According to research Japan bans obesity
Maybe we should take a leaf out of their salad.
We’re all aware there’s a quirky side to Japan. The pictures we see are always full of bright colours and weird trends. Such crazes include the fascination of ‘cartoonising’ everything –warning signs not exempt — and providing a Train Delay Certificate for commuters that arrive at their destination late — even by a minute.
For decades, the Japanese have loved small things — so it makes sense that their government want them to have small waists as well.
In 2008, Japan launched a nationwide weight-loss campaign, which stated that none of their citizens’ waistlines were to be over 35 inches.
Your initial thoughts might be that this is a bit radical, a bit Trump-esque but they had good reasons — they wanted to cut healthcare costs. What with modern medicine adding decades onto our lifespan, all countries can see the cost of healthcare increase in correlation with an ageing society. Japan chose to battle this head-on by implementing a new law that stated all adults between the ages of 40 and 74 were required to attend an annual waist-measurement. Failure to attend and the ‘criminal’ would be dubbed a recalcitrant, someone who has a stubborn and uncooperative attitude towards authority. One such person was 73-year-old Kenzo Nagata, a toy-store owner who adamantly ignored his summons, declaring his waistline was his own business and no-one else’s.
56 million waists had to be measured before the campaign could be launched — the target was to reduce Japan’s overweight population by 25% in 2015.
Male waists were not to exceed 33.5 inches and women 35.4. For a woman, that’s a size 18 and the average US female waist is 37.5 inches so it’s fair to say this target is not unachievable.
Failure to shrink your waist to the requirement when it’s time for your annual measurement can risk fines. But the individuals are not charged — their employers are. And they’re not only responsible for their staff, but their families and retirees too! Let’s hope there are no employees out there with a vendetta…
The idea of the big corporations shouldering the responsibility and therefore the necessary punishments of this campaign is innovative and a relief for us ‘little people’. The only punishment for the overweight individual is to be re-educated on living a healthy lifestyle.
A new word was created to incorporate ‘obesity’ and ‘metabolic’ and Japan coined ‘metabo’. Society would use this word rather than ‘obese’ and physician Dr Sakamaoto says this new word has positive connotations and the anti-metabo song does have a nice ring to it. A few lyrics include ‘Goodbye, Metabo. Let’s get our check-ups together! Go! Go! Go!’ and sound effects are used to show the danger of trouser buttons popping out: ‘pyun-pyun-pyun’!
Japanese town Mie loved the new anti-metabo campaign so much so that its town officials got involved. They formed a weight-loss group called ‘The Seven Metabo Samurai’ and set an example for the rest of their town to follow.
Unfortunately, the group sharply disbanded after one of its members died of a heart attack whilst jogging. He was 47 and had a 39-inch waist.
Japan is not the only country to provide incentives to get their nations fitter: Dubai pays people to lose weight, China uses acupuncture to ‘treat’ obesity. New Zealand bans overweight immigrants from obtaining a visa. America sucks the fat out of people’s bodies.
At least Japan’s scheme is not intrusive.
Japanese food is much healthier than most of the Western world’s. When we think of Japan, we don’t imagine masses of obese citizens and the stereotype is well-earned. Statistics show Japan’s overweight population is a mere 7.2%. America’s overweight population takes over the country at a staggering 75.4%, England approaching with 54%.
Some Westerners might view the anti-metabo campaign as a method of brain-washing. Perhaps employees are threatened with an early retirement if they don’t lose weight.
But from the stats it’s clear to see Japan’s campaign was a success. One of the healthiest countries, their healthcare costs will not be as high as ours or America. Maybe we should adopt this custom to incentivise people to lose weight.
Personally, I prefer Dubai’s approach. I’ll lose weight for gold any day.
