My Japanese wife says that there are more chemicals in Japanese food than there are in American food.
I’m saying she’s wrong.
Who wins this argument?
Update: Thank you ALL for the amazing information. There’s lots to read through here but based on what I am reading it looks like she won the argument… I will read through all of this as there’s so much useful information that I did not previously know.
Side note: All the negative “get a divorce” posters in this thread, we are all really tired of this on r/japanlife so keep your negativity out of what otherwise is a positive constructive post. My wife and I were just having a friendly discussion as we often do. Crawl back into your hole.
Thanks so much everyone again for the useful information and it looks like I have a lot of reading to do! Happy Sunday everyone and have a great week ahead!
40 comments
Define chemical. Salt is a chemical. Sugar is a chemical. Water is a chemical!
I heard from some European friends that many of the preservatives used here are illegal in Europe. Like preservatives to make the combini onigiri shiny and shit. Not sure how true it is tho
Most US foods cannot be directly imported abroad such as the EU. I remember a case where the French equivalent of the FDA refused import of US bread stating in the report “that cannot be sold labeled as bread” xD
Accurate username.
Why not look into it first instead of calling her wrong and then trying to look into it.
American food is famously chock full of artificial flavoring, sweeteners etc. But Japanese foods are also surprisingly processed and full of industrial grade junk. Not all is simply shojin ryori in the land of the rising sun. Perhaps more alarming than anything are some of the lax rules on how ingredients are listed on packaging both in the US and Japan.
Can’t answer the question, but they’re honestly tomato tomahto. Both pretty shit. Packaged processed food, that is…
seriously who cares—have you ever heard the saying “pick your battles”? you might want to do some research on that instead, and avoid the konbini on the way home
Why the hell are you even arguing about this ffs. You can have a discussion about it.
You could…you know, actually research together.
If you two are *seriously* having an argument about this, I’d bet my house you’ll be divorced in five years.
I would say that obesity is a massive problem in the US, less so in Japan. Japan certainly seems to eat healthier.
She is right. Japan has less regulation on additives in food than the US, actually less than any developed country.
Trans fats are fairly ubiquitous in Japan, shortening is in virtually every bread product here. Vile stuff. A lot of people, including myself are pretty damn allergic to it. Trans fats are banned in the US as of 2020. While not banned in the UK, most super markets and fast food chains refused to use them as of 2012. Banned in more than a few EU countries, too.
Hahahaha are you going to say “look reddit agrees with me”
The way the problem is defined, it can’t be easily computed. I think you both might be wasting your time 🙂
Can’t speak for the states but she’s right if she were to compare it to Europe.
Did she catch you eating one too many Famima chickens and you refused to give em up?
Oh, my wife says, “if it’s from a supermarket, it’s all surely organic”. “Of course, my dear!” 🙂
I can’t speak for American food, but Japanese food is very often chock-full of junk, and the labels are often ambiguous at best. If you are diabetic, allergic, vegan or anything like that, it’s slim pickings.
There are a lot of clickbait headlines like “Popular American Ingredients BANNED in XYZ” but few people think about the XYZ food ingredients that are banned in the US, or how the US actually compares to other countries.
The Economist did a study of food quality & safety around the world. Canada ranked #1. US ranked #3. Japan was like #30. But even at #30 Japan is still among the best in the world.
Are there more chemicals in US foods vs. Japanese foods? Maybe.
First, it’s hard to tell since labeling laws differ between US and Japan. (US has stricter labeling laws so more ingredients get listed). I think the Japanese food industry lobby is very powerful, because unlike the rest of the world, labeling laws in Japan seem to be getting weaker, not stronger.
Also, I’ve had a Japanese friend tell me that “Japanese regulations allow way more chemical additives than in the US!”. But to me this may simply reflect how additives are categorized & counted differently between the two countries.
Japanese agriculture does tend to use more pesticides than in the US (due to factors such as the average size of farms in Japan vs. the US). Does this actually translate to more chemicals in Japanese foods? No one really knows.
The owner of a popular cooking school in Tokyo told me that Japanese konbini foods are jammed packed with unlisted preservatives. “How else can they keep them fresh with such minimal refrigeration?”, she would ask rhetorically.
Sometimes I think about that as I’m microwaving my konbini bento of the day — with little doubt that vaporized plastic substances from the packaging are being infused into my lunch.
Japanese food has lots of artificial sweeteners/taste enhancers/colour agents/other shit. Your wife is right. Not sure if it competes with USA, I would say it is in the same league.
It really depends on the product but Japanese products have increasingly switched to using HFCS, sorbitol, sugar replacements and chemical preservatives in the past decade, which is unfortunate. I think US uses food coloring more for sure. And there are many “health “ foods in both countries which are pure chemicals.
Are you recently married? If it’s an argument with your wife, she’s right.
Protip: Your wife always wins.
“Happy wife, happy life.”
If she’s an adult it’s about time she knows chemicals are in everything and the number of them means nothing.
America certainly has higher obesity rates, but Japan has higher rates of stomach and colorectal cancers. So, no one really wins.
But if I had to guess just based on that fact, I’d say that while Americans are less active and consume less nutritional food and/or more empty calories than Japanese people on the whole, the high rates of such cancers in Japan is concerning. Some might say it’s because of the high sodium content in Japanese foods, plus the amount of alcohol being consumed by many people here, but perhaps added chemicals may be a component.
As for salt being a contributing factor, there was a study done which found that areas with a lot of ramen shops correlated with higher rates of stomach cancer, for example. Although, in addition to this, my personal hypothesis is that foods microwaved within plastic containers may also be a cause of such cancers. (Yay, conbini bento….!)
So, if salt and nanoplastics are considered “chemicals” (moreso than other molecular compounds that constitute regular “food”), and without considering the laundry list of things most of us can’t understand even on our native languages on the nutritional information label, your wife may be right that there are more “chemicals” in Japanese food, as far as directly harmful chemicals go, anyway.
BUT, with either Japanese food or American food, if you avoid prepackaged/processed foods and make most of your dishes yourself at home, you can control the level of sodium and other additives to a much better extent. I know not everyone has the opportunity to do this, but if you can, then I don’t think either cuisine is objectively worse in terms of bad chemicals.
>Who wins this argument?
You’re going to lose even if you’re right. Just give up unless you enjoy sleeping on the couch.
I would call them food additives. My wife always says this about the grocery store bento stuff.
Get some facts not opinions
Japan seems to have fewer gm foods and I think it has never allowed growth hormone injections for dairy cows unlike the US. The US also sprays chlorine on chicken carcasses whereas Japan doesn’t usually. Japanese product labeling is far from ideal though. What is 香料 exactly ?!
To the couch with you
Not sure if this counts as ‘in the food’ for everyone, but the pesticides used for farming in Japan are banned in many other countries.
Pretty sure both countries are producing lots of unhealthy foods, just in different ways.
Both JP & US food industries have chemicals: **natural** (like H2O) & **added**. ‘Chemicals in food’ = ambiguous term.
In JP, focus is on natural, seasonal ingredients more than processing. In the US, processed food is prevalent. Personally, that seems like higher chance of **additives & preservatives**.
Don’t overlook quality control & regulation enforcement. JP’s FSC & US’s FDA closely monitor this.
My verdict: **Argument doesn’t stand**. Comparing ‘chemicals’ in both cuisines oversimplifies a broader concept. Better compare **specific chemicals & their prevalence**.
Skittles vs Rainbow Ramune, who ya got?
If you are talking about Japan’s love of using monosodium glutmate (MSG) in many foods, then Japan wins hands down.
.
You both lose
>Who wins this argument?
Oh sweet summer child, you must not have been married for very long. Or maybe you don’t intend to stay married for very long..
American food tastes better. Might be due to a greater variety of chemicals.
Does it really matter? I don’t think it’s possible to “quantify” “how many chemicals are in x country vs y country’s food” in general bc that’s not even a measurable thing across literally every god in the entire country.
Not sure this is a hill I would want to die on to spite my relationship with my partner
well, why would you not just stop eating any “food”?
just buy basic staples and cook them yourself using salt as the only seasoning
that’s what i do
Just think of it this way: her propensity to romanticize crappy food in the United States isn’t unrelated to why you’ve got a Japanese wife™️. Don’t muck it up!
I’d say none of you. Let her think she is right, never touch the subject again = win/win.
Here’s a convenient table for you to solve any arguments or debates with your wife in the future.
| Him | Her | Result |
|——-|——-|————-|
| Right | Right | She’s right |
| Right | Wrong | She’s right |
| Wrong | Right | She’s right |
| Wrong | Wrong | He’s wrong |
My j-wife also said the same thing.
Lol delete this post bro.