Japan sets out to slim down overweight waist-lines...

Japan, a country not known for its overweight people, has undertaken one of the most ambitious campaigns ever by a nation to slim down its citizenry.

Summoned by the city of Amagasaki one 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 was a strict 33.5 inches, he had measured himself at home a couple of days earlier. "I'm on the border," he said. More...

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