Be it low-intensity Pilates workouts, sustainable cooling tools, or all-in-one nutritious onigiri (riceballs), 2024 saw Japan embrace a variety of age-friendly, climate-conscious and socially driven solutions in a year-long push toward better health.
At this year's Wellness Tokyo expo held from Nov. 27 to 29 at Tokyo Big Sight, attendees crowded a booth displaying beginner-focused Pilates equipment, such as "barrels" used to stretch the chest, back and hips. The machines feature gentler curves or mats in lower positions than traditional Pilates equipment, making them more accessible to people with less flexibility.
Such kinds of products and services are part of a growing subset designed to meet the needs and desires of older adults, and a representative from the exhibitor, which imports the equipment from South Korea, said she sees an increasing opportunity to market the products to more medical institutions in Japan, specifically for use among people in need of rehabilitation.
In fact, Pilates, a set of exercises designed to strengthen core muscles originally invented by German circus performer Joseph Pilates in the 1920s, has recently seen a resurgence across all generations in Japan.
The current craze — the nation’s third boom since the exercise arrived in Japan from the United States in the early 2000s — was sparked by South Korean celebrities such as model and rapper Jennie and actress Park Min-young, whose glamorous workout posts have gone viral on Instagram, industry experts say.
“We have seen explosive growth in the number of Pilates studios nationwide since about last year, with many running machine Pilates studios,” says Masataka Konno of Pilates Search, a Tokyo firm that runs a Pilates portal, noting that the firm’s website now lists about 1,700 studios.
“We also see more personal or semi-personal lessons offered lately — with many studios running out of one-room apartments with just enough space for one machine.”
Personal Pilates and other fitness lessons are also in vogue despite being much more expensive than conventional group sessions, experts say. Meanwhile, fitness services targeting casual, frugal users are also booming.
Chocozap, which takes its name from the Japanese phrase chokotto (a little bit), is a relatively new type of self-service 24-hour gym, where users can sing karaoke, do laundry, undergo teeth whitening and even schedule hair removal sessions — while waiting for their turn at treadmills or shoulder press machines. Started as an experiment during the COVID-19 pandemic, the oddball gym outlets numbered 1,700 as of October, according to industry giant Rizap Group.
The popularity of Chocozap, which charges users a monthly fee of ¥3,278, explains the fitness industry’s renewed focus on light, entry-level customers. It tapped the unmet needs of members of the public wanting to exercise: According to the health ministry, only 28.7% (33.4% for men and 25.1% for women) of people age 20 or older exercise for more than 30 minutes at least twice a week. In addition, 38% of men and 33% of women remain in sedentary positions for eight hours or more per weekday.
Demand for these casual gyms, however, seems to have hit a peak and will likely slow down in the mid- to long term, according to Yano Research Institute, which released a report on fitness trends in October.
Climate and health
This summer tied with last year’s for Japan’s hottest on record and saw a record 97,578 people sent to hospitals for heat-related illnesses. As such, surviving the heat has become one of the nation’s top health concerns.
This summer, most people had no choice but to keep their air conditioners on through the night, but this left many wondering what the optimal room temperature for inducing sleep would be — which, according to one expert, is somewhere between 25 and 28 degrees Celsius.
While huge quantities of cooling gadgets and accessories hit the market every year, the environmental toll of consuming more energy to keep yourself cool continues to rise as well. Some experts have suggested sustainable ways to stay cool in the summer, such as reusing ice packs handed out at stores when you buy frozen foods — folding them into tenugui towels and wrapping them around your neck — or using an app to find free public and private drinking water fountains, thereby avoiding problematic plastic bottles from a vending machine.
More people in Japan this year also became aware of the effects of carbon emissions from their diet. Masaka, a vegan restaurant in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, tried to visually display vegan diet compared with meat-based alternatives by listing the ratio of carbon dioxide emissions cuts for their menu.
Whether for climate change or other reasons, the ranks of vegetarians and vegans are swelling worldwide, according to the Japan Tourism Agency. The return of inbound tourists this year has provided an opportunity for domestic businesses to catch up with the global trend. In April, the agency released its omotenashi (hospitality) guidelines for restaurants, which estimated the number of vegan and vegetarian visitors in Japan at 1.28 million per year, or 5.1% of all inbound visitors.
Nutritious food in one go
Japan’s health foods market took a big hit this year when Kobayashi Pharmaceutical’s beni kōji (red yeast rice) dietary supplements caused a series of kidney and other health problems among consumers. More than 120 people died and 540 others have been hospitalized since taking the firm’s supplements, prompting health authorities in September to make it mandatory for all manufacturers of supplements and other health foods to report suspected health issues promptly.
Still, demand for quick, nutritious foods remains strong as more people live alone and value taipa (short for "time performance," or efficiency in the use of time) in meals, experts say. This year has seen the expansion of so-called complete nutrition lines that claim to provide a balanced intake of essential nutrients without extraneous effort.
Major players include Base Food, a startup that markets “fully nutritious” bread and pasta, and Nissin Group, the world-famous maker of instant noodles. While there’s no official definition of what constitutes “fully nutritious food,” Base Food says its products contain one-third of the daily recommended intake of all 33 essential nutrients defined by the health ministry in a single serving.
Nissin raised the profile of these foods in 2022, when it launched its Kanzen Meshi (the brand name translated to “Complete Food”) series. This year, the company expanded its product line, and in November began selling frozen Thai gapao rice and pork buns through its online store.
Cosmetic company Orbis also entered the fray in May with the launch of Cocomogu onigiri, two servings of which provide a third of the daily amount of 30 nutrients.
Despite common complaints from consumers that the flavors aren’t quite the same as traditional meals, market research firm Fuji Keizai Group estimates the domestic complete food market to grow from ¥14.4 billion in 2022 to ¥54.6 billion by 2030.
Chances are you’ll see more of these taipa foods filling the shelves of supermarkets and convenience stores in Japan next year — if not sooner during your holiday shopping in the weeks to come.
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