Signage
And these two random signs I found. On the left we have Pikachu, who is apparently concerned deeply about whether or not I'm eating right. Rightly so, I might add.
Version without any superimposed translation is the small one to the right of the larger one.
On the right, we have a sign that read "People who have dropped something onto the tracks should tell a station worker." It reminds me of the Dreamworks logo, in a way.
posted by William at
9/02/2008 12:45:00 PM
5 Comments:
Until I read your explanation, I thought the one on the right had something to do with dropping your hat in a canal...
How very odd. I am trying to identify the items in the Pikachu picture.
On the top, we have water/tea. No problem.
Then the bread group. Bread, rice, rice, ramen, and (it appears) a snail. Showing rice twice is a cop out, and I am not sure about the snail.
Next, the vegetable group. Salad, vegetable medly, some green goop in a cup, boiled vegetables, more green goop in a cup. Again, having vegetable medly twice is a cop-out. Will, what is the green goop in a cup? Seaweed? Octopus balls?
On to the meat group. Much easier to find. Eggs, tofu, fish, and a radish...or maybe a multi colored turd. Not quite sure. As the '80s Wendys lady would say, "Where's the beef?" Isn't Kobe beef a national highlight? No pork, chicken, or lamb...unless you count the turd. Will, please translate the blue fortune cookie paper comming out of the meat.
The last two groups appear to be the dairy group (milk and cheese) and fruit (apple and orange). That I can handle.
The odd thing is (as I remember back to 2nd grade indoctrination), the USDA standard, and corresponding brainwashing slogan, used to entreat you to "Have a 3-2-4-4 day!"...meaning 3 dairy, 2 meat, 4 fruits/vegetable (USDA combined them), and 4 bread. I had heard the USDA changed this a little for subsequent food pyramid brainwashing, but it looks like the Japanese standard is 5 bread, 4 vegetable, 4 meat, 2 dairy, 2 fruit. (Which would correspond to having a 2-4-6-5 day.) Seems the standard is totally different.
I call on the nutrition majors of the world to explain! If you have fish and octopus, would you need 2 more servings a day? Why are fruits not in with vegetables? Five starches and 6 rotting plants? (I was once lectured to only eat things that spoil if left out...meaning eat vegetables, whole grains, etc..)
INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW!
**end rant.
I don't think it's really cheating to show rice twice given that it's so common here.
I don't know on the vegetables.
Beef is very uncommon here, regardless of how much is exported. Cows take much more space to raise than either pigs or chickens, and it's a holy symbol in various religious which have traditionally had a foothold here.
I'll see if Michelle can get the rest.
Well...I'm by no means an expert, but I am a nutrition major. I'll try to give my insight into this.
From what I know, different countries have different food guides, which is obvious from the picture. A food guide is supposed to be something user friendly that makes sense, follows current science (as interpreted by the country), AND can be followed by the culture it's being marketed to. It's because of this that you'll have differences across the world. If you want something uniform, I think WHO (World Health Organization) has a world food guide or something like that.
As far as the "servings" go on the pyramid, I don't think the number of items shown on the pyramid are the number of servings you're supposed to have of that group. If this follows the same pattern as the US's new food pyramid, then you're supposed to focus on the size of each section, not how many of what's in it. The grain section is larger than the vegetable section, which means that you should get more grains than veggies. The pictures in each section are probably just representations of what a typical serving/portion of each looks like and an example of a food from that group.
Actually, I don't know if the Japanese use servings like we used to. With the new US Pyramid, we use cups and ounces to measure the amount of each food group we need according to our age, height, gender, and how much we exercise (see www.mypyramid.gov for more information). Japan might use the same type of system. It's hard to tell with just the poster to go off of.
So...essentially the poster is saying to base your diet on grains/starches, have a little less of the vegetables than grains, a lot less of the meat/protein, and to eat the least amount of the dairy (probably cause of the fat content) and fruit. I'm guessing fruit isn't emphasized as much because of its high sugar content. Oh, and don't forget to drink plenty of liquids and to exercise.
On a side note: If you're wondering why the food pyramid is turned upside down it's probably because there was confusion with the previous pyramid. People thought that since fats and sweets were at the top of the pyramid that they should be eaten the most 'cause they were more important, which is definitely not the case. So to clear up this confusion, the pyramid's been inverted to place the grains on top.
Your question about fruits and vegetables not being included together: Fruits and vegetables were not in the same food group on the previous US food guide pyramid and they continue to be in separate groups on the new one. Your 4 a day (which is actually 5) was a marketing thing (I think by the Dairy Council believe it or not) to say the servings of fruits and vegetables together to get the people of the US to remember to eat their fruits and veggies. Why would we need such a slogan? Cause we suck at eating the right amount of each group anyway. And we STILL don't eat enough of them. So anyway, fruits and vegetables SHOULD be in separate food groups because they're both important and provide different vitamins and minerals.
I hope this helps and didn't totally confuse you all. lol. Let me know if anything else needs clearing up.
~Michelle
Yay for nutrition majors. Thanks for the update. Any ideas on the fortune cooke text?
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