PROBOSCIS
When the Law Brings a Tape Measure
A viral video claims it is illegal to be fat in Japan.
Relax. Nobody is arrested for ordering extra rice.
Japan has done something less dramatic—and rather more sensible. Health insurers provide annual metabolic-health checks for people aged 40 to 74.
Then comes the tape measure: 85 centimetres for men and 90 for women. These are screening thresholds, not arrest warrants.
Brunei may wish to loosen its belt and take notice. Nearly two-thirds of adults were recorded as overweight or obese in the country’s 2015–2016 health survey.
Do we need waistline police patrolling buffet tables? Probably not.
But regular screening, earlier dietary advice—and fewer official functions where sugar arrives disguised as hospitality?
Perhaps that is worth measuring.
After all, our national waistline may be expanding faster than the economy.
Proboscis is still sniffing around.
Source note: Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; Brunei Darussalam STEPS Noncommunicable Disease Risk Factors Survey 2015–2016, as reported by the World Health Organisation.
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