Viral TikTok sparks debate over how ‘healthy’ American junk food is compared to Japan

A woman has sparked a debate about junk food in America after claiming that “unhealthy” food in Japan is far better for you.

TikToker Sunnie Cherie (@trashbuns) said that, from her own personal experience, she believes Japan’s fast food is much healthier than the equivalent in the US and that she had lost a lot of weight through eating it.

She posted a video with the caption: “ Literally are [sic] JUNK for at least 2 meals a day In japan and lost POUNDS.”

Wearing sunglasses while nodding to Ocean Prime, by Bfb Da Packman – a song that mentions the American fast-food chain, Chick-Fil-A. – Sunnie says: “I knew America was literally killing me with its food when I went to Japan and ate konbini every day for a month and lost 25 pounds.”

Konbinis are one-stop-shop convenience stores for “all your late-night cravings, cleaning emergencies, and everything in between,” according to Bokksu. With more than 54,000 konbini stores across the country, they can pretty much be found on every street corner in Japan.

Some of the foods on offer include Onigiri (rice balls), Bento or obento (freshly packaged lunches with rice and items such as grilled fish, pickled vegetables and chicken).

A bento box containing salmon over rice and salmon roe over rice from a convenience store or "konbini"Getty Images

Since posting her video, Sunnie has received more than 1.6m views, with 450,000 likes and thousands of comments. You can watch the TikTok video in full here.

One person wrote: “I’m not defending America but it’s mostly the lifestyle. People in other countries walk more etc.”

“I did think of that,” Sunnie replied. Though she added that she didn’t have her license to get around Arizona, so rode a bike every day to get around and didn’t take it with her to Japan, where she has been using more public transport.

She added: “So for me, I actually became less active when I was in Japan because I didn’t have a bike, and I still lost the pounds.”

However, others still believed exercise played an important role. Someone wrote: “People always think this, but really it’s because you walk more on vacation and Japan’s food has less calories.”

“It’s probably because you’re not making the right choices back home, hun,” another person said, and slammed her for eating animal products. Sunnie responded: “I’ve been vegan for 8 years babes.”

Someone else commented: “A lot of our food isn’t even allowed in other countries because it violates their safety regulations,” which plenty of people seemed to agree with as the comment received nearly 65,000 likes.

“I wish they would change their regulations. We shouldn’t be eating food like this,” a fourth person added.

Another shared a similar story to Sunnie, “I always lost AT LEAST 15lbs in Vietnam despite eating junk food and drinking 2 sodas a day lol,” they wrote.