Japan cracks down on growing waistlines early

[Crescent Pulsar]

Seems like the Japanese government will impose several courses of action to decrease people's weight.

I got a very mixed reaction from this. On the one hand, I think it's funny that the government would go to that sort of length. On the other, I don't think that a government should have that kind of control over someone's personal life. And, on that elusive third arm, that I have tucked away in my shirt, I think that using force makes sense (well, certainly, if it were in regard to the American population).

Makes me wonder about the future of Sumo wrestling, though.

[Daniel Jess Gibson]

I got a very mixed reaction from this. On the one hand, I think it's funny that the government would go to that sort of length. On the other, I don't think that a government should have that kind of control over someone's personal life.

The government and therefore the people of Japan are paying the additional costs of these people being overweight. The government bureaucrats have a responsibility to cut costs, so controlling people's lives becomes the simplest measure.

If you wonder why people in the US are angry about sociallized medicine, this is one reason. Japan is a democracy too and the hospitals are government owned/run.

[CRBWildcat]

This is one of those things that make me inclined to merely chuckle and move on with my life.

[Acey]

I understand a country having its citizens' physical well being high on their priorities, but using waist size as a barometer is an inherently flawed means of identifying overweight or unhealthy people.

I've always been slim and currently I'm a thin as a rail. Yet I'm not nearly as fit as say, four years ago when I used have the chance to exercise far more regularly than I do today due to work concerns. And back then, I ate more, weighed more and was generally fitter.

It's not perfect, but calculating a person's BMI would be a much better gauge of their fitness than waist size.

[Neko-]

Well... Wow is just about all I can say...