I’m not talking about the “typical” junk food (like KFC or McDonalds), instead it’s more on certain aspects of Japanese cuisine being carb heavy or features fried items such as: ramen, agepan, karage, tempura, gyudon, tonkatsu, yakitori, etc. I mean, can ramen or gyudon bowls still be deemed “fast food” even though they appear ‘healthier’ than American fast food.
Carbs generally are not a dietary problem. It’s excess sugar and excess calories that are getting most people (at least in the west) fat, more than carbs. Yes, excessive carbs can contribute to excessive calories, like eating fries with every meal is definitely going to get you there, though your body needs carbs far more than it needs sugar!
Hence why when most people cut out even just sugar filled drinks and desserts, they can often exercise past how many carbs they eat.
Carbs are sugars. Just more complex than simple sugars. That’s why carb-rich diets can still be terrible on health over time, regularly messing with glycemic load and constituting ‘empty calories.’ So, even worse than a pre-diabetic source, as I mentioned.
I’d recommend you do a modern nutrition course to catch up on this stuff, because science & nutrition is way past the simple idea of calories-in / calories-out. The fact is that the FORM of the calories matter hugely, with processed foods in general being pretty bad on health, long-term. These are what the studies collectively say.