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So you know how romaji is when Japanese words are written out with English characters? Is there a term for the opposite process? As in, English words written out with Japanese characters? Like the name Rick being written out with katakana characters. Is there a term for that equivalent to romaji?
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34 comments
I’ve had a few Japanese doctors look at me blankly and say Vitamin D doesn’t matter. One of them got quite angry when I tried to give him a rebuttal to that statement.
My psychiatrist can’t check my levels, but he actually suggested I start moderately supplementing my Vitamin D.
Japanese eat tons of fish. It’s hard to be deficient in Vitamin D with their typical diet.
When examining the birth rate, I think the D is lacking. 👽
I haven’t heard much about it, but I took vitamin D supplements for about three years when I lived in a seemingly perpetually overcast area (Niigata). Down in sunny Kanto now and haven’t felt the need to take them.
Diet and sunny days probably mitigate?
There are some of those BS “IV-treatment spas” though apparently so the concept isn’t unknown I guess.
Many fish and chicken egg yolks have it, so I assume the average person gets sufficient amounts. I do see some women covering up so much (7am in January) I wonder how they get any naturally.
I’m sure it does but doctors don’t see it being a big deal.
The diet here consists of a lot of seafood including nori and seaweed. Those contain a lot of vitamin D.
No, the medical profession is less of a thing
Do japanese people actually eat as much fish as people say they do? food culture here has westernized to the point i don’t think its that much different to that of a European or even an American diet.
The reason you don’t hear about vitamin d deficiencies in japan is the same reason you don’t hear about other vitamin deficiencies. vitamins are the overlooked in japan by the average population. People care more about the caloric values more than its nutritional value.
You’ll never hear about it here because likes others have mentioned a typical Japanese diet pretty much makes it really *really* unlikely for anyone to be deficient.
I thought Vitamin D deficiency was the main reason for all the bow legs you see in Japan. Though albeit, less of an issue it seems lately.
I remember watching a Sekai Gyoten News-like show where a woman was intentionally covering herself from head to toe to have flawless skin but ended up with extremely brittle bones. She was always carrying an umbrella and even wearing gloves all the time. The doctors told her the cure was fairly simple: just stop wearing the gloves and get a bit of sun on a regular basis. Problem was solved.
I think Japanese people tend to get out more and as a result get sufficient vitamin D
A lot of replies here saying that the diet makes it difficult to become D deficient, but you can’t really get that much vitamin D from food. Maybe enough not to be drastically deficient but sunlight and supplements are much better sources.
For example, you can get about 150 IU from a portion of tuna, which is a comparatively high D food source. By contrast, an hour or so in the sun in the middle of summer wearing shorts and a t-shirt would be several thousand IU. In order to maintain healthy D levels year-round, it’s necessary to take some sort of supplement in darker months.
My guess is that there’s just much less understanding of the role that vitamin D plays here. That or people are just more outdoorsy.
how do they get any if they dont even sell Sunny D in this country
I mean, it’s much sunnier here and for longer than it is in my home country. Since I came here I’ve never really thought I would need vitamin D supplements if I’m regularly going outside in the sun and stuff. At home it’s understandable since the sun doesn’t come up until like 9:30 and goes down at 4:30, so you’re going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark and the sun is super weak at other times too. Otherwise though, it seems weird that we need more than we can get just from going outside normally 🤔.
Lots of sunlight here in the summer months and a diet that’s varied and ful of vegetables and fish. Probably why it’s not a major issue here
All roads lead to natto.
People seem less aware of it. The ones who try to stay out of the sun and keep their skin white tend to be the same ones who eat washoku and get more of the vitamin in their diet. Dairy and American cereals are also good sources, and those are becoming more popular all the time. But yeah, supplementation seems like something most people only do if a doctor recommends it.
Haven’t really heard anyone talk about it, but I’d be surprised if the majority weren’t a little deficient tbh. Esp, women who cover up, use umbrellas/gloves etc. through summer, and with the added masks through the pandemic, I’d surprised if people were getting enough sun throughout the year.
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Did a little research. This article was published 2020, so data probably all pre-COVID. (I didn’t read it fully, but feel free to check it out yourself.)
They tested 107 people in Kumamoto and Hokkaido. It’s a small sample, but still interesting and gives some idea.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7146414/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7146414/)
> **The prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency was 47.7% in summer and 82.2% in winter**.
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>The greatest contributor to total vitamin D intake was **fish, which accounted for 70.9% of total intake** both in summer and winter. The second contributor was **eggs (12.0% in summer and 12.3% in winter)**, followed in order by confectionaries (4.4% and 4.7%) and mushrooms (4.0% and 4.5%, respectively).
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>Perhaps surprisingly, UV exposure time was longer and energy was stronger among participants in Hokkaido than Kumamoto, particularly in summer ([Table 1](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7146414/table/nutrients-12-00743-t001/)). Most participants in Kumamoto were office workers. Their mean **UV exposure time of 11.6 min in summer and 14.9 min in winter** suggests that exposure primarily occurred when out of the office, such as in short walks during commuting, going out for lunch, or shopping. Since 71.0% of employed Japanese work in tertiary industries such as retailing, food service and financial businesses [[29](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7146414/#B29-nutrients-12-00743)], the lifestyle observed in Kumamoto is likely representative of Japanese living in cities.
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> Female participants and those of a younger age were significantly associated with lower serum 25(OH)D3. Women tended to avoid tanning, using sunscreen and sunshade clothing, and this might have caused lower UV exposure energy in women, particularly in summer.
Sunlight is the primary source of vitamin D, and Japan is a pretty sunny place throughout the year. Unless you have a condition that makes it difficult you’ll get most or all vitamin D you need from just incidentally being outside.
Japan is the land of the rising sun, I can’t tell you how many moles I have developed as a result of being a pedestrian the first few years.
Cloudy days are so few, and far between making it difficult to sleep in without blackout curtains.
It’s like being in the South of France, the frequent sunny days are nice for the first few weeks, then it suddenly starts to tickle you the wrong way.
If anything, you will probably overdose on vitamin d, among other things, if you’re working, not if you are cosplaying as a hikkomori tho.
Even if you are driving, there is no tan on the front of the car, you will get plenty of vitamin d.
I don’t think it’s common here in Japan since a lot of Japanese people eat salmon and raw egg almost everyday which is high in vitamin D
It is a thing, and there are plenty of papers on vitamin D deficiency in Japanese cohorts. In short, it’s fairly common in japan.
For example, this abstract of a review states that VitD deficiency is rare among active older adults, while being common among sedentary ones. As always, VitD from sunlight is more important than getting it from dietary sources. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16369890/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16369890/)
It’s a tough balancing act, though. The sun is ferocious here and the UV can be crazy at times.
The sun shines a lot here in winter, and the days are never that short. It’s not really a problem like it is in darker countries at higher latitudes.
It’s less of a thing except if you live in Southwest Hokkaido or northern Tohoku in winter. There were times I didn’t see sun for weeks because it would just snow non-stop and days are shorter
Depends where you are in Japan, but generally it’s a lot of sun, hard to get deficient.
It isn’t really an issue with the standard diet. If someone has malnutrition issues, the problem of vitamin D deficiency is part of a general nutritional deficiency.
Westerners sometimes have a rogue antibody which destroys the enzyme (or whatever it is) that digests vitamin D in the stomach, which can cause deficiencies and anemia. This is apparently very rare in Japanese people so might be a factor in levels of awareness/concern.
I am not an expert, but I understand that there is some debate over whether need for vitamin D varies according to individuals’ genetic background. I was looking through the Wikipedia page and the closest I could find was [a mention in this section](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D#Mortality,_all-causes).
I’m going to assume you lived in the Midwest or Seattle based on this question. Just by walking to work daily for about 10-15 mins a day did wonders for improving my attitude and mood. While I’m sure it’s not all 100% vitamin D related, when you compare the amount of time the typical Japanese person spends outside compared to Americans and Canadians stuck in cars and barely walking between locations, I’m sure it’s easy to assume they don’t have as big a problem with that deficiency
‘As often’ relative to where?
I find nearly all allergies and ailments that are very common in almost all other developed countries are completely unknown here.
For example, my sister has a celiac disease, it’s like she is a total alien if we tell this to a chef or doctor. We’ve met one other actual Japanese with the allergy and she said the same. It’s really difficult because her whole life is perpetually explaining what it is.
Nearly every type of しょゆ contains wheat so she can’t eat anything really.
It’s surprising how little is know about stuff like this here.
My colleague who was pregnant developed “pelvic floor syndrome”, statistically it effect 1/4 women during pregnancy, her doctor told her that after being diagnosed on a trip back to the US. On return she mentioned it to her せんせい who said he never heard of such a thing and told her she could sit down more…which apparently can make it worse.
Not sure why this is, but yeah, similar thing to what your describing.
Do you hear about ANY deficiencies in Japan? Only thing I hear is “drink this to lose weight, have whiter skin, + never grow old”