Posts Tagged ‘japan’
… and that goes for cinema and anime alike.
For some reason, though, Japan thinks it’s getting a little chubby around the waist, so they’ve enacted some reforms. By law, Japanese citizens must now stay at a healthy weight.
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.
Those exceeding government limits — 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women, which are identical to thresholds established in 2005 for Japan by the International Diabetes Federation as an easy guideline for identifying health risks — and having a weight-related ailment will be given dieting guidance if after three months they do not lose weight. If necessary, those people will be steered toward further re-education after six more months.
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. The country’s Ministry of Health argues that the campaign will keep the spread of diseases like diabetes and strokes in check.
Not that it’s easy to litigate rules on health.
Summoned by the city of Amagasaki one recent morning, Minoru Nogiri, 45, a flower shop owner, found himself lining up to have his waistline measured. With no visible paunch, he seemed to run little risk of being classified as overweight, or metabo, the preferred word in Japan these days.
But because the new state-prescribed limit for male waistlines is a strict 33.5 inches, he had anxiously measured himself at home a couple of days earlier. “I’m on the border,” he said. …
When his turn came, Mr. Nogiri, the flower shop owner, entered a booth where he bared his midriff, exposing a flat stomach with barely discernible love handles. A nurse wrapped a tape measure around his waist across his belly button: 33.6 inches, or 0.1 inch over the limit.
“Strikeout,” he said, defeat spreading across his face.
Given the consistently high concern over childhood obesity here in the United States, I can’t help but wonder whether or not this would work over here, even on a smaller scale.
Not that it would ever pass, or should, but as they say in the movies, “It’s just crazy enough to make half of the population hate the government.”
America has long been the refuge of, “I’m O.K., You’re O.K.” mentality, and has also long been a haven for those who believe a child’s self-esteem comes first, above all other considerations.
There’s a point too far where this gets creepy.
The stage was set, the lights went down and in a suburban Japanese primary school everyone prepared to enjoy a performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The only snag was that the entire cast was playing the part of Snow White.
For the audience of menacing mothers and feisty fathers, though, the sight of 25 Snow Whites, no dwarfs and no wicked witch was a triumph: a clear victory for Japan’s emerging new class of “Monster Parents.”
Sure, this happened in Japan, but the storyline here seems oddly familiar. Parents, on the quest to improve their small child’s self-esteem, will go insane, verbally abusive lengths. If their kid doesn’t get the starring role in the play, or any other special treatment the parent thinks their child deserves, then the parents will retaliate.
In a new book on the phenomenon, Yoshihiko Morotomi, of Meiji University, lists hundreds of incidents that illustrate it. There are parents who have secretly placed recording devices in their children’s classrooms, and others who have demanded that the results of sports events be changed to reflect expectations rather than the reality on the field. …
Within the category of monster parent Professor Morotomi identifies the most potent strain: the “teacher hunters”, who conspire in small groups to ensure that a particular teacher is dismissed. Occasionally, he said, this involves physically mobbing their victim at the school gates and screaming abuse until a letter of resignation is signed on the spot.
Boggles the mind. I don’t think this behavior so much improves their child’s self-esteem than terrifies the teachers.
Seems to me that, in their fury and haste, those Japanese “Monster Parents” took their eye off the prize: After all, who benefits from having a cast of 25 Snow Whites? I think a commenter from Scotland put it best.
The kid who stands up and says I’ll be the the witch — they’re going places. They will always be mavericks; the others will be just sheep. That’s what we should teach our kids.
I could very easily transpose this whole phenomenon to the soccer fields of American suburbs, and it would make realistic sense as much as it ever does. I wish it didn’t, and I wish I couldn’t.
