School lunches have Japan’s kids topping nutrition lists

Nutritious meal: Schoolchildren enjoying their school lunches at the Nisikasai Elementary School in Tokyo. Unlike the cafeteria system operated in some Western countries, Japanese school lunches are usually served in the classroom.

Tokyo: Japan manages a rare feat for a developed country when it comes to feeding its children – high scores for nutrition but very low obesity rates. One major key? School lunches.

A landmark report by the UN’s children agency Unicef released yesterday shows Japan topping the charts for childhood health indicators, with low rates of infant mortality and few underweight children.