According to Japanese law, I'm overweight.

[randomness]

By now you may have heard of the Japanese law that requires companies and local governments to measure the waistlines of Japanese between the ages of 40 and 74. If you haven't, read http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/06/metabo-your-figure-or-your-job.html.

The limits are 33.5 inches for men, 35.4 inches for women.

To give you an idea of how strict that is...*I* barely miss the limit. (Well, if I suck in my stomach, I can pass, but I don't know if that'd be allowed.)

Those of you who have seen me lately can vouch for the fact that I'm not exactly overweight. Nor am I very large. You can gauge from my body shape what their standards require.

Glad I'm not Japanese. They'd be sending me out for mandatory counseling and monitoring.

Comments

[eac.livejournal.com]

Why do women get more latitude? That seems wrong...

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

No idea.

[contrariety.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was just going to say the same thing. Women's waists tend to be smaller, don't they?

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I thought it was a mistake, but the sources agree. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/world/asia/13fat.html

I have no explanation.

[bloodstones.livejournal.com]

Are women's waists still smaller after 40, and presumably child bearing? I also think it's wacky though.

[rfrancis]

33.5"? WTF? I barely cleared that when I was in high school, weighed 115 lbs, and was so skinny I showed ribs. Granted I am built a bit like a fireplug, but c'mon! That's worse than BMI saying my weight should be below my current lean body mass.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

It's nuts.

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

meanwhile, my BMI is "obese", but my waist is about 30 inches.

[krlisue.livejournal.com]

Ew! So creepy! And wrong!

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

I find it interesting that the limits have no correlation to height or body type (i.e. large boned people). Thus a 4 foot 8 inch person who is just under the limit is fine, but a 6 foot 4 inch person would have to be almost a skeleton to fit under the limit. And what sort of nastiness does it do to pregnant women who have a waist larger than the limit? "Get Rid of that Excess Weight Now!" "But I'm only in my second trimester, it's not due for another 3 months".

[lothie.livejournal.com]

I'd probably be locked up for terminal fattitude!

[emilymorgan.livejournal.com]

I like that word! It gives the impression that you're fat and you're not going to take any crap about it. :-)

[lothie.livejournal.com]

Hee! This is indeed the case!

[emilymorgan.livejournal.com]

Rock on! :-)

[emilymorgan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, isn't that SO messed up?

If they're going to devote resources to health/fitness of employees, I think there are much better (non-fat-phobic) ways to do it. They could subsidize gym memberships or give people time during the day to go to the gym. They could sponsor employee sports leagues, sleep hygiene clinics, or mental health awareness events.

As someone on the internet the other day said (I don't remember where, alas!), "Good health starts with loving your body."

It probably has to do with Cardiovascular risk

[mryt-maat.livejournal.com]

The whole apple/ pear body shape thing. Men's risk of CV jumps pretty significantly after a certain ratio between waist/ hips is achieved.

They are probably assuming a certain hip size average for men v. women. Women can have a bigger waist and still have a lower waist/ hip ratio than men- who tend to be more "straight" up and down. Although for the Japanese I'm not sure that applies across the population.

It's a consequence of the same person (the gov) paying for both health care and prevention. The prevention v. cure thing only works in this context.

Could this also be a hating-gaijin thing? 10 years ago, anyway, I was a US size 10 and looked simply enormous against most Japanese people. I'm not sure even now, at my almost-slimmest, I would look "normal" there (although my hips actually are just outside the female waist limit you mention). I realize that it's hard for gaijin or "han" to get into the Japanese health care system, but this would be a clever way to label them unfairly by demonizing non-traditional-to-Japan body types.