Japan is a very clean, strict and organized country. I felt very safe in the surroundings. I found it difficult to find a restaurant that didn’t pre- cook their meals in sodium. The westernized hotels such as the Prince Hotel seemed to serve a variety of foods to pick and choose from. The only place I was able to really find a place that made brown rice, steamed veggies with baked fish or chicken breast, was Tokyo’s Gold’s Gym….pretty remarkable for one of the worlds most sophisticated cities. And then to think the Japanese were healthy. Well, they once were but with the deep fried foods, Westernized sodium junk food, fast foods and snacks, MSG spiked chips, noodle soup, cigarettes and canned foods they too lose their battle with good health.
It is no wonder a massive amount of Japanese suffer from high blood pressure due to their high sodium intake, but the raw fish, seaweed and miso intake leads Japan to boost one of the lowest rates of coronary heart disease. They makeup for this by destroying their teeth with smoking, coffee drinking and sugar dishes.
Conclusion: It is a beautiful city but be prepared to pay twice or three times as much for healthy foods. Healthy foods can be found even brown rice with some searching.
Upper and Middle class Japanese are on the one hand still holding on to some self indulging, traditional lifestyles while also reaching out to modern junk food that jeopardizes the little health found in noodles, overcooked vegetables and fried, hormone infested, antibiotic soaked chicken.
