Seaweed and Japan's nutritional crisis

Abstract

In excess of 11 million people live on Japan's four main islands of Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku. The country's total landmass is approximately twice that of the United Kingdom, yet only around 8% of this is usable for agriculture. Japan too is very short on raw materials which have to be imported in hundreds of millions of tons. The country's population explosion, combined with the dearth of mineral assets, has led Japanese nutrition experts to forecast a grave food crisis. ‘Futuristics’, a subject which fascinates the Japanese, is being used to help solve the projected food problems: And in this the sea is seen as the saviour of Japan.

Citation

Lamont Brown, R. (1976), "Seaweed and Japan's nutritional crisis", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 76 No. 4, pp. 18-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb059410