The Gaizin Diet

Okinawans were once regarded as the healthiest and longest-lived of all the Japanese, and even today the large island in southwestern Japan claims more than two and a half times the national average of centenarians. Things have changed with subsequent generations, however, as Okinawans heartily embraced a GI-lifestyle characterized by, among other things, chainsmoking and fast food chains. Administered by the United States from 1945, when Little Boy and Fat Man brought a close to WWII, until 1972, the island got its first fast food restaurant in 1963 -- 20 years before Tokyo did. The UK Telegraph reports:

Experts say that the generation that grew up eating American food is now reaching middle age overweight and at risk from diabetes. Almost 30 per cent of Okinawan men die before reaching 65, and nearly half of men in their forties are obese.