Is Being Fat in Japan Really Illegal?
(I've been informed that it's not a law to get measured once a year - please scroll this forum to learn more - below is the original article)
So what exactly is this fat tax everyone is talking about from Japan? Is it real? Is it really illegal to be fat in Japan? Well, first off, yes it is real, there is a sort of 'fat' tax that is applied for those over a certain BMI/waistline in Japan (85 cm for men and 90 cm for women). But you'll never see anyone actually arrested for being fat... Fined, absolutely, but not the individual themselves, companies are the ones who take the hit. Japan requires it's citizens between 40 and 74 years of age to get their BMI/waistlines measured once a year, and if need be seek medical attention and counseling.
"Standard Concerning Implementation Special Health Examination and ... Special Public Health Guidance"
Otherwise known as 'Metabo' law, started in 2008 to combat 'metabolic syndrome" and to curb the country's overweight population by at least 25% by 2015. So with that said, has it worked? It has actually, it's dropped the obese rate of Japanese people by 1% since it started. So Japan put out all the stops to help curb any excess fat that they can from society. But already Japan has a few things going for them that Americans simply don't. First Japanese people already eat a diet full of fish, vegetables and rice, whereas Americans literally are loading up on ultra-processed foods 50% of the time! Second is that Japanese people by default end up having to walk much more then Americans, and are encouraged to do so. Americans simply for the most part do not have the ability to leave their house and walk into a city as many Americans live on the out skirts of cities.Lets look at this in the raw numbers to see how absolutely insane this really is: Obese Japanese People: 4,500,000 Obese American People: 101,000,000! Overweight Japanese People: 31,000,000 Overweight American People: 105,250,000 Total overweight and obese: Total in Japan: 31,100,000 Total in America: 218,750,000 So I'd say Japan is doing something right when you compare it to America right? But let's be fair and look at the numbers if they were to have the same amount of people, but let's look at it if America had as many people as Japan. Total in Japan: 31,100,000 Total in America (same pop. as Japan): 86,668,000 In this made up chart America would still have over 50,000,000 more people that are overweight. This would also mean that out of the 126,000,000 people only about 45,000,000 would be healthy which is about 1/3 of the population.
Japanese Population: 126,000,000 American Population: 318,000,000 - (Feb 9th 2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwH3rA8Evow So as you know the law is not coming to take you to jail if you're too fat in Japan, they're not going to come slap handcuffs on you or force you into fat camp. Although you will be required to see a counselor and a dietician to help you curve that hefty waistline, that is if you even show up for your appointment. So, is that it? You pretty much just get a slap on the wrist and a bit of mandatory counseling? Well, yes and no. The biggest effects from this law stem from companies who employee bigger people. The big punishments are really being felt by the companies of Japan. If they find ANY of their employees are big boned and over the limit they can be fined a fair sum of money until everyone has a come to Jesus meeting and gets a grip and slims down. Companies actually hand out 'Metabo' towels that have a measurement stitched into the towel so you can see if you're gaining weight or if you're losing it. Otherwise to basically help you remember that if you're overweight your a burden on the companies well-being. One fine a company was said to pay was upwards of $19,000,000 dollars! This is why you will see companies doing a set of work outs in the morning before they start work. 30 minutes of stretching they say help keep everyone a bit more fit, and they also found that it keeps their employees more focused on their tasks. But not everything is as it seems, this program that seems to have well intentions (which I agree to a point), doesn't have everyone's best interests. Because of this, people that are bigger are shunned and made fun of and verbally abused, and this attitude also leeches into the public and private lives as well, but besides the emotional and societal backlash, did Japan really need to enact this law?
- The measurements done around the waist do not always give an accurate measurement of persons body fat.
- The law totally avoids childhood obesity, which is where most weight challenges occur in life.
- Companies discriminate against people who are a tiny bit overweight or not overweight at all, thinking they could become over weight
- Less than 50% of the people attend the required checkups
- Of those who do that are found to go and have a weight issue, only about 12% of the people who received counseling even took the advice or even acted on it.
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