Japan Urging Return to Traditional Diet

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok3ykR2GHCcThe Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries put together an easy-to-follow, eye-opening video that shows how it plans to keep its citizenry fed. The initial problem: a shift in diet from the traditional Japanese cuisine (rice, veggies, and fish) to one based on big corn (cobs, chips, syrup, etc.) and Big Macs.In one of globalization's first acts-when Japanese cars, appliances, and electronics defenestrated American ones, and in return, the American diet exploded Japanese waistlines-our friends in Nippon became a huge net importer of food, getting 60 percent of its sustenance from outside its borders. Its new food obsessions, however, dovetail with the energy crisis (especially the corn) and the exploding world population.The end game: Japanese consumers are paying a lot more for food. The solution: Go back to the traditional diet. Sure it's essentially propaganda crossed with an airline safety video. But, it's also a well-produced way of contextualizing a lot of its peoples' problems.What happened to our public service videos of the past? Oh wait, here they are.(Via Pruned)