Shokuiku - Food and Nutrition education in Japan -

Have you ever heard the word "Shokuiku" ?

Shokuiku is Japanese and means food and nutrition education.

I have lived in Philippines for 1year 3 months. I am feeling poorly educated about food and nutrition in here Philippines.

The Basic Law on Shokuiku (food and nutrition education) came into force at 2005 in Japan. Japanese have undergone the food and nutrition education through Shokuiku project by government. I think Shokuiku is a great education and I really want to introduce the Shokuiku.

 Government of Japan (Office for Shokuiku Promotion Cabinet Office) published a booklet about Shokuiku in English to introduce this promotion. I attached a part of this booklet and here is URL of the booklet. 

http://www8.cao.go.jp/syokuiku/data/eng_pamph/index.html

I think the concept of Shokuiku is really needed for people all over the world. I hope you to feel empathy toward the Shokuiku and  I am grateful for sharing this article. 

I would like to publish my experience of Shokuiku in next blog.

What We Know From Shokuiku The Japanese Spirit

- Food and Nutrition Education in Japan -

There are a number of food, nutrition and health issues in Japan: lack of proper concern for food, an increase in irregular and nutritionally unbalanced meals, the rise in obesity and lifestyle-related diseases, excessive desire to be slim, especially among young females, a series of incidents related to food safety, over-dependence on food from abroad, and the loss of traditional food culture in this globalized world.

In response, the Shokuiku Basic Act was passed in 2005 to promote Shokuiku for all, throughout their lives to raise children and adults with adequate food and nutrition knowledge and food choice skills in order to practice healthy dietary habits. “Shokuiku” has long been accepted as a basis for intellectual, moral and physical education. The Shokuiku Promotion Basic Plan was implemented in 2006, by which various activities have been implemented not only by the national government, but also local govenments, schools, kindergartens, farmers and fishers, food industries, and other volunteer organizations, etc. School teachers, doctors, public health workers, and volunteers contributed to the activities as well.

As a result of these actions, the proportion of people who are interested in Shokuiku reached 70% or more, and the number of volunteers for Shokuiku increased to over 330,000 in 2009. For further promotion of Shokuiku in the world, communication with overseas countries would be productive. The purpose of this English booklet is to introduce our experiences of Shokuiku and some of its results to date. It would be helpful for other countries to know our activities, because food and health problems are shared throughout the world.

This brochure is written by well-respected experts on Shokuiku from various fields in Japan. We hope this booklet will help people inside and outside of Japan to get a better understanding of Japanese food culture. Last but not least, we appreciate Dr. Shaw Watanabe, a member of the Shokuiku Promotion Council, and those involved in producing this booklet.

Shokuiku Promotion Office
Cabinet Office, Government of Japan March 2010