Hot Trends watch: Fat men face fines

Bubbling up the Google Hot trends list is the following long search phrase: "men with 33.6 inch waists face fines."  But not to worry, the cops aren't coming yet, fellas. 

As alarming as the phrase is to some of us, it's missing several layers of context.  The fat fines are real, but they're being imposed in Japan, not here. 

Turns out this all comes from this report from a CNN correspondent in Japan. 

Worried about a potential obesity epidemic, the Japanese government has begun a program to measure the waistlines of all employees over age 40. For men, the waist size cutoff for being federally overweight is 33.5 inches; for women it's 35.5.  If employees stay hefty, companies could face "massive fines and increased government health premiums," according to the reporter.

It's precious that the specter of fatness becoming illegal caused a Google micro-hysteria this morning.  Are we that afraid of having to lose weight? Personally, I'm not seeing a problem with Japan's efficient solution. Considering the health benefits and costs savings to the society, you'd think there'd be fat-busting laws in every country. The U.S. should definitely throw its weight behind this.