Measuring waistlines in Japan

June 15, 2008

All

Here is an article that seems like it belongs in the satirical newspaper The

Onion, if it were about an undertaking in the US. Could this lead to taxing

people for exceeding waistlines? Hey, it could become a way to help the national

budget deficit.

Cheers,

Arturo

Japan, a country not known for its overweight people, has undertaken one of the

most ambitious campaigns ever by a nation to slim down its citizenry.

Summoned by the city of Amagasaki one recent morning, Minoru Nogiri, 45, a

flower shop owner, found himself lining up to have his waistline measured. With

no visible paunch, he seemed to run little risk of being classified as

overweight, or metabo, the preferred word in Japan these days.

But because the new state-prescribed limit for male waistlines is a strict 33.5

inches, he had anxiously measured himself at home a couple of days earlier. " I'm

on the border, " he said.

Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local

governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages

of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56

million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population.

Those exceeding government limits -- 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for

women, which are identical to thresholds established in 2005 for Japan by the

International Diabetes Federation as an easy guideline for identifying health

risks -- and having a weight-related ailment will be given dieting guidance if

after three months they do not lose weight. If necessary, those people will be

steered toward further re-education after six more months.

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