Belly Measurements are Mandated in Japan
The Japanese…now have to face measurements of their waistlines during annual checkups if they’re between 40 and 74 years old, the New York Times reports… Anyone with a weight-related medical concern and whose waist is bigger than the acceptable size — a rigorous 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women — must lose weight, according to a new law. Otherwise, they face compulsory diet advice and follow-up visits for three to six months. For some perspective, the average male waist size in the U.S. is 39 inches, while American women average 36.5 inches.
Full Wall Street Journal blog post on Japan’s mandatory waist measurement.
You think that’s bad? Just wait for Obama Care.
Why do I suspect that sumo wrestlers are exempted?
Great photo. Gross. But apropos.
Must be a slow complaint about Obama day, the news reports are from June 2008.
In the United States men’s waistlines tend to be more than two inches larger than women’s. That makes me wonder why in Japan the women are allowed to have a waistline nearly two inches larger than men?
Devon, I was wondering the same thing. That has to be some sort of mistake, no? I can’t imagine that a healthy Japanese woman has a larger waistline than a healthy Japanese man.
And yes, artk this isn’t really news.
Such “nanny state” regulations are sure to accelerate in the US, once we accept the principle that we all have to for for each others’ health care.
For more, see:
“Universal healthcare and the waistline police”
Christian Science Monitor, 1/7/2009
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2009/0107/p09s01-coop.html
It’s funny women can have a bigger waistline than men yet men store most of their fat in their waistline while women have it more in their hips and thigh. Yet men have to have a smaller waistline LOL. So Japanese are proving to be not only the most racist country in the world but also the most sexist. Good job Japan moving to a marxist communist dictatorship.
It’s funny women can have a bigger waistline than men yet men store most of their fat in their waistline while women have it more in their hips and thigh. Yet men have to have a smaller waistline LOL. So Japanese are proving to be not only the most racist country in the world but also the most sexist. Good job Japan moving to a marxist communist dictatorship.