[muawiyah]

Japan imports most of its food. In earlier times they grew rice in every possible nook and cranny and still didn't have enough. They developed societal conventions that amounted to an enforced starvation diet.

The people who reside in Manhattan Island also import virtually all of their food. They generally eat once a day ~ and in the long run of history that sort of behavior can lead to some interesting societal conventions if they should start running short of food.

Check Flores Island! Nothing but little tiny people with giant heads all over the place.

[Vigilanteman]

Japan imports most of its food because it chooses to do so, not because it has to do so. My own brother in Japan was practically given full use of an orchard by his landlord because the local, young kids all want to pursue office jobs, not farm. Since my brother is a nice guy, he gets much of the orchard crop pressed into juice and cider and pays the landlord in kind. The old gent (landlord, not my brother) is delighted with this arrangement.

Not long ago, there was an article about a Japanese scientist who had reversed engineered a full course meal, nutritionally balanced from human poop. I kid you not. It looked and smelled like real food.

Of course, nobody would eat it because they knew its origin, so they fed it to the family dog. But the experiment showed just what was possible.

Japan grows a lot of food in factories, not farms now. Unlike Zimbabwe (the former breadbasket of Africa when whitey was in charge), Japan could be self-sufficent in food if they wanted to do so.