NRR: Japan Imposes Monetary Penalties for Obesity

amazing.

So it seems that any male with a waist over 33.5 inches or female with a waist over 35.4 inches is in violation. That seems pretty arbitrary, what if a dude is 6'6" tall? This guy is being compared to guys that are 5'0" tall. What about pregnant women? What about power athletes that are just bigger than most people? What about the sumos??

WHAT ABOUT THE SUMOS????

33.5 inches? that's out of control. i know guys who are relatively active who might be a little over that. shouldn't they be taking a bmi measurement or something. whatever...it will never happen here to all of our american fatties.

Unholy Cumulus wrote:

So it seems that any male with a waist over 33.5 inches or female with a waist over 35.4 inches is in violation. That seems pretty arbitrary, what if a dude is 6'6" tall? This guy is being compared to guys that are 5'0" tall. What about pregnant women? What about power athletes that are just bigger than most people? What about the sumos??

WHAT ABOUT THE SUMOS????

I believe there is research that shows little difference in waist size based on height. It's something like only a 1 inch difference for someone who is 5' vs 6'6".

Wyco Loco wrote:

I believe there is research that shows little difference in waist size based on height. It's something like only a 1 inch difference for someone who is 5' vs 6'6".[/quote]

Maybe-- but there certainly is genetic variation as well. In my teens, running 80 miles a week with 140 lbs on my 6 foot frame, my waist size was 33...

Why can women have two inch larger waists than men? A guy can be 34" and be fine, but a girl with a 31" waist, well...

4runner wrote:

Maybe-- but there certainly is genetic variation as well. In my teens, running 80 miles a week with 140 lbs on my 6 foot frame, my waist size was 33...

Wow, Pear-man, I guess you didn't wear compression shorts to ensure no one could see your gunt. In HS and College my waist was 30" and I was 6'1" and 155.

You must have your mother's hips.

My best friend is 6' and 145. His waist is 32.

I've never known a guy with a 34 inch waist who was fit/healthy.

I'm 6ft 2inches weigh 75Kg run about 60-70 miles a week and have a 34 inch waist. I constantly get called skinny and told to put on weight. Would I be illegal in Japan?

What a massive retard you must be in real life!

If society pays for your health care, society can tell you how to live your life. Don't like it? Tough s**t. Go live somewhere without socialized medicine.

5'11", 158#, 28" waist, 34" inseam <-- It's hell buying pants.

A stat that some may have missed:

The waist of the average American woman is 36.5 inches.

That's more than *three feet* around.

The average American woman is also 5-4 and weighs more than 160 pounds. The average went up by five kilos (= 11lb) within roughly a decade, from 1990 to 2000.

Holy crow. What a bunch of lardguts.

i say screw making fines for being fat. if you can't lose the weight by 2012 i say that we euthanize those people. they are a waste of space and they are eating too much of our food. you start telling people that you are going to off them, i am pretty sure they wont be sitting around eating McDonald, Bk, or In-n-Out burger much longer.

Really good point in the article, this would be great in the US or the UK, where obesity is and is becoming (respectively) and epidemic. But in Japan, this is a terrible idea.

Also, people are going to do things that are WAYYYY more unhealthy than being overweight to get their guts down. Purging, self-starvation, hell they might try stomach binding or something like that for children to get their hips to develop smaller. In a country that is already thin, like Japan, this will lead to something so much worse.

It's a bad idea to do it by waist size... they should go by body fat or BMI or something like that instead, with the ability to opt out if you meet certain physical fitness standards.

kill fat people wrote:

i say screw making fines for being fat. if you can't lose the weight by 2012 i say that we euthanize those people. they are a waste of space and they are eating too much of our food. you start telling people that you are going to off them, i am pretty sure they wont be sitting around eating McDonald, Bk, or In-n-Out burger much longer.

What are you 12? Please, get a little more experience chatting with adults.

I have a 34 inch waist. I am 6'3, 185, and ran 1:49.08 in the 800 a few weeks ago.

With this said, I have only raced an decent 800 runner my size once in college. I would imagine there are very few people who are fit with 34+ waists, but it does happen!

bays wrote:

I have a 34 inch waist. I am 6'3, 185, and ran 1:49.08 in the 800 a few weeks ago.

With this said, I have only raced an decent 800 runner my size once in college. I would imagine there are very few people who are fit with 34+ waists, but it does happen!

I call BS.

I'm 6'1" and 170 with a 29 waste. a 34 is disgustingly large for someone who 'claims' to have run 1:49. And on top of that, I'm outta shape.

A few points about the article...

1. The standard of 33.5 inches for Japan is taken from the 'at risk' threshold for diabetes among Japanese men. The comparable at risk threshold among Americans is a whopping 40 inches. This supposedly allows for genetic differences. In any event, it is rather arbitrary and I agree that a better measure could be instituded...BUT this is one simple measurement. It's very straightforward and easy to understand.

2. I absolutely love the song.

“Goodbye, metabolic. Let’s get our checkups together. Go! Go! Go!

Goodbye, metabolic. Don’t wait till you get sick. No! No! No!”

I can just see the South Park kids singing this.

3. I agree with a point in the article that says this is simply a way for the government to pass of the rising costs of healthcare to employers. It would be deemed an outrage to impose this on individuals. This way the government doesn't single out individuals, still gets is money, and puts the education and enforcement onus on companies.