The lives of others: What the world can teach Ireland about smarter living

Slim Japan

For occasional visitors to Ireland like myself, one of the more striking phenomena over the last two decades has been ballooning obesity levels. One Irish child in four is overweight or obese.

Much of the developed world can report a similar trend – but not Japan, where just 3.5 per cent of the population is obese.

What is Japan doing right? The most widely accepted element in its successful attempt to keep flab at bay is the healthy national diet, which is traditionally based on rice and fish. Portions are noticeably smaller than in Ireland or the US.

But there is another reason why Japan has escaped the global obesity epidemic, and it might not be palatable among the West’s laissez-faire governments: state intervention.

The state butts into the culinary lives of Japanese citizens in a way that their Irish counterparts might find intrusive. In 2008 Japan introduced a law forcing companies and local governments to measure the waistlines of more than 50 million middle-aged Japanese.

The government set a limit of 33.5in for men and 35.4in for women. Workers who missed this target had compulsory counselling. Companies that failed to cut the number of fatties faced penalties.

Millions of Japanese workers are screened yearly for health problems as part of corporate health-insurance programs. Local schools and health centres also provide free, or virtually free, annual check-ups. This is all considered common sense in Japan, a way of ensuring that the health system is not overwhelmed years down the line.

In schools, meals are cooked on site from fresh – not frozen – ingredients and often use food from local farmers. Local governments subsidise the meals; parents pay €2 or €3 a day. Older children serve the meals and learn about nutrition as they do.

Does it work? Japan claims childhood obesity levels are falling. And the children who consume these nutritional lessons today will live to an average age of 83, longer than anywhere else in the world.

Belgium’s happy renters

Ask any of the Irish workers and interns who pass through Brussels about the Belgian rental market and their eyes fill with terror as they recount the experience of the dreaded état des lieux. This contract between landlord and tenant calculates how much outgoing tenants need to compensate an owner for wear and tear.

But while the experience for short-term tenants can be challenging, overall the Belgian rental system is one of the country’s great advantages.

As the home of art nouveau, Brussels is filled with superb residential properties that won’t break the bank, despite the fact that it is generally an expensive city. A 115sq m two- or three-bedroom apartment in the city’s most exclusive neighbourhoods will set you back between €1,000 and €1,500 – a bargain compared with Paris or London.

Most properties are leased in nine-year cycles, although technically tenants are committed for the first three years only. If the lease is broken, in year one the tenant must pay three months’ rent; in year two, two months’ rent; and in year three, one month’s rent. After three years tenants can terminate the lease at any point once they give three months’ written notice.

Landlords are prohibited from ending the lease within the first three years and must give tenants six months’ notice. Landlords also face charges for breaking the contract. A charge of 18 months’ rent can be applied if a landlord breaks the lease without adhering to procedures.

This system also means that a form of rent control is in place. Landlords may increase the base rent only every three years (although small, inflation-linked rises are permitted).

While the Belgian system evidently gives greater security to tenants in terms of duration of contract and cost, Belgian landlords should not elicit too much sympathy. Rental income is subject to very low tax.

Cultured France

"Countries look to France as a cultural model," says Sheila Pratschke, the chairwoman of the Arts Council and former director of the Irish College in Paris. "It's a country where culture encompasses a whole range of intellectual disciplines."

Ireland might learn from the French attitude towards culture, Pratschke says. “The French see everything as interlinked. For example, there’s a debate in Ireland around the fact that history as a subject is disappearing in Irish schools. That would be unthinkable in France, because history is linked to philosophy, the evolution of scientific theories and broader cultural expression.”

Hadrien Laroche, an author and university professor who spent 16 years as a French cultural representative abroad, including in Ireland, fears that the centrality of culture is diminishing in both countries. The French foreign ministry now emphasises “economic diplomacy” more than culture. “Patrick Modiano had to win the Nobel Prize to remind us not to neglect our culture and writers,” Laroche says. “Through culture we still carry weight in the world.”

French and Irish culture both rely heavily on government subsidies, but France devotes substantially more to it. The 2015 French culture budget of €7 billion works out at €106 per French citizen, compared with an Irish budget of €212 million, or €46 per capita.

France’s generous cultural spending does not always produce results. “Some of it is superb, some mediocre,” Pratschke says. “But that is true in industry and science as well. If you don’t invest in culture you’re not going to achieve the same excellence.”

It’s a question of priorities. “There is not yet a strong feeling in Irish society that culture matters and that without it we are really nothing,” Pratschke says. “We’re still struggling for our identity. Our culture is one of the things that gives us identity, but we don’t want it to cost any money. Whereas in France they take it for granted that French culture is the most wonderful thing.”

Parental leave, full equality and city planning: Emigrants' ideas

We invited Irish emigrants to discuss this subject on our Generation Emigration site. Here’s a selection of their comments.

Children are what Norway does best. Parents choose either 10 months’ parental leave on 100 per cent pay or 12 months’ on 80 per cent pay. Mother must take an additional three weeks off before the birth, father gets an extra two weeks right after the birth, and father must take 10 weeks’ minimum leave. KMcC61

The Irish health system should learn from the NHS. The cancer pathway in particular is excellent. A GP can refer a patient for a cancer investigation within two weeks. Patients start treatment within 60 days. LondonSarah

Gender and age equality. In Canada whether you are male or female, 25 or 65, if you can do the job it’s yours. They encourage people to be their own boss and own their own businesses . Eamonn Jenny

Ireland could learn a lot about planning peripheral cities by sending its planners to great cities in the US and Europe. Cities define a lot about our daily lives and who we are. I’m from Limerick. Apart from UL and the rugby, there is not much I shout about when I tell people I’m from there. Michaelmolloy

As a former immigrant in Ireland currently living in Canada, I say one huge thing Ireland could change is referring to non-Irish as “non-nationals”. It’s a degrading term used by governments and media across Ireland. VicQuebec

Austria does health and transport very well. Of course, tax rates are high, but generally you get what you pay for. And while there is some political chicanery, the law is the law, and people who break the law get punished. DIG