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Certainly didn't mean it in a rude manner, but I appologize if I offended.
Yes, Mc Donald's, among others, has successfully invaded. Obesity rates across the board in east Asia are rising, especially among children. But they get made fun of for it by their peers and sometimes even by their parents(ironically their parents are usually the ones to blame), and practices such as expecting a photo delivered with a resume are still very much mainstream.
If the obesity rate in Tokyo is 40%, a lot has changed in the last two years since I've been. I'm not saying the country is populated with nothing by stick-figures, but I'd say truly obese(in the western sense - taking up more than one seat on the bus, weighing over 250 pounds) people couldn't possibly account for more than 2% of the population. Overweight according to their BMI? Possibly. But to be overweight and to be obese are two completely different things.
Universally, lazy people do often gain weight. Yes, it's true. Getting back to my original point though, people out here in Taiwan generally have enough honor to keep it together and control themselves by eating appropriately and not turning into a balloon. In the west, it's accepted that being fat is normal and it's someone's 'life choice' that shouldn't be frowned upon by others. Here, people aren't so politically correct about it, which I think is a good thing in moderation. Seriously, I've got some overweight western friends here and they're just like elephants in an antfarm.. it's ridiculous and I feel so bad for them because of all the unwanted negative attention they get all the damn time, but on the other hand I think it's a great thing that people here on average actually care about their bodies.
Have you ever been to Buffalo, NY? What a sight!
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