Japan suffers from many trends that trouble the remainder of the developed world, including a falling birth rate, a rapidly aging population, rising health care costs for the elderly and a falling economy. Japan isn’t burdened so much by one of the gravest health care crises sweeping across virtually all other wealthy nations: obesity.
In the U.S., obesity is high but Japan is one of the countries with one of the lowest obisity rates and have plans to lower it even farther. Japan keeps obesity down with the help of a controversial government policy that probably wouldn't fly in the U.S. only about 3.5% of the population is classified as obese, compared to rates as high as 30% or greater in countries like the U.S. And it's not just a generally healthier diet and lifestyle that's kept the Japanese trim.
Citizens must adhere to government-mandated waistline limits or face consequences. The government has established waistline limits for adults ages 40 to 74. Men must maintain a waistline at or below 33.5 inches; for women, the limit is 35.4 inches. The "metabo law" went into effect in 2008, with the goal of reducing the country's overweight population by 25% by 2015. Anti-obesity campaign aims to keep "metabolic syndrome" — a number of factors that heighten the risk of developing diabetes and vascular diseases, such as obesity and high blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol levels — in check, thus minimizing the ballooning health care costs of Japan's massive aging population.Those who stray beyond the state-mandated waistlines are required to attend counseling and support sessions. Local governments and companies that don't meet specific targets are fined, sometimes quite heavily.
Economic factors might be influencing this policy. The average person in Japan consumes over 200 fewer calories per day than the average American. Food prices are substantially higher in Japan, but the traditional Japanese dietary habits, although changing, are also healthier. The Japanese are also far more physically active than people in America, but not because they do more planned physical exercise. They walk more as part of their daily lives. They walk more because the cost of driving an automobile is far higher in Japan, whereas public transportation is typically very convenient, but normally requires more walking than the use of a car.
This seems to be working for Japan, at least for now, though the policy has its share of problems. Critics of the policy say the government's real goal is to shift health care costs onto the private sector.
This would never work in the U.S.
-The more you know~
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