CASE STUDY OF DIETARY HABITSANDACCULTURATION IN CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN JAPAN: PROBLEMS AND NECESSITY OF INTERCULTURAL DIETARY EDUCATION

Japan is known as one of the world's healthiest food country; however, the question has been raised if foreign students in Japan are truly living a healthy dietary life. Dietary education is common for Japanese citizens; however, it has been undeveloped for foreign students.In this study, we focused on Chinese students, who accounted for approximately 60% of the international students in Japan. Participants were twenty-one Chinese students who attended a university in Japan.Semi-structured interviews were conducted and informants were asked to talk about their dietary life and the changes after coming to Japan.We determined their cross-cultural adjustment and dietary behavior in cross-cultural environment in Japan, and considered whether cross-cultural dietary education was necessary.