Japan, Seeking Trim Waists

From the New York Times today is a story about government action that would be howled down in the US. where we are more interested in 'right' than 'responsibility." Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population. To reach its goals of shrinking the overweight population by 10 percent over the next four years and 25 percent over the next seven years, the government will impose financial penalties on companies and local governments that fail to meet specific targets. Compare this to the US/State efforts to curb obesity (particularly in children) which is mainly health education, which rarely works without back up penalties.