2020 Volume 27 Issue 1 Pages 137-142
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted unanimously at a United Nations summit in September 2015, raising 17 international goals and 169 targets. The first three of the 17 goals, “1. No poverty,” “2. “End hunger,” and “Good health and well-being,” can probably be said to focus on developing nations. In many of these countries, the situations are very similar to the poor conditions of postwar Japan. The change and improvement in nutrition that came with the striking economic development of subsequent years was accompanied by big physical changes in Japanese people. With this background, it may be that the secular trends in physical development in Japan can serve as a model for developing nations in various stages of development in achieving the SDGs. In this study we focus on the period of high economic growth in Japan that is thought to have been affected by the human environment, and examine the relationship between the changes over time in the physical development of Japanese people and high economic growth. Our aim is to be able to present the secular trends in physical development in Japan as a model in working to achieve the SDGs that address challenges on a global scale.
