Japanese Employers Face Fines for Employing Fat People

The Japanese government seems to think they have found a way of dealing with rising health costs – do away with the fat people.

According to this new law enforced in April 2008, overweight workers have strict timelines within which to lose the excess inches on their waistline. Employers have been given a 2012 deadline by which time they have to reduce the number of overweight workers (and their dependants) by 10%. By 2015 this increases to 25%. And no, they can’t fail because anyone failing to reach the target will have to pay up to 10% of its earnings towards contributions to a welfare fund of the elderly.

According to Bloomberg, “a rising rate of corpulence has so alarmed the government” that all Japanese workers over the age of 40 are now subject to compulsory “flab checks”. The test will determine whether they are at risk of metabolic syndrome – a condition linked with obesity that increases the risk of strokes, heart disease and diabetes. Japan’s population of 56 million workers over the age of 40 now has to fit into a waist size of 33.5 inches (or less). Other health issues such as body mass, cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar and smoking will also be taken into consideration. The health ministry believes at least half the men over the age of 40 and 20% of women will be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome.

Fat activist extraordinaire Marilyn Wann has started the 1000 Fat Cranes Project in “response to the Japanese government's decision to measure everyone's waist.


photo by yummiec00kies

1,000 Fat Cranes asks the Japanese government: Please end the war on waistlines...please make peace with people of all sizes.”

According to Japanese tradition, anyone who folds a thousand cranes will be granted a wish and Wann on behalf of millions of fat people, not just in Japan but everywhere in the world wishes for “people of all body types enjoying food, fitness, health, happiness, and long life, free from prejudice and discrimination. In Japan and all over the world.”

The SF Weekly reported “Wann found it shocking and sad that a country could attempt to stamp out all fat people. Her waistline extends well beyond the Japanese cut-off, and she's a happy, perfectly healthy, and productive member of society. Surely many chubby Japanese people are, too, right?”

Personally, I think the Japanese government has assumed a health dictatorship and I still can’t digest the insanity of all. It sounded like an April Fool’s Joke at first but then all the reports confirmed it. Well it may be good idea to check on heart disease and diabetes, but being overweight is certainly not a disease. Reducing your waistline to 33.5 inches is hardly the perfect solution to a problem.

Also, just a thought – what about the Japan Sumo Association? Will they be paying hefty fines or are we going to have slim-waisted sumo wrestlers now?

What do you think of this latest battle against obesity? Share your thoughts with us.

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