just one point though: I don’t see that they’re necessarily getting skinnier, as no comparisons over time are presented. Based purely on my gut feelings about this matter, I figure that - while excessive dieting does also have an effect - skinniness in Japan can be attributed largely to genes. I suspect that some of the South Asian countries in the upper-left quadrant of the graph will also be relatively far removed from the red line if their GDPs ever increase significantly in the future, again due to genes. Having said all that, the phenomenon of excessively skinny girls with no muscle tone - achieved through dieting without exercise - is unhealthy, unattractive, and a tad too common in Japan.
December 14th, 2006 at 4:17 amwow that’s interesting. I agree with the above. Pacific Island nations are also an exception to the graph (although not represented) and despite very low GDP are very large people. This is mostly genetic. I wonder if they would get thinner with a higher GDP… doubtful!
December 14th, 2006 at 6:55 amSorry one link was lost.
http://www2.ttcn.ne.jp/honkawa/2200.html
This shows Japanese male, and female BMI broken down by age group over time. You can see the downward trend in average BMI for females here.
I would like to see a similar graph for other countries as well…
The Philippines are on the graph, those the Philippines are not technically included in the Pacific Islands, pretty close right? They fit the trend pretty close. フィリピン. Up there at 15% and 5000 GDP.
December 14th, 2006 at 8:08 amThanks for the additional link. That certainly adds to the original analysis. And to provide a counterpoint to my own hypothesis, I should recognize that Korea appears to come very close to the red line. (Presuming that Korea is the dot that lies above the red line at just past 20,000 PPP dollars - sorry but the names are a little hard to make out on my screen.) And genetically speaking, Koreans are more or less identical to Japanese, insofar as genese might affect BMI among females in general.
December 14th, 2006 at 8:37 amOk, perhaps I should clarify… I was speaking about South Pacific states, (e.g. Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu etc) the ‘ppines is a South East Asian country. its found north even of Indonesia. About as close to the south pacific as it is to Japan. sorry.
December 14th, 2006 at 8:50 amBerocca, I see what you’re saying. Philippines was the closest I could see from the data provided.
I wonder how they selected which countries to include on this chart…
BTW the link to the original data is here.
http://www2.ttcn.ne.jp/honkawa/2205.html
It includes a table at the bottom with precise numbers.
One of my Japanese teachers speculated that the dip in female BMI in the 70’s could have been caused by the popularity of the super model known as “Twiggy” in Japan. It kind of molded the image that all girls should be stick figures.
December 14th, 2006 at 8:58 amI love how you guys are all trying to scientifically break this down, when you’re overlooking the real reason. East Asian women don’t eat. Not until they’re married.
December 14th, 2006 at 9:30 amVERY fascinating post. Well done. Now here’s my two cents…
Japanese women have very different body shapes then Canadians for instance. But they also think differently as well. In fact there are not too many things asides from some personality traits depending on the individual. That’s just the way they are…
But its important to note I think that this all goes back to culture and heritage. The women of Japan worked harder then most during the Kamakura and Edo periods of Japan. They were the first up in the morning, they cooked, the took care of babies, they cleaned the house, they took care of all financial matters, they did everything so much as was involved around the house…
So if they thin and smaller then most its simply a matter of a thousand years of genetics being pummelled into dirt…
You’ll notice the women these days, including during the World War II period are becoming fatter and taller then at any time before it.
But there are SO MANY mitigating circumstances (diet, lifestyle, etc) that its just much easier to say “Yeah hey, listen.. They’re Japanese.. Its genetics man!”
December 14th, 2006 at 11:07 amApologies to Harvey and everyone else about the missing information and links. I edited the story and took out things that I should have left in.
December 14th, 2006 at 11:23 amHey but regarding the genetics argument, you have to notice Korea is also on this chart. While they are over the curve, the gap is no where near as large as it is for Japan.
This is fun.
December 14th, 2006 at 1:29 pmJapan does seem to be out on its own in the chart. I wish I knew more about the subject…
December 14th, 2006 at 10:54 pmChina To Set New Adoption Standards — What A Beautiful World This Will Be
China is the most popular foreign country for U.S. adoptions and it is on the verge of adopting (pun intended) new adoption regulations that will disqualify thousands of would be parents. According to the Wall Street Journal and the Washington
December 21st, 2006 at 5:14 amNot entirely sure about the genetics deal - I have quite a few Japanese friends in Australia, and they all, save one put on a fair bit of weight (as in multiple kilos) within a couple of months of being there.
I suspect it may be more cultural pressure (read: mothers!) and a different lifestyle than genes.
May 4th, 2007 at 2:59 am