nytimes.com — Waistlines are measured by employers to determine the overall health of the company. Those with overweight employees are fined, and unhealthy employees are shamed into becoming thinner, else being labeled a "metabo." Retirees and family members are also included. The question is asked: could this work in the US with our much larger populace?
Jun 26, 2008 View in Crawl 4
scottmitchellJun 27, 2008
I would agree if we were talking about the US, but everyone in Japan looks the same and enjoys the same relative height (short).
arcticblueJun 27, 2008
I live in work in Japan and I have not heard of this. My company (yes, a Japanese company. I'm not SOFA.) has not even mentioned checking everyone's waist and I haven't seen anything on TV about this (then again, I don't watch alot of TV). I saw this article on Slashdot a couple days ago and I've yet to figure out where it originated from. I can't help but think that there may have been a mistranslation somewhere.
leomarthJun 27, 2008
A friend of mine living in Tokyo tells me this is happening because the government's socialized health care system is in a shambles and they're starting to grope for ways to either fix it, or ditch it really soon.
zippoJun 28, 2008
The Japanese people, on average, are of good weight... In two weeks, I think I counted less than 10 fat people... out of the hundreds of thousands I came across.
bean888Jun 28, 2008
I didn't think the smoking bans would work in the USA, but here we are today (no smoking in Federal buildings, planes, most restaurants, etc).
grangerfxJun 28, 2008
Japan should start by shaming themselves into not eating wale blubber (or any other parts of endangered animals).
ennuistudentJun 30, 2008
Actually, that's some very keen observations you've made there.An example that I've seen referred to in this situation, would be the higher obesity/diabetes rates in african-american communites, that coincidentally happen to be in the lowest income brackets.The nation's poor is far more likely to buy inexpensive, fatty foods, opposed to expensive fruits and vegetables. You've seen it for yourself, a box of Little Debbies for 1.19, or some vegetables for up to three times as much.The farm subsidies is largely to blame for the cheapness of fatty foods. The amounts of sugar, grains, and corn syrup products are essentially cheaper to implement in the junk foods we find today, and therefore seem far more attractive to the poor.Where's the market outcry against these subsidies, in this "free" country of ours?
thatevilcupcakeJun 30, 2008
I have to wonder if maybe the article had a typo and switched the male and female measurements. A 33.5 in. waistline for a guy seems awfully tiny. Guys I know with 32 and below look emaciated and unhealthy. I know Japanese guys are generally shorter than American guys, but the standard seems awfully over-strict and in some cases, unattainable. On the other hand, 35.4 for women seems over-the-top more lenient than the standard for men. My mom has approximately that, and she's always complaining about how fat she is. Morbidly obese, no, but a bit on the pudgy side, maybe. If Japan wants their citizens to be in homogeneously good shape, 35.4 in for men and 33.5 in for women seems a lot more reasonable.
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