Each nation has its own characteristics, which can easily determine its belonging to a particular group. For example, the Irish have a red hair color, and the British have a dry physique and fine features. But the Japanese stand out against other Asians by their small stature and weight. Have you ever wondered why the average height of the Japanese does not exceed 165 centimeters? What is the secret of their miniature?
Human growth: how to measure it, and what does it depend on?
From the moment a person is born, indicators of his weight and height become one of the most important. Correctly measure growth - from the most convex part of the head (crown) to the feet. And in order for the data to be more accurate, it is necessary to be in an upright position with a straight back and unfolded shoulders during measurements.
Human growth depends on many factors:
- heredity;
- gender
- diseases;
- habitat;
- the diet.
The combination of all these factors becomes a distinctive anthropometric sign of not only one family, but also the nation as a whole. Although this value is not stable and unchanged, research scientists prove that humanity is constantly growing. This can be seen in the example of how the average growth of the Japanese has changed over the past decades.
Beauty canons in Japanese
In the view of most people, the Japanese look like people of short stature. And Japanese adult women in general resemble a twelve-year-old European child. We do not represent the Japanese differently, but in fact it is precisely such a look that is one of the criteria of beauty in Japan, introduced in antiquity.
It should be noted that the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun do not recognize the manifestation of a bright personality in a person, so most Japanese people try to fit themselves into accepted standards. Otherwise, they become social outcasts, which is quite difficult for all adult Japanese without exception.
In the main criteria of beauty in Japanese, you can safely include:
- subtlety (applies to men and women);
- short stature;
- little weight;
- white skin;
- European eye cut.
The last criterion appeared several decades ago, but all the others have not changed for more than three hundred years. Although anthropologists argue that the Japanese nation will soon be forced to seriously revise the criteria for beauty, because it is growing rapidly and gaining weight. How serious are these changes?
Japanese: height and weight (changes over the last hundred years)
According to anthropologists, the average growth of the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun has not changed for almost three hundred years. From the seventeenth century until the beginning of the twentieth, men in Japan were one hundred and fifty-seven centimeters tall and women were one hundred and forty-five. This made Japanese women surprisingly fragile and tender in the eyes of Europeans. Depicted on engravings of that time, adult women were always emphasized by their short stature and bright clothes, which further emphasized their peculiarity.
The last hundred years have brought the Japanese significant changes in appearance. They began to grow actively, and today they are almost equal to the average European. But let's not rush and consider the upward trend in more detail.
From 1900 to 1930, Japanese men grew to 164 centimeters, after another thirty years, the average growth of the Japanese began to be 166 centimeters. By the end of the twentieth century, the Japanese had grown another six centimeters and overcame the bar at 172 centimeters. Surprisingly, in the second half of the twentieth century, the percentage increase in growth was more significant.
In parallel with the increase in growth, the Japanese became heavier. At the beginning of the century, the average weight of an adult male did not exceed fifty-two kilograms. Over fifty years, body weight increased by four kilograms, but by the year 2000, the Japanese already weighed sixty-eight kilograms. Which confirms the theory of a powerful jump in the growth and weight of the Japanese nation in the second half of the twentieth century.
Japanese women did not lag behind their men, they also began to grow actively. From 145 centimeters in 1900, Japanese women grew in thirty years to 152 centimeters. They did not stop there and, by the beginning of the twenty-first century, had reached record levels for the country - 160 centimeters.
They gained just as much weight. In the period from 1900 to 1930. they recovered by four kilograms - from 46 to 50 kg. And by the end of the century, Japanese women were heavier by another 2 kg. Scientists believe that this figure in reality is slightly larger, but the fact that Japanese women are constantly on a diet does not allow them to significantly gain weight.
What is the reason for the changes in the growth of the Japanese?
After reviewing the above data, you can ask a natural question, why Japanese women of small stature suddenly began to grow actively. And why did men who had a stable body weight of more than three hundred years gain weight. Scientists see the main reason for such large-scale changes in the diet of the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun.
For many years, anthropologists have traced the dependence of the average growth of a nation on the level of economic development of the country. The higher the percentage of GDP per capita, the higher people become. Moreover, urban residents are growing much faster than their compatriots living in rural areas. For example, the average growth of Japanese citizens is two centimeters taller than those who chose small villages as their permanent place of residence. This is in favor of the theory of scientists, because in the city the diet is very diverse and is subject to serious changes in composition.
Modern Japanese eats a large amount of meat and dairy products without lactose. Asians at all times very poorly absorbed milk lactose, therefore, almost never ate foods containing it. In the twentieth century, scientists learned how to produce milk that is safe for Asians, and the Japanese authorities began to massively introduce the product to the country's markets. The advertising campaign was a success, and now the inhabitants of the country consume more milk and meat daily than the average Russian. And this is significantly different from what the Japanese ate for centuries in a row.
Ancient Japanese staple foods
Japan is a fairly small country, and its inhabitants are constantly experiencing a shortage of food. In addition, Buddhism, which came to the territory of the Land of the Rising Sun from its Chinese neighbors, introduced the idea of vegetarianism into the Japanese diet.
Therefore, the average Japanese ate a large amount of rice and vegetables. Low-fat fish served as a necessary addition; even vegetarians allowed themselves to do it. Meat was banned at government level around the sixth century. From that moment, not a single Japanese could eat meat products and was deprived of the protein necessary for growth.
It is worth noting that with a rather meager diet, the Japanese gave a lot of energy to work. Hard work is a distinctive national trait; a normal working day in Japan is fifteen hours. Together with non-nutritious food, this did not allow the Japanese to grow.
How will Japanese growth in the future?
Anthropologists believe that in the next fifty years, the Japanese will catch up with the Russians. At the moment, the growth gap between Russian and Japanese has narrowed to five centimeters. If the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun increase ten times the consumption of fats and include twice as many eggs in their diet, then they have every chance to become a nation by the beginning of the twenty-second century, whose growth will exceed the average world level.
As the concluding information, I would like to add that today the Japanese volleyball team is one of the highest in the world. Amazing right?