The Japanese food pyramid is a version of the nutrition food pyramid as done in the US and Western Europe. A food pyramid diagram is basically a breakdown of the types of food which you should be eating in order to maintain a healthy diet. It should include plenty of roughage, plenty of fruit and vegetables, lean meat and fish, nuts and pulses, etc. The Japanese food pyramid is basically structured in the same way as the FDA food pyramid.
As you can see from the food pyramid image above, the Japanese food pyramid has the section for grains at the bottom, colored in yellow. This includes being able to eat noodles, oval grain, long grain, rice wheat buns, noodles, and Rice. The amounts that you can eat are between six and 11 servings per day. The next level is comprised of two sections, the orange section for vegetables and the green section for fruits. The vegetables you can eat between 3 and 5 servings and the food section allows you to eat between two and four servings a day. The vegetables are typical Japanese vegetables and some of the foods we would recognize except for the Asian pears. The next level up is a blue level for milk and dairy products and a red level for meats, which includes fish. They have some great stuff on the Japanese food pyramid meat section such as crab, squid, eels, clams, and even including bean curd. The section at the top, colored purple, includes everything that you should eat sparingly. This includes all fats, oils, and sweets.
This is a fairly minimalistic food pyramid. I think that the Japanese food pyramid reflects Japanese cuisine. Japanese nutrition, of the old style, is supposed to be one of the best in the world. Although white rice is used in Japanese cuisine a lot and does not have a high nutritional value, it does bulk up your meal and therefore has a value in making you feel full. If you are going to try out the Japanese diet you can always substitute the traditional white rice with the brown varieties that are available today.
If you are going to attempt to follow the Japanese food pyramid then you should take a look at some of the many excellent Japanese food websites that are available on the Internet. You should find that if you can use the Japanese food pyramid intelligently you will be able to switch some of the healthier options that we have in the West, such as whole-grain products, and make Japanese food pyramid one of the healthiest on the planet.