Japanese women don't get old or fat!?!?

I was surfing the net about few weeks ago and just happen to come across this really interesting book called "Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat: Secrets of My Mother's Tokyo Kitchen", written by Naomi Moriyama, a girl who grew up in Tokyo, Japan. When I first read the title, I laughed. It seemed like a quite obvious attempt to cash in on the success of "French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating For Pleasure". So, i decided to get the book to read.
The diet and weight loss points made in this book could be summed up in a few bullet points:

Don't overeat - observe the hara hachibunme rule (eat until you are 80% full)
Eat a lot of fresh vegetables.
Eat a wide variety of foods.
Eat more whole grains - eat brown rice rather than polished white rice.
Eat fruit for dessert, or small portions if you must have cake etc.


Obviously, it is not necessary to eat Japanese food to accomplish these goals. But I do agree with the point made in this book that traditional Japanese food is inherently healthy. According to the book, traditional Japanese food centers around rice (gohan, which is also a synonym for a meal), with small portions of okazu, savory things that go well with the plain rice. A typical Japanese dinner would have, besides the rice, 1 small bowl of soup (miso or clear), 1 protein dish such as grilled fish, and 2 or 3 other mostly vegetable-based side dishes. A popular dietary guide in Japan that has been around for decades is to try to eat 30 kinds of food items a day for nutrional well-roundedness. This may sound impossible, but in Japanese cooking it's not that out of reach.