Britain, France, Germany and Switzerland have the best public transport system in the world. Japan should be another member of the club. It’s clear to me driving cars makes us fat more likely than amount of food we eat. We try to avoid such a notion because car ownership is the national love affair. So many of us become overweight. I should have known better before I was diagnosed diabetic denying me of my favorite food and drink.

Every time I come home from Japan, I feel sad. Too many Canadians are overweight. They say it is worse in the U.S. Consequently the most serious health problems in Canada and the U.S. is caused by obesity. In North Americas 45.6% of population is classified obese. That is the worst in the world. In Korea and Japan it’s 3.6%. Number of deaths as the result of overweight recently have overtaken cancer and cardiovascular difficulties. However, most of the advises I found in social media point to the difference in diet between us and Asia. I disagree. They completely ignore the one most important factor. It’s clear that their intention is to sell a nutrition supplement and hide other factors. In short I think what makes us fat most is the excess use of private cars not so much as over-eating food or lack of proper nutrition.

Japanese people take public transport often and walk a lot more to bus stops and to change connections. Japan and other countries like Britain, France, Germany and Switzerland have the best public transport system in the world. It’s clear to me driving car makes us fat more than eating too much food. Number of deaths as the result of overweight have overtaken cancer and cardiovascular conditions. But we try to avoid talking about I that way because we have to give up our love affair with cars. That’s how we ended up not running, not walking, and not taking public transport.

Japanese people spend a lot of money for food and eat a lot and enjoy food very much, but few of them become overweight. I found it’s the same in France and Switzerland where I once lived. In those countries we find foods good quality wise and expensive. Serving is smaller. I heard many North American complain about the small serving and high rice at restaurants. North American visitors complain about small serving and high cost of food in Europe and Japan. On the other hand, Japanese visitors to Canada complain about inferior quality of food and big serving they can not finish. The fact is Japanese people live much longer than any other country in the world. It’s clear we need to walk more and drive less.