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The diet of Japanese people is very various and international. What we eat is not traditional Japanese food but also cuisine that has been adopted from both of the East and the West. Of course we don't eat sushi every day though it's the most famous Japanese food among foreign people, and it's same we can't say that Americans eat hamburgers every day, or Germans can't live without beer. The decision about what to eat each time depends on the taste or feeling of each person, and we never have troubles to find choices. We can say it about both of eating out and eating in. For example, my mother likes to have toast and a cup of coffee for her breakfast, on the other hand, I like to have rice and "natto" and miso-soup. It's often said that Japanese food is good for health, and maybe it's true, but, it's not only Japanese food itself but also the attitude for eating that affect our health well and make Japan be known as the country of longevity. Most of Japanese people know the importance of the nutritionally balanced diet and make a conscious effort about it. By the way, there are the saying "umi-no-sachi" and "yama-no-sachi" in Japanese that mean "the products of the sea" and "the products of the mountains". A literal translation of the word "sachi" is "happiness". Contemporary Japan is so chaotic about thinking and culture. It has swallowed and digested various cultures from the different foreign countries that including the Buddhism and the Christianity and sublimate those into the original shapes, however, the basis that can be regarded as the rich soil under the heaps of overseas spices is "Shinto". It is Japanese own traditional religious principle and practice that has risen from animism and shamanism and pantheism. Probably, you can get the picture of it from the famous Japanese animation movie of Hayao Miyazaki "Spirited away". The point is that the sea and the mountains and even food itself can be the god. The god doesn't have to be the ultimate one for the most of Japanese people. They would rather feel comfortable to be in the melting pots of the variety. From the saying of "The happiness from the sea" and "The happiness from the mountains", you can feel the deep gratitude toward the nature and the positive attitude to enjoy eating. In this way of thinking, eating is not just means for living. It should be enjoyable and makes us happy. You can see some of Japanese cooking can be even the formative art in its beautiful decoration or wonderful technique. The Japanese eating culture can be characterized by those factors like above such as the variety of food and the well-balanced diet and the sense of beauty. noted in Feb,2004
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