Anon wants to know why the Japanese live so long

The real secret is that they have amazing mass transit infrastructure which makes for extremely walkable cities. Only about 10% of Japanese people own a car and so they probably get way more exercise just from living day to day than the average American gets in a week.

Plus Japanese 7-11 is considered decent food. Compare to 7-11 here where any food is a combination of salt, more salt, and sugar, with maybe some protein or carbs. I imagine this quality difference expands to other establishments as well.
- 7-11 is apparently a great place to get sushi in Japan.
I think it's the other way around. Mass transit greatly benefits from walkable cities because that means distances are shorter which in turn makes the whole system cheaper to build and operate.
- Walkable cities are created by not emphasizing car infrastructure which necessitates good mass transit because people still need to get around which creates a more walkable city, etc. It's kind of a chicken and egg situation, they're both the cause and effect of each other in an endless cycle.
I’ve alternated living in the US and in Germany, for a couple of years in each place. My no exercise, not eating especially well weight is about 40 lbs heavier in the US. I was fine in the US with significant exercise commitments, but when I was schlubbing around, I was about 180 lbs at 5’10”, whereas I’m now about 140, even though I’m a decade older.
I had a health checkup after several years in the US, at a time when I was a vegetarian with no sweet tooth, who didn’t drink or smoke and did 14 hours of hard cardio (step dancing) a week. My ldl cholesterol was 180.
After a couple years in Germany, I’m now a five year older vegan who eats a worrying amount of gummy bears, drinks occasionally, smokes 4-5 spliffs without a real filter daily (I know, I’m trying to stop), and doesn’t add any exercise to my life. My ldl is 125.
I know that cheese isn’t great for you, but that’s not enough to make that big a difference. The lifestyle I had in the US was endangering me, even though I was trying really, really hard to live “right.” I’m making frankly terrible health decisions here and I’ve been rewarded by getting to eat whatever I want without gaining weight or negatively affecting my cholesterol.

Radioactive fish is a dumb argument, the radioactive water is already diluted enough to be harmless after more than a decade in sea.

Dilution is the solution to pollution is a cheasy sentiment, but not completely wrong.

Also, water blocks radiation rather well, and heavy water sinks. It’s no problem there.
- you are confusing radioactive contamination and irradiation.
  It doesn't matter at all for the human consuming the fish if the fish is irradiated or not. The fish might die early and get cancer, but that doesn't affect the human eating it, does it?
  The real problem is the fish being contaminated with radioactive substances. This is where the radioactive isotopes in the water are ingested by the fish, and therefore also the human that eats it. Now the human will have an increased risk of cancer, likelihood of radiation sickness, etc if consumed in large enough quantity.
  The radiative material in the water is still diluted enough to not be an issue though
Works in this case, not so much with the Pacific Garbage Patch.
- Yeah, but give it two million years, and it should be fine.

Healthcare. They have great healthcare

Do they? I heard it was a bit shit, but haven't looked into it at all

I've lived in Tokyo for a short stint - I'll trade a shorter life to get away from their atrocious work culture any day.

Different root cause, but not for nothing - I didn't meet a foreigner that'd been there more than 6 months and managed to keep a grip on their sanity.

I lived there for 4 years. I was fine, loved it. Totally agree about the worl culture tho.

Sugar, especially in the form of fructose, is relatively low in the Japanese diet. Meanwhile you will struggle to find food that doesn't have high-fructose corn syrup and other cancer/obesity agents in North American food. People in NA didn't use to get so fat, and it wasn't just because they moved more.

There was a user on Lemmy the other day talking about the fact that in the US, corn subsidies have resulted in corn products being so prevalent in food production and animal feed that most of the molecules that compose most Americans were at one point, corn.
Disclaimer: I have no idea if this is true. Interesting to think about though.

"Everything is deep fried" sounds untrue.

A big factor is that Japanese diet has a lot less sugar in it.

What’s CICO??

Calories In Calories Out. It's a diet strategy where you eat less calories than you use and therefore lose weight.
- I mean it isn’t a “strategy” it’s simply the mechanism by which weight is lost.
  If you use more fuel than you have then the amount of fuel in your tank is less.
- Remember to up your protein and ideally do some resistance training too.
  Otherwise the body will burn muscle mass first, since that's the most efficient way of compensating a calorie deficit.
- is the other diet strategy eating a lot and hoping you lose weight too?
To add to what others have said: Calories In, Calories Out
Calories in calories out
- Ah! Thanks!
A cult.
Calories in calories out. It's a strategy, you know.

Jokes on you, I'm doing CICI

This clearly means smoking is actually good for you. /s