Sizing Japan Up

I remember being in class at university here in Japan (ok, so it was tennis – but still technically considered a ‘class’!) when suddenly ordered to put down our racquets and line up in a row. As I stood there in the queue watching men in strange green jumpsuits arrive, I felt like we were all about to be measured up… and we were – well, they were… I was quickly pulled out of line as the only non-Japanese and asked to sit and wait for everyone to finish. Turned out everyone was getting the circumference of their heads measured as part of some national study regarding the growth of the Japanese people. While I don’t know the results of the study and indeed the population is growing, it’s an obvious point of difference noticeable when arriving here from the western world… people in general are smaller… naturally resulting in a sense of a ‘smaller’ place to live.

As a relatively vertically challenged person myself, I feel quite at home in Japan. I think my height is in fact only slightly above the average height of Japanese women, my shoe size is the most popular on the shelf here and I rarely notice having to look either up or down to others. Generally though, the difference in physical size between Japanese and westerners is certainly visually noticeable. I found myself just last weekend registering foreigners on the slopes from the view of the chairlift despite everyone being literally wrapped up from head to toe. With the smaller size, Japan consequently becomes somewhat of a ‘cute’ nation – kawaii phenomenon aside.

A natural result of smaller people, is smaller versions of almost everything else…. even as a small person myself, I have had embarrassing situations attempting to squeeze myself in to a chair, etc but your average foreigner often finds themselves having to duck in doorways, falling out of slippers that they can barely squeeze their foreign toes in to, and bending down much further than usual to reach things or even make eye contact! Many speak of feeling ‘gigantic’ in this country – a point of pride for many, but also an embarrassment of standing out in a crowd over and above simply not being Japanese.

Smaller people also seem to eat less…. well, at least the restaurant servings will often lead you to believe this. In fact, I have always marveled at how much some of my Japanese friends can eat – and am always a bit perplexed how your order can look like it is from the kids’ menu. I remember being bitterly disappointed the first time I indulged in a fast food ‘set’ only to discover they had served me up eight measly fries?! After living here a while a trip back to a western country now has my eyes pop out of my head at the sight of some of the servings…

While there are some frustrations with this seemingly ‘downsized’ country, there are indeed some perks. I relish going to concerts here and actually being able to see the performers on stage, I love walking down the street in crowds with some view of where I am heading and not feeling claustrophobic, and I love being able to buy trousers and not having to have them taken up half a meter before being able to take them home!

There is much talk of how Japan is ‘growing’ with fingers being pointed at America for the introduction of a western diet and fast food that is supposedly causing bigger waistlines whilst a taller population is being attributed to intermarriage and change in diet. Realistically though, the average Japanese is still ten centimeters shorter than the average westerner, and a perceived ‘fat’ Japanese person would often not be considered overweight at all elsewhere in the world.

Ultimately, due to the mountainous terrain Japanese are forced to live on just 25% of the land here and with such a big population space is at a premium. A smaller population simply results in a more efficient use of space… and for the foreigner provides just another aspect of a foreign experience.