Or like how a lot of Japanese people tend to think that all Americans have Cereal and orange juice in the morning. Or how Koreans diet is based solely on kimchi. Or how French people eat croissants and yogurt for breakfast every day. Or how Italian people are always eating spaghetti and pizza.
I feel partially guilty as this kind of information was in the English textbooks being used in the elementary school where I taught. It was cool when one of the teachers was telling me I didn't need to tell the kids that people in America, as well as other countries, don't always eat the same thing for breakfast every day. Which she followed up with "but Americans do eat cereal every morning, right?".
I'm not saying this to put down all Japanese people, especially the ones on here as they are all really beyond this, but there are some things that a lot of them really don't understand about other countries and their food. It's like some of them just can't grasp the concept that their image of other countries and what they really are are different. In my experience at least, telling a Japanese person we don't have Omurice or Hambagu or things like that in America (unless you go to a Japanese restaurant) will turn out to be a great big surprise.
I apologie for constantly talking about language, but I believe it's this style of thinking that causes some Japanese to think that their "english vocabulary", which is essentially Japanese (katakana words) will somehow be understood by English speakers. Karaoke is also a Japanese word-- try saying it to a Japanese person who's never heard it before for some fun. It's something to learn from for sure.
Back on topic
I think that a lot of "western" style foods have taken away from the so-called "healthy" Japanese diet. The "healthy" diet is generally consistant of traditional food. I think what is interesting about the food is that it is very basic in the sense that what you eat is often close to the foods starting point. Like sashimi being raw fish or like rice (which I guess traditionally would have been like genmai) or vegetables. Soba seems to be a very healthy noodle with a lot of vitamins. They also eat a lot of pickled goods and stuff like that. Even when you get to stuff like oden it seems healthy when compaired to most western style foods.
However, Japanese tend to eat a lot of eggs (at least the one's I've known). The opinion on whether or not eggs are healthy (or to what degree) is a constantly changing one so I'll let you judge that one for yourself. They also seem to drink a lot of alcohol-- beer, sake, shochu, etc. There are also a lot of fried things such as tempura or fried chicken/pork etc. Tempura seems to be a healthier variant of the type of fried food we're used to in the west, but hopefully someone can clarify that.
In fact, there was a period in Japans history (or so I have read) in which the upper class people had a shorter life span than common/lower class people. I think this was directly related to the Japanese diet of the time. Upper class people might've been enjoying too much tempura while poorer people were sticking to vegetables and fish and what-not.
As often as people talk about "traditional" Japanese food, I sometimes question that. I wonder if a lot of what is eaten today that is considered "traditional" isn't in actuality quite modern. I can't imagine white rice having been around all that long in the inaka regions of Japan. I'll ask some of the older folks when I get the chance about that though. I'm quite interested in this though so if anyone knows about it I'd like to hear it (not just about white rice but about "traditional" Japanese food.)
Sometimes I hear people talking about 'longer intestines' and things like that. I've studied about it before, but to be honest I'm not too familiar with it. I think that a lot of Japanese people attribute that to what they used to eat. I've also heard Japanese people attribute their consumption of a lot of soft foods to some people having weaker teeth than their western counterparts (again, I have no scientific proof of this, this is just what I've heard Japanese people say). Another thing that I've noticed is that some Japanese people that I've talked to like to give an explanation for everything that is eaten (like if I sit next to them at a party or something). For example, there is a reason why people eat daikon with sashimi (for digestive purposes). I believe I've heard more than just that, but that's one that sticks out in my mind as I eat sashimi all the time. If anyone has heard any others I'd be interested in hearing them!
Lastly-- about soft drinks. I think, but am not sure, that Coke in Japan is made with sugar. I don't drink coke too often (just with rum... and that's not very popular in Japan so), so I haven't had any around to check out lately. I also suspect that the coke here is made with the water from our river since the coke plant for this area is basically on the river... people always talk about how good the water is around here and it's probably a placebo effect, but I do think the coke here tastes better (with or without rum, but most with!).
Other "juices" in Japan are quite weak. If you want "real" juice, you gotta pay through the nose to get it. You're likely to get something with about 10% fruit juice in it, and even that will cost you a pretty penny (maybe 100-150 for a liter). Their word that is derived from "juice" (ジュース) is also quite deceiving to the English ear as it refers to things like coke, ginger ale, coffee, tea, etc almost more often than it does to what we call juice! For some reason the word ジュース (the Japanese word for juice) tends to carry over a tinge of that "healthy" meaning with it.
So Japanese food is just like food anywhere else-- you can become really fat off of it or you can be super healthy with it. That all depends on your matabolism and what and how much you're eating/drinking. I'd argue that the average Japanese diet is healthier than the average American diet. I wouldn't be surprised if the Japanese diet isn't catching up though-- kids look at McDonalds as like the greatest food there ever was around here. There's a lotta fast food and a lotta cheap restaraunts and a lotta convenience store garbage that you can wreck your health with if you're not careful.