is culture. This is especially true in a food-obsessed country like Japan where the national cuisine uniquely reflects the natural environment, regional diversity and underlying value system of this resilient country.
In Japanese cuisine, the main course is accompanied by a bowl of rice and some pickled vegetables. No Japanese meal would be the same without miso soup. And then there are the noodles such as udon, somen, soba and, of course, the popular ramen. Japanese food, especially the traditional diet of fish, vegetables, fermented foods and rice, is defined by both its healthy properties and overall quality.
But the future of Japanese food is uncertain. No, it is not just the shift to a Western style diet of steaks and hamburgers, although that is an important factor. The challenges facing Japan’s future food supply are complex and appear intractable. One issue that receives considerable attention from the Japanese government (for instance, it is the subject of the Food Action Nippon initiative) is the fact that Japan’s food self-sufficiency, based on the amount of calories consumed, was only 39 percent in 2010. The remaining 61 percent of the calories comes from imported food.
Clearly Japan needs the equivalent of a food and agricultural revolution if it is to feed itself in the future. This needs to begin with an open and transparent elaboration of the actual extent of the problem so that the general public can understand the issues involved. Japan’s technological prowess may allow it to buy time through the introduction of various innovations such as high-rise urban farming or indoor food factories. The idea here would be to use every possible space for food production.
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