Western countries, led by America, are accustomed to images of countless men and women exercising almost daily in popular chain gyms or enjoying more personal exercise through personal training.
The most successful influencers through social media share training videos with their audience, while with lockdowns in various countries it has been observed that not a few have thrown it in the gym from home.
In contrast to this “phenomenon”, there is one country in the world that is a leader in longevity, with very low obesity rates – the lowest among the most developed countries at just 4.3% – and without its inhabitants having soaked especially in the culture of gyms. For Japan, the reason is that fitness is not included in the philosophy of its inhabitants, with most not even having a gym membership.
A recent Rakuten Insight survey of 1,000 Japanese between the ages of 20 and 60 found that about half of the participants exercised at most once a month or not at all. Explaining that they either do not have the corresponding time or that they simply do not like to exercise so much. It is a fact, however, that in the general way of life of the Japanese such a thing does not fit so well.
How can they, however, stay in such good shape without exercising? If you take a closer look at what exercise means to the Japanese, you will see that exercise can be equated with exercise in various forms, which does not necessarily involve lifting weights or running 10 km on a treadmill.
What the research results show, then, is not that exercise is not important for staying healthy, but that it is approached by the Japanese in other ways, such as walking to get them moving, which in fact do not they see it as an exercise, but as part of their daily routine.
Adult Japanese measure an average of 6,500 steps a day, with male adults between the ages of 20 and 50 doing about 8,000 steps a day and women of the same age 7,000.
