The Japan That Japanese Don't Know:
The School Lunch Program
日本人の知らない日本：学校給食

Edited byAndrew R. Durkin, Emily A. Callahan,
Masayo Kaneda and Shigeru Yamamoto

Published by
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center,
Jumonji University

1

Cover Page Drawing by H. Echigo (表紙

第 4 回 優秀賞 越後日向子 宮城県；小 3）

Drawing by S. Sakane (第 4 回 優秀賞 坂根彩妃（東京都；小 4）

Drawing by M. Takaki(第 3 回優秀賞髙木真希（静岡県小 4）Information provided by Public Interest Incorporated Foundation Japan Association for
Improving School Lunch （資料提供：公益財団法人学校給食研究改善協会）2

3

Source: Public Interest Incorporated Foundation Japan Association for Improving School
Lunch （資料提供：公益財団法人学校給食研究改善協会）
4

EDITORS
Andrew R. Durkin, MS, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Russian Literature, Indiana University, Bloomington,
Indiana. MA and PhD, Columbia University. He is the author of numerous
studies of Russian and Slavic literatures and culture.
Advisor, Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center

Emily A. Callahan, MPH, RD
She is the Owner of EAC Health and Nutrition, LLC. Previously, she held
responsibility at National Program Lead for the American Heart
Association’s Sodium Reduction Initiative and Program Officer for the
Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine.
Advisor, Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center

Masayo Kaneda, RD
She has been a professor at Kagawa Women’s College, Tokyo, Japan for thelast 10 years. She has contributed to the present school lunch system as aleader in the establishment both of the sanitary system and of nutrition
teachers as promoters of food education. She has received awards from theJapanese Ministry of Education and Orders of the Sacred Treasure for her
work. She was a school dietitian for 30 years and a senior specialist in the School Lunch
Department of the Japanese Ministry of Education Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for 10
years. Advisor, Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center

Shigeru Yamamoto, RD, Ph.D.
He is the director of the Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center,
professor emeritus of Tokushima University and of Ochanomizu University
and an honorary professor of Hanoi Medical University. During his
approximately 40-year academic career, he taught more than 200 graduate
students and has received awards from the Japanese Ministry of Education,
the Vietnam Ministry of Health, the Japanese Society of Food and Nutrition, and the JapaneseSociety of Nutrition and Dietetics.
5

AUTHORS
Yuriko Ichimura
Noriko Sumida
Indri Kartiko Sari
Saiko Shikanai
Miho Nunokawa
Volker Peinelt
Kae Yanagisawa
Sumiko Kamoshita
Kaori Nagao
Nobuko Sarukura
Ayami Sano
Miho Kogirima
Sayako Aoki
Eiko Murai
Noriko Wakikawa
Naomi Sakuma
Lin Pei-ying
Lin Fang-Yu
Chen ting chun
Misako Hirota
Chieko tooyama
Yoko Ichikawa
Sumie Shinjo
Fadzlina Hamid
Rohana Abudabi JailLe Duc Son
Vu Thi Hien
Bu Thi Nhung
Tran Thi Minh Hanh
Nguyen Thi Thuan
Lukkamol Prapkree

Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Nutrition Teacher, Tokushima City
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Hochschule Niederrhein, Germany
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Nutrition Teacher, Tokushima City
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Nutrition teacher, Kagawa Prefecture
Nutrition teacher, Osaka Prefecture
Nutrition teacher , Yokohama City
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Nutrition Teacher of Shiga Prefecture
Nutrition teacher of Gifu Prefecture
Shizuoka Prefecture University
University of Ryukyus
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Vietnam National Institute of Nutrition
Vietnam National Institute of Nutrition
Ho Chi Minh City Nutrition Center
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Mahidol University, Thailand

Por Narisa

Mahidol University, Thailand

Chanida Parhotikarn
Sunard Taechangam
Vu Thuy Linh
Nguyen Thi Lieu
Nguyen Thi Thao
Sophia Wong
Ming Fu Wong
Leh-chii Chwang

President of Thai Dietetic Association
Former President, Asian Federation of Dietetic Associations
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center
ChungShan Medical University, Taiwan
Providence University, Taiwan
President, Asian Federation of Dietetic Associations

6

FOREWORD
The current Japanese life-style is not ideal. Parents work long hours and children study atcram schools until late at night.

Under such social conditions, people often eat

take-out/ready-made foods from shops, for which one cannot blame them. What we can perhaps
hope for is ‘correct food choices’. The knowledge and habits formed by the school lunch program
can play an important role in this.

The nation-wide school lunch program in Japan is noteworthy

not only for its nutritional accomplishments, but also for its educational, social, and cultural aspects.
Since an early version of the program was first introduced in the post-World War Ⅱera and almost
all public schools in the country are currently included in it, Japanese people themselves often takethe program as a given and are unaware both of its unique features and of how remarkable it is in thecontext of world-wide attempts to provide food and nutrition education for children in their formal
educational environment.
The most significant feature of the Japanese school lunch program is not only its concern withthe management and nutritional aspects of the food served in schools but also its integration of theschool meal into children’s educational, social, and cultural experience. This integration is facilitatedin a number of ways. Meals are served by children themselves in the setting of the classroom,making lunch part of the educational continuum of the day. More importantly, aspects of the meal
are incorporated into instruction, for instance by having students investigate the origins, sources, andtraditions of the food they are eating. Children are introduced directly or indirectly to the producers
and preparers of their food, making them aware of the agricultural, economic, and social connectionsof their lunch. The links of their food with cultural traditions are also presented, with attention to
distinctive Japanese foods and methods of preparation, regional and seasonal specialties, as well as
the role food plays in festivals, traditional holidays and so on.
Central to the Japanese school lunch is the role of the licensed school dietitian/nutrition teacher,a specialized profession that has developed in Japan. The nutritionist/nutrition teacher is concerned
not only with the planning, procurement, and preparation of nutritionally adequate food for thechildren in a school but also with raising children’s awareness of the nutritional aspects of their mealand of its social and cultural interconnections.
The purpose of this collection of articles and essays is to increase the Japanese public’s
recognition of the value and significance of the program that they themselves have developed as asociety for their children and to make nutrition experts, education professionals, policymakers, andothers around the world aware of the special qualities of the Japanese school lunch program that they
may wish to emulate. It is hoped that by highlighting the features of the Japanese school lunch
program, this volume will lead to the strengthening of the program in its home country and to theconsideration of culturally and socially oriented school meal programs around the world.
7

CONTENTS
Drawings of Japanese school lunch
Summary of Japanese school lunch by the Japanese Association for Improving
School Lunch
Editors
Authors
Forewords
Chapters
1. History of the Japanese school lunch program
2. Present school lunch
3. Nutrition teacher/school dietitian
4. Shokuiku (Food and Nutrition Education)
5. Sanitation
6. Contribution to health
7. Comments from around the world
 USA
 Germany Malaysia
 Taiwan Indonesia Vietnam
Reference
Please try to access the following article;
Japanese

School

Lunch

and

Its

Kaneda, Masayo and Yamamoto, Shigeru The
Contribution

toNovember/December 2015 - Volume 50 - Issue 6 - p 268–272

8HealthNutrition

Today:

Chapter 1

HISTORY

The modern Japanese school lunch program traces its origins to support in 1945 from the USA,
UNICEF and other organizations in 1945 to save children from hunger after the Second World War.
In 1951, a school meal law was established under the Ministry of Education. It has been understoodto encompass not only meals but also an extension of education. The program has been developing
gradually from one focusing on energy requirements, to energy and other nutrients, then to foodculture and has at present led to nutrition education. Nutrition education is provided by professionals(licensed school dietitian/nutrition teacher) as well as by the teachers of other subjects. They try toteach dietary habits, gratitude for food, its producers and people who involved in providing food,
School lunch also serves as the topic for instruction in science, social studies, geography etc.. In thischapter, we would like to present a brief history of the Japanese school lunch program.

1) Initiation of school lunch in Japan
Providing lunch at schools began in Japan in 1889. Lunches were provided by a Buddhist
confederation for poverty-stricken children in an elementary school in a city located in northern
Japan. The simple lunches that were offered consisted of “onigiri” (rice balls), grilled fish, andpickled vegetables.

A School lunch encouraged poorer children come to school.

Other

children brought lunch boxes (bento) with food from home.

Photograph 1-1 The first school lunch consisted of rice ball, salted salmon, and pickles. First
served to children in 1889 (Source: Independent Administrative Institution Japan SportCouncil)9After World War I (1918 ), because of an economic depression more than a million children
were suffering from malnutrition. Because of the issue of children’s health, the importance ofschool lunch was recognized and lunch was expanded to certain extent but the majority ofschool lunches were limited to impoverished children and had the purpose of encouraging themto attend school. During World War II (1939-45), healthy and strong young people werenecessary for the war effort and school lunch was maintained until the final stages of the war in
1944.

2) After the World War II
After the loss in the Second World War (1945), the Japanese were suffering from severe hunger.
The nutritional situation of Japanese children was deplorable.

It is estimated that sixth gradestudents at the time had body equivalent to those of fourth grade students today due to stunted
growth. The General Headquarters (GHQ) of the US occupying forces conducted a nutrition
survey in Tokyo to estimate food needs and to arrange possible donations of food and suggested
starting a school lunch program to the Japanese government in October 1945.

GHQ andLicensed Agencies for Relief in Asia (LARA: U.S. non-governmental organization) actively
provided food supplies for this purpose. Their assistance consisted mainly of canned foods (meat,
fish, and vegetables), powdered skim milk, sugar, salt, raisins, wheat flour, soybean flour,soybean oil, and fish meal.

Photographs1-2 Continuation of School Lunch. In 1946, after World War II, the Ministry of
Education, Health, and Agriculture recommended school lunch which was supported by
LARA (Licensed Agency for Relief in Asia) (Source: Independent Administrative Institution
Japan Sport Council)
10

In 1946 this support was limited to the Tokyo metropolitan area, but the following year the effort
was expanded to reach children throughout the country.

In 1949, skimmed milk began to besupplied by UNICEF and it was called UNICEF Milk. A clear effect on height was observed.
This milk was very effective in improving the health of children.
At that time there were no school dietitians or cooks; therefore, students’ parents came to school
to prepare lunch. The government paid for the costs of personnel and facilities.

Local

governments also tried to cover other expenses for the improvement of meal quality.

Photographs 1-3 Beginning of Full School Lunch. In 1950, it was served when wheat flour from
USA was supplied (Source: Independent Administrative Institution Japan Sport Council )11

Photographs 1-4 Continuation of School Lunch. In 1949, UNICEF began supplying milk tochildren in school (Source: Independent Administrative Institution Japan Sport Council )3) Establishment of school lunch law
Japan regained full independence through the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951, but thisbrought about the first crisis in school lunch services because Japan no longer received Government
Appropriation for Relief in Occupied Areas (GARIOA) funding, which had financially supported
school lunches but ended in1952. The following year, support from LARA was also stopped. The
cost of school lunch rose for families and it became difficult for many schools to provide meals.
The government argued for the termination of school lunch. However, Parent and Teacher
Associations nation-wide had initiated a broad movement demanding that the government support
meals in schools and opposition political parties jointly proposed legislation for school lunches
and the School Meal Law was established in 1954. Under this law, Japanese school lunch hasdeveloped impressively.

Initially, the law was only aimed at primary schools.

However,

beginning in 1953 several major natural calamities (typhoons and floods) struck Japan andmalnutrition increased among children in the affected areas. Because of such problems the law was
expanded in 1956 to cover all school providing compulsory education as well as part-timehigh-school level night courses (1956) and special-needs pre-primary and upper secondary schools(1957). School lunch was recognized as a part of education, teach knowledge about nutrition, how
foods are produced, how many people are involved by the time food is eaten, traditional foods and12customs. Fresh cow’s milk replaced powdered milk. Various breads such as rolls, fried bread andother forms of baked bread began to be used. Soft noodles also became a popular staple food.

Photographs 1-5 School Meal Law Demands. In 1954, School Meal Law was established by thedemands from schools and parents due to the financial burdens caused by the end ofGovernment Appropriation for Relief in Occupied Area funds.
(Source: Independent Administrative Institution Japan Sport Council )4) School dietitian
Before 1964, the position of dietitian did not exist and appropriate job titles were not used.
In this situation the main activity was cooking; schools struggled to satisfy dietary recommendations.
Staff mainly cooked, and planning and preparation of nutrition education were done during thestaff’s free time.

In 1964, the Ministry of Education started partial support for salaries at kitchenscovering several schools in a given area.
In 1974, the Ministry of Education defined the title of school dietitian and the role of the dietitianand decided on the legally required number of dietitians working in kitchens at public schools andkitchens covering several public schools and their salaries (paid half by the local government andhalf by the central government).

This was gradually expanded to place at least one nutrition

teacher or school dietitian in each school kitchen or satellite kitchen, which prepares meals forseveral schools in the same area (Details in Chapter 3. Nutrition Teacher/School Dietitian).

135) Establishment of Nutrition Teacher and the Shokuiku Basic Act
Since the 1990s, the social environment, including the family, has changed considerably andnutrition-related health problems have become more prevalent. In this situation, nutrition education
has become important at school, too. To meet this need, the school dietitian was required to havemastered highly specialized knowledge and education techniques and a License of Nutrition Teacher
was established in 2005. In 2014 there were 12,143 school dietitians and among them 5,021 were
diet and nutrition teachers (2014). (See more details in Chapter 3. Nutrition Teacher and School
Dietitian)
Shokuiku is a Japanese word meaning food and nutrition education. The “Shokuiku Basic Act”
was adopted in 2005, In the act, school lunch plays an important role.

In 2008, curriculum

guidelines were revised and provisions relating to "the promotion of Shokuiku" were included.
From the standpoint of Shokuiku, the school meal law, school lunch dietary reference intakes wererevised and additional school lunch safety regulations were added. The guidelines clearly indicatethat school lunch should provide a good model of a daily meal. By eating school lunch frequently,
children establish desirable food habits and develop practical skills in choosing appropriate foods.
Article 10 indicates clearly that the diet and nutrition teacher is to give practical guidance regarding
the school lunch. (Details are provided in Chapter 4. Shokuiku Basic Act)

14

Chapter 2 MENUS

Photographs 2.1 by S. Yamamoto

Lunch time in class room

Photographs 2.2 Vegetables used in today's lunch displayed where it is easy for students tosee them..
15

Photographs 2.3 by Nguyen Thi Thuan School lunches of a school16

Photographs 2.4 by S. Yamamoto School lunch at a school
Daily school lunch menus, totaling about 200 a year, are drawn up by the diet and nutrition
teacher/school dietitians in the kitchen of each school or the area kitchen covering several schools ina given area. Menu charts are also delivered to every student’s family a month in advance so thatfamily members know what their children are eating. It is also recommended that the menu chart,
along with the food items and their weights, be posted in the home so that everyone in the family caneasily refer to it. Knowing the menus is useful so that parents can avoid serving the same items forlunch and dinner. The menus are also useful in preventing food allergy problems.

Many schools

also post the lunch of the day on line on the internet together with comments about it by children.
The fact that everyone knows what the menus are means that parents can ask and find out whether
children enjoyed lunch or not. It is also an interesting and common topic for family conversation at
home.

17

Table 2.1 Menus in Feb at a public school (source: N. Sumida)

18

Table 2.2 Menus in Feb at a public school (source: N. Sumida)
Date

Menus

1Feb

Small rice-flour bread with pumpkin filling, Milk, Gomoku Udon, Tempura ofsmall sardines, Ponkan, Setsubun beans

4 Feb

Rice flour bread, Reduced sugar jam , Milk , Pork and beans , Boiled vegetables ,Mayonnaise

5 Feb

Bibimbap, Milk, Wakame soup

6 Feb

Rice, Milk, Braised Meat, vegetable , vegetable with sesame sauce , small pieceof cheese

7 Feb

Rice, Milk, deep frying of the tofu, ketchup, clear soup, seasoned powder for
sprinkling over rice

8 Feb

Small apple bread rice flour filled, Milk, Mushroom spaghetti, Seaweed salad,
Sesame dressing

12 Feb

Rice, Milk, Sauteed pork and burdock, Thick vegetable omelet , Yukari pickles,
Mixed nuts

13 Feb

Rice, Milk, Simmered lemon chicken, Satsuma soup

14 FebCurry and rice, Milk, Almond jelly, Fukujinzuke

15 FebShell fish sandwich, Milk, Shrimp and mizuna soup

18 FebRice flour-filled fried bread sprinkled with roasted soybean flour, Milk, Pumpkin[Kabocha] potage , Omelette , Ketchup

19 FebRice , Milk , mackerel simmered with miso, braised dry radish, Hijiki seaweed

20 FebRice,

Milk, Simmered Chinese-style tofu, Bangbang chicken with dressing,Creamy cheese
21 Feb

Rice, Milk,

Hoki with miso, Fushimen soup

22 FebRice flour filled, Chocolate bread, Milk, Borscht, Japanese style salad,Japanese-style dressing

25 FebRice , Milk , Grilled Spanish mackerel, Chinese cabbage garnish, Ponzu soy sauce,
braised lotus root

26 Feb

Rice, Milk , Two-color fried chikuwa, Miso soup, Bonito flakes

27 Feb

Rice, Milk , simmered deep-fried tofu Vinegared cucumber and wakame

28 Feb

Kimchi Donburi, Milk, Lotus root-filled dumplings, Boiled broccoli, Mayonnaise

19

The cost of the school lunch is also reflected in menu planning. The diet and nutrition
teacher/school dietitian makes menus that take into consideration the recommended school lunch
allowances and costs.
no labor costs.

The cost that parents/guardians pay is only the cost of food materials, withAccording to a nation-wide survey of children by the Ministry of Education,

Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2013, the average cost of each meal was about 240 yen(about $2) and about 280 yen (about $2.50) for elementary and junior high school students,
respectively.

20

Chapter 3

SCHOOL DIETITIAN/NUTRITION TEACHER

Japan places a high value on food and nutrition education in schools, and correspondingly so on
the professionals who provide this teaching to students. There is at least one nutrition teacher orschool dietitian in each school kitchen or satellite kitchen, which prepares meals for several schools
in the same area (7,8). These individuals are professionals with dietitian licenses. As stated in
Chapter 1, each of them creates about 200 menus per year which must satisfy the dietary reference
intakes, students` taste, local food culture and traditions (7,9). Nutrition teachers and school
dietitians are the key in promoting good nutrition among school children, which may contribute totheir good health, especially compared to similar-aged children in other developed countries.

Legally required number of dietitians

School (students over 6 years old)
 Schools serving lunch to more than 550 students have to have a school dietitian/nutrition
teacher.
 Schools with fewer than 549 children: There must be a school dietitian/nutrition teacher
covering 4 schools.
 Satellite kitchens serving lunch to more than 1500 children must have a nutrition
teacher; 1501 to 6000, two nutrition teachers; and more than 6000, 3 nutrition teachers.
Kindergarten (children 3-6 years old): 1 dietitian/RD is recommended if the kindergarten
serves 100 meals a day on a regular basis.
Nursery school s(0-6 years old):. 1 dietitian/RD is recommended if they serve 100 meals a
day on a regular basis.

Education of Japanese dietitians :A Dietitian is a food and nutrition professional.

In Japan, there are two types of dietitians

and registered dietitian (RD).
Dietitian

Dietitians are licensed by prefectural governments. Their work is nutrition

education as a dietitian.
Registered Dietitian

Registered Dietitians are licensed by the Ministry of Health,Welfare and Labor. RD is a term that originated in the United States and now usedcommonly world-wide.

Official name of Japan is a kanri-eiyoosi (management level

dietitian). The Japan Dietetic Association introduced the term.
. Registered Dietitian established by the Ministry of Welfare and Labor.
21

The duties

involve nutrition education relating to medical treatment for sick and injured persons,nutrition education to maintain and promote health that require a high level of professional
knowledge and technique appropriate to patient’s physical and nutritional condition, foodservice management.

The licensing process for dietitian and registered dietitian(RD)

Fig 3.1 Japan Dietetic Association Home Page

The system of training for diet and nutrition teachers and school dietitians dates back about half acentury. Before 1964, there were no job titles for the positions of dietitian and appropriate job titles
were not used. At that time, the main activity of personnel involved in school lunches was foodpreparation. Staff mainly did cooking and planning and implementing nutrition education were done
only during the staff’s free time. In 1964, the Ministry of Education introduced partial support forsalaries of school dietitians at kitchens covering several schools in a given area (19). This was
gradually expanded and eventually dietitians were placed in each school or cluster of schools.
Since the 1990s, the social environment, including the family structure, has changed considerably
and nutrition-related health problems have become even more prevalent. The current Japanese22

life-style is not ideal for promoting health. Parents work long hours and children study at cramschools until late at night. Under such social conditions, one cannot blame them for eatingtake-out/ready-made foods from shops. What we can perhaps hope for is that children will makebetter food choices by following the example of the more appropriate items offered in the school
lunch. Hopefully, it will foster better food choices by the example of the school lunch with more
appropriate food choices. The knowledge and habits formed by the school lunch program can play
an important role in this.
To meet this need, the school dietitian is now required to have mastered highly specialized
knowledge and educational methods. A Nutrition Teacher License was established in 2005. The
license is similar to that required for teachers of other subjects. There are 3 levels of personnel
depending upon their academic background: graduation from a junior college, from a regular college
or university, or from graduate school. A registered dietitian or dietitian can obtain the license after 3
years’ experience working in a school and 8-10 lecture credits. In 2014 there were 12,143 school
dietitians and among them 4,703 were nutrition teachers.

Photographs 3.1 M. Kaneda
The school meal teaches children how to make healthy food choices and embeds food andnutrition education (including agricultural practices, food production and distribution, and cultural
traditions) in other academic subjects. For example, in a social studies class, students may calculate
the distance that various foods in a school lunch on a given day have traveled from their production
area to the school. Students also calculate the necessary fuel and discuss its effects on the earth’s
ecology. In a physical education class, students record their own changes in height and weight and23learn about the nutritional contributors to their growth. In English class, English relating to the menuof the day is taught, such as the names of foods, cooking methods, table manners, nutrients, etc. This
broad perspective on food and nutrition helps instill in children a sense of gratitude for the food they
are eating and an appreciation for and interest in its origins. In addition, it is likely responsible forthe remarkably low levels of food waste reported by many schools.

Education about food and health is provided in connection with the school lunch by diet andnutrition teachers/school dietitians working in tandem with teachers of other subjects.

For example,

in a social studies class, students may calculate the distance that various foods in a school lunch on agiven day have traveled from their production area to the school. Students also calculate thenecessary fuel and discuss its effects on the earth’s ecology. In a physical education class, students
record their own changes in height and weight and learn the nutritional reasons for their growth.

In

English class, English relating to the menu of the day is taught, such as the names of foods, cooking
methods, table manners, nutrients, etc. Partly through classes like these, food waste is reduced toalmost zero

Setsubun
As an example of a shokuiku activity, Ms Sumida, , a nutrition teacher in a city in the western partof Japan, used the school lunch for the study of the Japanese traditional observance of Setsubun,
Midwinter Day.

She developed menus and the kitchen staff prepared appropriate meals. She

explained the cultural history of Setsubun through the cartoons shown below.
“As a society with long traditions, Japan enjoys many traditional festivals and observations in thecourse of the year.

As in other countries, these days are marked by the preparation of special

foods and the school lunch program often incorporates these dishes into its menus on these days,
both for their traditional cultural significance and to acquaint students with foods that they might nototherwise eat often” is this a quotation from Ms. Sumida.
Setsubun is the day before the beginning of spring in Japan. It is also New Year’s Eve by the lunar
calendar, which begins the year with the first day of spring. This is according to Chinese custom,which was introduced to Japan in the 18th Century. On this day, the Japanese perform a ritual tocleanse away all the evil of the previous year and drive it away.

24

Photographs 3.2 Lunch on Setsubun at Ms. Sumida’s school.

25

Drawing 3-1 Drawings by K Nagao and N Sumida.

26

Holly and sardine headsMs. Yamaguchi, a nutrition teacher at an elementary school north of Tokyo, has also triedvarious methods of nutrition education. When a certain lunch menu proves to be very popular withchildren, she prepares a note on the recipes used and has children bring it home to their families sothey can prepare it together. She has another interesting teaching method. During winter vacation,
she assigns an at-home project to sixth graders (the highest grade of elementary school, with children
usually 11 years old). The assignment is to make meals at home by themselves and to photograph thefood they have prepared.

Table 3.1 A recipe sheet (mark one of 3 food groups of rice and curry)

rice

curry

soup

Materials

Gram

Yellow

Red

Green

rice

100

〇

potato50〇

chicken

20

onion

30

〇

carrot

27

〇

miso

17

egg

50

cabbage10〇

Kabocha

20

〇

〇

〇

Drawing 3.1 Designed by I. Kartiko Sari. Three food groups taught at elementary school27

On a recipe sheet, children write down the ingredients and amounts and mark which of three foodgroups.. In Japanese schools, children are taught about three food groups. Yellow indicates mainenergy sources such as cereals, oils etc.; red indicates major protein sources such as meat, fish,
soybeans, etc.; and green is used for vegetables, fruits, sea weeds etc. They learn that ‘yellow’ foods
produce power and maintain body temperature, ‘red’ foods are growth and ‘green’ foods maintainphysical condition. By this method, children learn which foods belong in which group. The recipes
prepared by the children are evaluated by the nutrition teacher, cooking staff and teachers and thebest one is made and served to all the children.

The Japanese school year ends in March and theexperience becomes a good opportunity to learn about nutrition as well as a good memory.

28

Chapter 4

SHOKUIKU, FOOD AND NUTRITION EDUCATION

Legal developments involving the promotion of nutrition education, or what is called Shokuiku inJapan, may also be positive forces in instilling healthy food habits during childhood. The Japanesenational Shokuiku Basic Act became law in 2005. Shokuiku is a Japanese word meaning food andnutrition education. In the “Shokuiku Basic Act”, school lunch plays an important role in
implementation of the Shokuiku Basic Act.. In 2008, school curriculum guidelines were revised andprovisions relating to "the promotion of Shokuiku" were included.

Shokuiku also led to revisions

in the school meal law, school lunch dietary reference intakes, and school lunch safety regulations.
The guidelines clearly indicate that school lunch should provide a good model of a healthy dailymeal.

It is believed that by eating school lunch frequently, children will acquire desirable food

habits and develop practical skills in choosing appropriate foods. Article 10 of the Act states that theschool dietitians and nutrition teacher is to give children practical guidance regarding the school
lunch.
Shokuiku (Food and Nutrition Education) is very active at schools in Japan. It contributes
substantially to children are being imbued with a sense of gratitude for the food they are eating andhow it is produced and who produces it. As discussed in Chapter 1, Nutrition teachers and school
dietitians use safe and fresh, locally available foods from known producers as much as possible For
example, vegetables harvested the same day are used; therefore, they are tasty and there is only asmall percentage of waste. Farmers are happy to know that students like their products and are thus
encouraged to produce better foods. Schools display photographs of food producers when students
are eating lunch and sometimes invite producers to visit the school and talk about food production;
students also visit food producers and become familiar with how their food is produced. Such
activities establish strong connections between students and food producers, including people
working in agriculture, fishery, meat and other industries; students respect their food and waste is
reduced to a very low percent.

29

Photograph 4.1 by M. Kaneda

Photograph 4.1 by M. Kaneda

30Fig 4.3 Children make compost from school lunch scraps.
The compost is given free to the farmers.
The school nutrition teacher receives information on what is available from the local
agricultural association, makes a selection, and places an order. The association then contacts
member-farmers who are best able to fulfill various parts of the order. But the relationship between
the school and the farmers is not merely one of buyer/producer.
As an example, if Ms. Y. Ichimura, a nutrition teacher, wants to have corn, she will ask the
farmer who will be providing the corn to come to the school and explain to a group of students how
corn is planted in April, grown, and then harvested in July. The farmer may bring an entire corn plant
and also ears of ripe corn that the children can husk as a hands-on learning experience. He may
also explain how each thread of corn silk is attached to a separate kernel of corn on the cob and havechildren trace strands of silk to their kernels. He also tells them how rain and other environmental
factors affect the corn and other crops and how he gets up early to pick corn and deliver it to theschool early in the morning so that it can be as fresh and tasty as possible when it becomes part ofthe children’s lunch. The farmer may talk about how fresh corn looks, feels, and smells so thatchildren have some idea of the qualities of fresh produce.

The children are encouraged toparticipate and to ask the farmer questions about his work, the other things that he grows, and so on.
Later on the children may write to the farmer and tell him how the corn tasted, thank him forbringing it, etc. The children learn the farmer’s name and the location of his farm and thus gain a31

sense of local geography and agriculture. In turn, the producer sees his customers/consumers and isthus encouraged to improve his corn in the following year.
In terms of preparation, the husked corn is boiled in a large pot. The children bring the husked
corn to the cooks, who tell them that the corn will be part of their lunch. At lunch time, all thestudents are told that ‘today’s meal includes corn that was grown by Mr. A., who picked it thismorning and brought to school, and it was husked by the second graders, so please enjoy it.” This
way all the students know where their lunch came from and who grew it, they can enjoy eating cornon the cob. The cooks are also happy because the children tend to eat everything and there is little
waste.

Photographs 4.4 by Y. Ichimura: Children peel of corn with farmers

Photographs 4.5 by Y. Ichimura: Children peel of corn with farmers

32Here is another example of a nutrition teacher’s Shokuiku activity.

In the area where of Ms

Sumida is living, Shiitake mushroom is important food product. However, children often dislike
shiitake, so she developed a project to make students more familiar with shiitake cultivation and toencourage them to consume more of them. In the project, the nutrition teacher asked 5th and 6th
grade students how shiitake were produced. The students didn’t know, some suggesting that shiitake
grow in sand. So the teacher brought a log that had been donated by a farmer who grew shiitake andshe and the children inoculated it with shiitake. Producers of shiitake who use the traditional methodof inoculating logs are concerned about the increasing use of other growth mediums to produce
shiitake in inside environments; the traditional growers feel that shiitake produced by these methods,
although cheaper to produce, are inferior in taste and nutritional value.

Photograph 4-6 by N. Sumida
Shitake cultivation:

Shitake mushroom cultivation

A length of beech or sawtooth oak log (approx. 1 meter) is left for a year or so tillit becomes liable to decay.

Small holes are drilled in the log and plugs from an old log that has beenused to grow shiitake are inserted into the holes. The log is sprinkled with water and is kept damp sothat hyphae will grow and eventually produce mushrooms.

Traditional growers would like consumers to be aware of the superior taste of their product and so
are interested in promoting awareness of their methods. The children selected a name for their group
and attached a name tag to the log. The nutrition teacher kept the log at school in a damp, dark spot
and kept it moist. The children watered the log every day and eventually small mushrooms began to33emerge on its surface. The children watched as the mushrooms grew to usable size, about one monthafter they first emerged.

Shiitake, which are high in Vitamin D, are seldom used fresh in Japan and are usually dried. So
the teacher cut the mushrooms and hung them to dry just outside the classroom window. The
children continued to be interested in the process. The drying also took about a week.

The

nutrition teacher drew up menus using dry mushrooms for mushroom broth (dashi) for soup that wasserved as part of the students’ lunch. (Shiitake are one of the primary sources of dashi, the others
being kelp [kombu] and bonito; all three are high in the flavor element that has come to be known asumami from its name in Japanese.) The teacher explained to the children how the mushrooms wereused to make the dashi for their miso soup. The children realized that they had observed andparticipated in the process of growing, harvesting, and drying the shiitake and thus took a special
interest in trying the soup. As a result, waste was reduced to a minimum.

Before the start of the shiitake project, the nutrition teacher asked students whether they liked
shiitake, and some 60% said that they disliked them. After six months, the teacher asked the children(in a questionnaire) how they liked shiitake, and only 10% responded that they disliked them. They
also were still interested in how shiitake are produced. The children also told their parents about the
project with shiitake and their parents tended to use them more.

By the continuation of these

activities, waste was reduced. The teacher believes that through understanding how shiitake areproduced and participating in the process, children felt greater respect for their food and appreciatedthe processes of production and preparation more. Children are psychologically sensitive andresponsive with regard to food and their experience with the shiitake led them to understand how
food is produced and to realize that their food is connected to the natural and social environment.

34

Chapter 5.

SANITATION

Sanitation is a major priority in Japan. There are 33,000 school lunch kitchens and each serves
about 200 meals a year. From 1985 to 1996, fewer than 20 food poisoning incidents per year
occurred, except in 1988 (33 incidents). In 1996, an outbreak of food-borne Escherichia coli
O157:H7 infection in school lunch kitchens affected 11,651 and 5 people died across the nation.
After this tragedy, the Japanese Ministry of Education, which oversees the school lunch program,conducted various surveys to identify risk factors for E. coli contamination and to find effective
methods to prevent it. They created Committee for School Lunch Sanitation.

Since then, starting in

2000, fewer than 5 incidents and 6,000 cases have been identified, indicating a dramatic decrease.
(Fig 5-1 ).

Fig. 5-1 Number of incidents and case from 1996 to 2000 nation-wide (Source: Ministry of
Education, Sports and Science)
These numbers are decreasing due to the hard work by the government committee, which are
doing careful sanitary inspection. Inspection of sanitary conditions in kitchens has been conductedsince 1986. These inspection data were recorded in written reports which served as the basis for DVDs
and manuals to be used for food safety education. By use of these manuals, issues regarding infectious
diseases from food decreased dramatically. Since 2011, all Japanese school kitchens have been
managed using Japan HACCP, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. Commercial products arealso required to meet HACCP specifications. For these, producers are selected carefully by school
lunch associations in each area.
35

The committee has introduced measures to enhance sanitary inspections. They required a daily
written health checklist for school kitchen staff and the staff are required to undergo a healthexamination at least twice a month. The committee teaches the staff several aspects of sanitaryinspection sanitary inspection such as how to check food materials and how to cook to prevent foodpoisoning by using the guide book provided by the committee.

To prevent germs transmission, school kitchen areas are separated into two parts; a contaminatedarea and a non-contaminated area. The food materials come to the contaminated area and all the
foods are inspected by the school kitchen staff. Then, the kitchen staff wash off any soil and remove
any spoiled parts in called pre cleaning.

The persons who deliver the food materials to the school kitchen are not exempt from sanitary
procedures. The school kitchen staff will note their names and check their health daily, since thefood materials are brought by these people. Once they have been delivered, all the food materials
and the quantities are checked. When the fresh food materials like vegetables have been exposed tohigh temperature, it is possible that molds have formed. In such cases, the staff will keep some partof the food for reference in the event of later problems.

The major innovation was the school kitchen cleaning process, which was changed from a wet
floor system to a dry floor system. A wet floor system, in which the kitchen is cleaned with hot water,
causes high humidity which can contribute to bacterial growth; in addition, water used in cleaning
can be splashed on cooking utensils. The school dietitian became the manager responsible forsanitation, the health of the school kitchen staff, the work process, and the working line flow.

Photographs 5.1 by G Thi Thoan: Wet floor kitchen (left) and dry floor kitchen (right)

The investigation of the 1986 outbreak was conducted by Japanese Ministry of Health. They
36

tried to find the cause of the outbreak, which involved some kind of transmitted contaminants. The
entire school meal production process was checked, including food processing, the kitchen cleaning,food delivery, and the school meals distribution process. Not only that, they also checked all people
who participated in the various stages of the process. From this investigation, the risk factors
involved in the outbreak became clear. About 48% were caused by transmitted infections, 26% were
improper cooking methods which contributed to uncooked meals from an insufficient heatingprocess, and 24% were caused by food sitting for a long period after being cooked. Japanesechildren have a low resistance to transmitted bacteria such as Shigella 、 Salmonella enterica ,Salmonella 、 Escherichia coli O157:H7, Typhoid bacteria 、 serovar Paratyphi A etc. Healthexamination of the kitchen staff is required and is conducted at least twice a month.

Photographs 5.2 Two sink system (left) and 3 think system (right)
Source:http://www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/detail/Three sinks are now required for proper cleaning of vegetables; this has dramatically decreased
problems with bacteria. As shown in (Photographs 5-2), when the vegetables are washed in the firstsink, the total bacteria are 1.0x103 with Entero pathogenic bacteria were 300>. When it reachedsecond and third sink, the numbers of total bacteria are dramatically decreasing until only 300>,
even the Entero pathogenic bacteria is undetectable anymore. (source: M. Kaneda)
As the result E. coli O157:H7 has been virtually eliminated from school meals; the incidence offood poisoning from school meals was effectively reduced. Since then, approximately 40% viruses
and 50% bacteria were detected in school meals facilities. However, the most common disease agent
was norovirus with 41 incidents, about 48% of the total, which may occur with a small amount ofdisease agent. Thus, it is important to take action to prevent contamination from cooking utensils orform the school kitchen staff
37

Photograph 5.3 by N Sumida.

38

Measuement of cooked foods

Chapter 6. CONTRIBUTION TO HEALTH
The Japanese school lunch program is offered in more than 98% of elementary schools (6-12
years old, 20,920 schools) , 78% of junior high schools (13-15 years old, 9,083 schools) about 89%
of child welfare facilities (934 schools) and 80% of night high schools (482 schools). The program
began in a city in the northern part of Japan but only for children from poor families.

The origin of

the present school lunch program came about with the support of the US government after theSecond World War.

Sugar intake
The formation of favorable dietary habits can be seen with sugar intake in school lunch. Whilesugar intake is associated with obesity, diabetes and dental caries, sugars are also important energy
sources, especially for rapidly growing children. Children like sugar-rich sweet foods. We havestudied sugar intake from snacks and beverages consumed by Japanese school children and found it
to be about 25 g a day. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that a reduction to below
5 % of total energy intake per day would have additional benefits, even though they have also
recommended that sugar intake stay at below 10 % of total energy intake per day. This (25g a day)consumed by Japanese children is within the guidelines that WHO recommends. On the other hand,children in the USA and Holland consume more than 100 g a day. In the USA, the calories
provided by high sugar intake is recognized as a major factor of obesity; in our study no relationshipwas found in Japanese children.

In December 2013, the Washington Post reported success in obesity control in Japan and that thisis due to the school lunch program.

The definition of over-weight in Japan is a weight higher than

120 % of standard body weight for a given height. For example, the percentage of 11-year-old
boys who were overweight was about 7% in 1977 and had increased to about 12% by 2006 but sincethen it has decreased to about 10%. The tendency is the same for the girls, about 6% in 1977, 10%
in 2006 and 8% in 2014.

Changes in adult over-weight ratios in the last 40 years went from 16%

to 33% in the USA, and from 7% to 25% in England, while they went from 2% to 3.5% in Japan.
From these facts, we can say that body weight control in Japan has been relatively successful.

39Fig. 6-1 Secular changes in Japanese child obesity (Source: Japanese school statistics)

Fig 6-2

Secular changes in adult obesity in USA, England and Japan (BMI>30, source: 0ECD

Fact book 2010,obesity)

How can school lunch, one of three daily meals, contribute to weight control? There are somepossible factors. First, there is at least one diet and nutrition teacher/dietitian at each school kitchenor kitchen which serves several schools in the same area. Most of these nutrition teachers areprofessionals with a license as a registered dietitian/dietitian. Each one creates about 200 different
menus/year which must satisfy the dietary reference intakes. These menus also take into
consideration not only nutrition and taste but also local and national food traditions and culture.

40

Chapter 7 COMMENTS FROM THE WORLD
1) Visit to a Japanese School Lunch: Perspectives from a U.S. Registered Dietitian
USA: Emily A. Callahan, MPH, RD (Owner EAC Health and Nutrition, LLC. Previously heldroles in the National Program Lead for the American Heart Association’s Sodium Reduction
Initiative and Program Officer for the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine)

Brief Background on the Japanese School Lunch Program
The present Japanese school lunch program originated following World War II with support fromthe U.S. government. Within a decade after the end of the war, Japan had established a national
school meal law. Since then, the school lunch program has developed impressively and has
become noteworthy for its putative role in promoting health and helping to maintain the relatively
low and even recently declining obesity prevalence among Japanese youth. Municipalities coverlabor costs of the meal, and parents/guardians pay the cost of food materials, an average of close
to $3.

As a Registered Dietitian recently relocated from Washington, DC to Japan, I was excited
to have an opportunity to visit a Japanese elementary school and experience its lunch program.
My visit was made possible through a connection with Dr. Shigeru Yamamoto, a fellow
Registered Dietitian and Director of the Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Research Center atJumonji University, northwest of Tokyo. Dr. Yamamoto is also a Professor of International
Nutrition at the university. He has had an impressive academic career of more than 40 years andis currently highly involved with promotion of the Japanese school lunch program.
Perhaps the most significant feature of the Japanese school lunch program is that its
purview goes beyond the management and nutritional aspects of the food served and also
encompasses (and even emphasizes) integration of the school meal into children’s educational,social, and cultural experience. The purpose of this write-up is to share my observations of thisintegration and inspire colleagues in the U.S. to consider how aspects of this program may beemulated in order to improve the health and the food and nutrition literacy of American children
and youth.
The visit on December 9, 2015 was hosted by Nobitome Elementary School in the city of
Niiza, northwest of Tokyo. Three of Dr. Yamamoto’s graduate students in nutrition, two from
Taiwan and one from Vietnam, also joined the visit. Arriving at the school of 650 students, wewere greeted with signs welcoming us in English, Vietnamese, and Chinese, as well as origami
art featuring each of our native flags.
41

________________________________
1

In addition to the author’s observations, this piece includes factual information about the Japanese school lunch

program. The source of the latter is Kaneda, M. and Yamamoto, S. 2015. The Japanese School Lunch and Its
Contribution to Health. Nutrition Today 50(6).

Our guide for the afternoon was Ms. Yamaguchi, the school dietitian and nutrition teacher. In
Japan there is a law with a provision stating that a dietetics and nutrition teacher is to give children
practical guidance regarding the school lunch. Every school in Japan employs a school
dietitian/nutrition teacher. School dietitians may hold a Nutrition Teacher License, which requires
similar training as teachers of other subjects. A dietitian can obtain the license after accumulating 3
years of experience working in a school and 8-10 lecture credits. In 2014 there were more than
12,000 school dietitians, about 4,700 of those were also nutrition teachers.

Here I am (second from right) with the graduate students and Ms. Yamaguchi:42Before entering the school, we changed out of our shoes into slippers. In Japan, shoes are not worninside the home nor in some restaurants and other public buildings.
Our first stop was a peek into the kitchen to see the staff preparing homemade dashi (broth) in largecauldrons, using local vegetables and dried anchovies. Off to the side, racks of eating dishes
decorated with small pictures of fruits and vegetables were piled into carts.

After the glimpse into the kitchen, Ms. Yamaguchi led us into the library to explain some ofher teaching practices and show us her materials while we sipped green tea. As the only other
English speaker, Dr. Yamamoto kindly interpreted most of the conversation and the content themes

Shokuiku: A positive force in instilling healthy food habits in Japanese school children
The emphasis on integrating the school meal into children’s formal educational environmentis expressed in the concept of shokuiku (pronounced “show-coo-ee-coo”), a Japanese word
meaning food and nutrition education. The Japanese national Shokuiku Basic Act became
law in 2005 and in 2008 school curriculum guidelines were revised to include provisions
related to the promotion of shokuiku.
of the materials we were reviewing.
Ms. Yamaguchi explained that the school meal teaches children how to make healthy foodchoices and embeds food and nutrition education - including agricultural practices, food production
and distribution, cultural traditions, and more - in other academic subjects (see box on Shokuiku).
For example:
Social studies: students may calculate the distance that the meal’s ingredients traveled toreach their plates, as well as the amount of fuel used and its effects on the earth’s ecology.

Physical education: students chart their height and weight and learn about the nutritional
contributors to their growth.

English: students learn the English relating to the daily menu, such as the names of foods,
cooking methods, table manners, nutrients, etc.

43

One of Ms. Yamaguchi’s responsibilities is to develop the 200-plus menus for the school year.
The menus must satisfy not only nutritional requirements but also student tastes and local andnational food traditions and culture. The nutrition standards were established based on Japanesenational nutrition surveys and recommended dietary reference intakes. A school lunch must provide
one-third of daily nutrient needs, except for some nutrients for which it’s more difficult to achieve
daily requirements (such as fiber) and are therefore provided in larger amounts. Here is the
December 2015 meal calendar for Nobitome Elementary School. The calorie and protein content foreach meal are listed at the bottom right of each box:

Here’s a closer look at the menu for the day of our visit, December 9:44

Menu calendars are delivered to each student’s family a month in advance so that family members
know what the children are eating. This provides an interesting and common topic for family
conversation. Many schools also post the lunch of the day on the school’s website, along withchildren’s comments about the meal. When a certain lunch menu proves to be very popular, Ms.
Yamaguchi prepares a note on the recipes used and sends it home with each student. Here is an
example of one of her recipe notes:

Menus incorporate seasonal foods from local
producers as much as possible, and packaged
andprocessed

Sometimes

foods

meals

are

not

common.

incorporate

vegetables

harvested earlier that day. Ms. Yamaguchi
assembles a display of the ingredients used in
the day’s lunch, labeled with the name andlocations of the producers who supplied them.
Here is the display for our visit day, which even
included the seasonings.

Local food producers are invited to visit the school and explain their trade to the students. Students
also visit food producers and become familiar with how their food is produced. This broad45

perspective on food and nutrition and connection with food producers helps instill in children a senseof gratitude and respect for the food they are eating as well as an appreciation for and interest in its
origins. It may also be a contributor to the remarkably low levels of food waste reported by many
schools. After our discussion, it was time to join a fourth-grade class for lunch. The students were
excited to have visitors, and had prepared a colorful welcome for us in their classroom. After
introducing ourselves to the students and hearing about their favorite foods, it was time for lunch.

My childhood experience with school lunch had formed my expectation that we would beeating in a cafeteria, so I was surprised as the classroom quickly transformed into a convivial setting
for the meal. After a quick trip to the hallway sinks to wash our hands, desks were quickly
re-arranged, colorful napkin cloths were spread out across each desk, and music was cued.
The fruit and vegetable dishes I’d seen earlier were rolled into the classroom alongside serving trays
holding delicious-smelling food, and a subset of students quickly donned blue sanitary smocks, haircaps, and cloth face masks as they took their places to dish up the meal for their classmates:

As is typical throughout Japan, children do not bring lunches from home before high school. All of
the students are served the same meal, and à la carte options and vending machines are not usuallyavailable.
The students waited until everyone had been served before they began eating. When everyone’s
meals had been placed at their desks, one student went to the front of the room and with clasped
hands and a slight bow led everyone in a chorus of Itadakimasu!, a common Japanese phrase spoken
at the start of a meal. This can be compared to saying “let’s dig in” or “bon appétit,” but it also
conveys an offering of thanks to the chef and to those who produced the ingredients, as well as an
expression of gratitude for the food itself. The essence of the word is related to the Buddhist
principle of respect for all living things; Buddhism is a prevalent religion in Japan.
The meal included milk, rice with light seasoning, miso soup with mixed seasonal vegetables, and46

maguro (a type of tuna) in a light breading and sauce with vegetables. It was all delicious, but thetuna was my favorite.

Here I am with Dr. Yamamoto and some of the students:
The clean-up was executed as quickly as the set-up,
with all of the students helping to stack the dishes andflatten their milk cartons. All around the room, I heard
students saying gochiso sama deshita, a Japanese
expression of thanks for a good meal (literally, “it wasa feast”). Before we left, the students serenaded us
with “The 12 Days of Christmas” in English and theirschool anthem, then we posed for a group photo:

As we prepared to leave the classroom, dozens of origami figures appeared from inside the desks
and were pressed into our hands as parting gifts. While walking to the principal’s office, our last stopat the school, Ms. Yamaguchi stopped in the corridor of the hallway where the carts of dirty serving
dishes were waiting to be rolled back to the kitchen for cleaning. As she pulled the lid off each one,47

I was stunned to see how little food waste remained in all of the dishes:

Ms. Yamaguchi explained that for the entire school (approximately 650 students), food waste
averages around two cups.
In the principal’s office, we were served another round of green tea as we discussed ourobservations and current events influencing the school lunch. One of the discussion topics was
related to the fact that the funding for the 2020 Olympics (which will be hosted in Tokyo) and theschool lunch program is housed in the same department of the Ministry of Education. Hosting the
Olympics will be costly, and it is possible that the school lunch program funding will be reduced as aresult. As part of the effort to prevent this negative consequence, Dr. Yamamoto’s research center ispublishing a collection of short articles and essays on the Asian Nutrition and Food Culture Website
in hopes of increasing the Japanese public’s and policymaker’s recognition of the value andsignificance of the program. Positive comments from foreigners will help their efforts even morecompelling.
The visit made clear to me that the Japanese school lunch program is to be commended, both forthe quality of the food and the integration of the meal into the broader educational milieu. It is truly
outstanding in the context of global attempts to structure school settings and meals so that theycultivate food and nutrition knowledge and interest, improve and enhance health, foster lifelong
healthful eating habits.

482) Kann Deutschland von der Schulverpflegung in Japan lernen? Englische
FassungGermany: Prof. Dr Volker Peinelt
School catering (SC) is gaining more and more importancethroughout Germany, due to the increased number of full-timeschools. Until now the government has failed to establish adequate
preconditions for an healthy and well-balanced SC and therefore thecurrent quality is not satisfying. Therefore the current quality is notsatisfying. Opinions about the right way to deal with this situationdiffer vastly in Germany and this was the main reason for getting toknow the Japanese school catering system, which has been known
for its high quality for a long time.
Several talks and interviews with qualified employees, working at six schools in the areaof Tokyo, provided a clearer insight. In addition I was able to discuss the SC system with
politicians, members of the committee of nutrition and the competent authorities. A few of thecovered topics were the recently used catering system, the responsible employees and the way
the students receive their meals. With the help of another Japanese nutrition scientist I was able
to find out further details.
It turned out that all tasks in the kitchen are executed in a professional manner and the SC
processes are perfectly coordinated. The food is prepared freshly and shows a lot of
production-depth. Subsequently the students themselves carry out the meals to their classmates,
who eat in their classrooms. Due to a few modifications the meals can be received in theclassrooms without additional waiting times. Therefore the food can be categorized as "Cookand Serve"-quality. After lunch the students are responsible for any kind of clean up. The
empty bowls indicate the popularity of the school lunches, even though it is lacking choice offood. In Japan lunch is understood as an additional subject and therefore every student has toattend.
Several reasons can be held responsible for this excellent result. First of all it is the highvaluation of food. Due to this valuation basic preconditions are easier to establish, e.g. thenational SC act, qualified personnel and a sufficient number of employees. Other necessities
like financial support or spatial and equipment needs are provided. Quality always comes firstin Japan and the prices are subordinated. Unfortunately it does not seem possible to transfer theJapanese standards regarding SC to Germany. The poor preconditions and lack of motivation toinvest into such a long-term project in a sustainable way are to blame. The staff capacities arealso not able to hold up to the demand. The fact that decisions are made by local governments
prevents a nationwide SC-revolution. Hence it becomes obvious that Germany has to deal with49

the problem differently.
The first step should be switiching from relying onto the help of parents, teachers or
janitors to professional personnel. Next on the list is the usage of temperature-decoupledsystems which provide a high quality for low prices and actually possess an easy to handle userinterface.
Last but not least it is important to introduce a certification system to make sure thehighest quality is achieved in all areas of SC. Even though the presented ideas are not of hard to
finance, it is still obligatory to implement a new source of funding. This could easily be done byfederal funds.

3) Benchmarking Model of School Nutrition
Chwang Leh-chii, DrPH, RD (President, Asian Federation of Dietetic Associations
and Chinese Dietetic Society Taipei, Taiwan)
I learned about Japan School Lunch Program through literature thatJapan School Lunch Law was enacted early in 1954 and school lunch
was provided nationwide since then.
Seeing is believing. As arranged by the Japan Dietetic Association, I
had a wonderful experience to witness how school lunch was actually
implemented in an elementary school and produced in a central foodservice facility at the suburb of Nagoya back in 1995. The vivid
impression is still in my mind, although it was 2 decades ago.
First impression was automation of food production. Soup was
cooked in a huge tank and stirred by mechanical ladles, and food containers were deliveredaround the kitchen by conveyors. Minimizing kitchen staff and maximizing workload areespecially important today, as population is approaching super-aged society.
Another impression was meal pattern. The lunch consisted of rice as staple, sliced
chicken with fresh vegetables and sweat potato as main and side dish, miso soup, tangerine asfruit, and a bottle of milk as beverage. We joined students and enjoyed the well-balanced mealof low fat and no added sugar.
The most impressive was dietitian as nutrition educator: After finishing the meal,
students helped cleaning the classroom, then a school dietitian came in and taught nutrition in
the class.

In other words, dietitian's roles include not only conducting food service

management, but also guiding dietary and nutrition knowledge. The dietitian used pictorial
teaching materials and motivated students to integrate nutrition knowledge into daily meals.
In contrast, most dietitians in Taiwan at that time worked in hospitals, only a few worked
in lunch program schools. Being then the President of Taiwan Dietitian Association, I had
50

been engaged in lobbying the requirement of dietitians in school lunch program for decades.
This field trip strengthened my thought on further striving for legislation. The Taiwan School
Health Act was finally passed in 2002, and it proclaimed that lunch program schools with 40
classes must hire dietitians to perform the duties of supervising food service and conducting
nutrition education.
Along with the changing social and dietary trends, the newly revised Japan School Law in2009 added Shokuiku 食育-Food and Nutrition Education.

The objectives were to foster

healthy dietary habits, to appreciate local tradition cuisine, to acknowledge the efforts ofagricultural and food industry, and to support environmental conservation.
It is a great challenge and opportunity for school nutrition dietitians. Wish Japan dietitians
continued success in moving on to a new stage; also wish the successful experience in Japan
school lunch program to serve as a benchmarking model for dietitians in other countries.

4) A Visit to Japanese School Lunch: Malaysian Perspective
Malaysia: Noor Fadzlina Hamid (Msc Candidate, Food Technology Officer in
Nutrition and Dietetic Programme, School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains
Malaysia)
School lunches are a common topic when the Japanese recall about theirschool life. In Japan, school lunches mean a regular meal. The Japanese,take seriously both its food and its health and as a result, its school lunches
are implementing. As other countries, struggle to design meals taken
during school that are healthy, tasty and affordable, Japan has wellestablished their meals nationwide long time ago and improve its value bytime to fulfill demand.
In spring 2016, during my attachment to Asian Nutrition & Food
Research Center, Jumonji University, on the research Project of Sugar Analysis and Composition for
Asian Database: Malaysian Perspective, I had the opportunity to visit a Japanese School Lunch at
Elementary School in Niiza, Saitama prefecture.
During my visit, I was accompanied by Professor Shigeru Yamamoto and his two graduate
students

fromVietnam; Miss Vu Thuy Linh and Miss Thanh Thao.

Firstly,I

was

brought

to the preparation kitchen. Even though, I was only allowed to observe the preparation processes ofmeal from outside. I saw the effort that the entire team of cooks made to ensure the food that they
served was a representation of the menu prepared by the Nutritionist Teacher.
As the visit continued, I was accompanied for a walk around the school compound. I noticed that at
every level of floor, there were poster and articles about the school lunches. This made me, to51

understand more and appreciate the Japanese School Lunches program. All the materials pasted on
the wall were very simple, knowledgeable and useful.

I would like to give my greatest appreciation to friend, Miss Vu Thuy Linh who becomes mytranslator during this visit. It made me understand easily and enjoyed my learning about school
lunches. Seeing the children serves food to their friends and teacher, made me realize how mature theywere, even at a young age. So, as the school lunch program continues, children would be able to learn
more about “from farm to the table” and how their meals were prepared. They would appreciate theirfood more during meal times. This informal education in school is the best tools for children to learn.
Personally, I really admire the Japanese school lunch program and hope this school lunches willcontinue and become a reference to others country in developing their own school lunches. Maybe,
in future one day Malaysia can also develop its own school lunches as in Japanese.

5) Hidden jewel of Japanese inside school lunch
Indonesia: Indri Kartiko Sari (Visiting student from University of Indonesia)
I was given the chance to visit one elementary school in North Tokyo
area in 2014 with two students from Thailand and Professor Shigeru
Yamamoto who supervised and guided us. We were invited to do light
conversation inside the principal room. She gave two sheets of the next
month menus to us. All menus were prepared by the school dietitian. The
menus were available in table and literally consisted of the name of thedishes, the ingredients, and the calories counts. She explained that themenu sheets would be given to the student`s guardians before theimplementation.
It was carefully conducted due to the possibility of children’s allergy problems thatinteracted with some ingredients for the menus. The guardians would make sure that the children
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would get the safe ingredients and reported it to the school. Thus, the responsibility to allergy
occurrence cases would become the guardians` responsibility not the school. After the reports,
the guardians would held the responsibility to prepare meal on the day where the school served
possible allergy ingredients.
After that, we went to see the school kitchen from outside. We were refrained to go inside
due to possible contamination that we might bring with us. Such careful action was reallyconsidered in school lunch production. Then, we passed by a table and small school bulletinboard about the menu ingredients for that day. They wrote about the farmer who produced thevegetables and how he produced it. They also put food models of the ingredients on the table so
the students could get the information what they would eat on lunch time. No processed foods
were available. The school dietitians only prepared fresh ingredients from food producers.

It was almost lunch time. Students who were on duties to prepare and serve theclassroom`s lunches wore fully white coat with hair cap and mask. One by one, they finishedserved lunches for their classmate. They took off their duty uniforms and lead the students tobegin eating. I could see the careful choice of ingredients and nutrition content inside thestudents` school lunch. What amazed me the most was
about the food waste which was almost no food waste! I
kept it my mind that the school lunch meal was thattasty so the student didn’t waste any and relatively verylow.
The very low food waste and the tastiness of the meal
definitely had contribution to the students` health. They ate it all, so the richness nutrient fromthe ingredients were completely absorb by their body especially when there were no processed
foods. The intake of fast foods can be reduced hugely and would have impact to the students`
BMI, which the Japanese children obesity prevalence is relatively low. Such jewel was hidden
inside Japanese school lunch and this beauty should be recognized globally.

536) School Lunch – Not Only Food
Vietnam: Vu Thuy Linh (Visiting student from Vietnam)

Japanese School Lunch program has about 140 year old history.

It was started from theyear 1889, and had become the most successful mode of school lunch program. I was reallyamazed by how great this elementary student`s school lunch program was when I had chance tovisit and see with my own eyes.
Firstly, the food preparing process is strictly controlled. For example, safe vegetable isharvested during the early morning. Then in a special room (admission strictly to the staff only),
the material is then cooked freshly and safely. School lunch is transported to each floor on
specific pathway. That means children`s food is the most “umai” (tasty).

Usually schools in Asian country do not employ their own dietitian or have a school lunch
center. They often use these school lunch centers as a place to not only serving food but also fit
nutrition with variety of menu. From my observation, students in Japanese Lunch programs
seem to be happy when they are eating lunch at their own schools.
After the lunch, I was invited by the children to go out to the farms and they taught us
some of the names of vegetable and other material used in the kitchen. In my country Vietnam,54

most children are not able to do this. Why? I think that the Japan school lunch program is not
only to feed lunch, it is also a really interesting food education program as the children canenjoy and remember the names of product from their farm.
In my opinion, if a child is taught from childhood about food education habit. It willremain a good habit and make the Japanese educated about their food habits. The school lunch
plays a great part in obtaining good informing about the food habit.
It was surprising to notice the small amount of wasted food after a Japanese school lunch.
In my country children usually do not like vegetable thus, much vegetables are discarded after
their lunch. Japanese School lunch programs, teach how hard to grow and cook vegetable. As
such during meal time each child eats with gratitude and they will eat all their part.
In this way, Japan has taught their children “MOTTAINAI CULTRUE”. Someday I hope, wewill make a new food culture with School lunch in our own countries…….. Why not!!!

REFERENCE
Please try to contact the following article
Kaneda, Masayo and Yamamoto, Shigeru

The Japanese School Lunch and Its Contribution to

Health Nutrition Today: November/December 2015 - Volume 50 - Issue 6 - p 268–272

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