How food did become such a major topic in this country?

Hello,

I’ve been living in Japan for close to ten years, and something I keep noticing is how central food seems to be in everyday life and conversation.

I come from France (a country we can’t deny also has a very strong food culture), but I feel food is way, way more omnipresent here. Of course, TV shows are a common fact (although I suspect it is also because it’s cheap and convenient to produce), but I feel it extends way farther.

For instance, how it shapes tourism here. I feel a lot of Japanese travel just for "testing the local food" (despite local specialties being often slight variations of a common food), and that it shaped a lot of tourism activities. I recently checked a Japanese travel book for Paris, and was surprised by how much focus is put on the food, as if the main interest was really just food, food, food. All the guides in the West are way more balanced in this regard, with cultural things at least as important.

A few days ago I also had an interesting experience. I was with a group of Europeans from different countries (many meeting for the first time) and a few Japanese friends. The Europeans quickly jumped between all kinds of topics – some were not leaving here and asked me about housing insulation in Japan, where the energy came from since Fukushima, daily life differences, or talked about Venezuela when we heard the news. The Japanese, despite speaking good English, stayed much quieter and only joined the conversation when it was about food, or asked questions about food. It was fun when one of them asked me that "wow, you guys have very serious conversations although you just meet for a few minutes" :D).

I’m not gonna lie, I realized this is actually something I miss quite a bit here. I’m very non-confrontational, so Japan feels good for that, but I felt that Western Europeans (I won't generalize for other as I don't have experience) switch a lot more between a lot of different topics.

I would just be curious to hear if I’m the only one feeling a bit "overwhelmed/tired" by food here, and how it came to be so huge here. Of course, I know it is the perfect non-confrontational subject, but I really wonder from where come this massive interest for this.