Tokyo Dad

Ningen Dock - It's Getting Better

I had my second annual full health check-up recently (called ningen dock here in Japan) and received the results the other day. Thankfully, it was good news. (You can read about my experience at the ningen dock last year here.)

Having tried and failed to give up smoking a number of times, I finally gave up completely - not even the odd 'cheeky' one - back in May and gave up drinking completely at the same time. I also embarked on a regime of exercise which includes running three or four times a week, cycling once or twice a week and practising Muay Thai once a week. Even though I feel much better in mysef - fitter and more energetic - and my beer belly has all but gone, it's impossible to know if such lifestyle changes really affect your health unless you have proof from a doctor, and now I've got it.

Not only has my cholestorol level dropped considerably, my liver and kidneys are much healthier, my muscle tone has improved markedly, my blood is in better condition, my heart is much healthier, my bone mass has increased and my lung capacity has also greatly increased. This is in less than six months! Not surprisingly, this is a very nice surprise and it has doubled my desire to remain healthy and remain cigarette and alcohol free.

Tax on Cigarettes in Japan

The new government here is Japan is finally thinking about increasing the tax on cigarettes by between 1 yen and 10 yen per cigarette. I think this is a brilliant idea, although I'm hoping that the extra tax would be used to fund welfare programmes or health care, not more roads...

Cigarettes are seriously cheap in Japan - nearly four times cheaper than my native UK and about three times cheaper than in France or the US (as was reported in the paper the other day). I find this extraordinary and considering the amount of people who get cancer every year as a result of smoking, I am still stunned at the attitudes to smoking here. Until very recently, you could literally smoke anywhere in Japan and no-smoking areas in restaurants or coffee shops were not separated - in fact, they were often situated in such a way that you had to walk through the smoking area to get to them. This has improved drastically, I must say, in the last five years or so, and many streets in central Tokyo are now smoke-free, which is great, especially for parents.

While they're at it, why not increase tax on other stuff, like alcohol and luxury items, and remove it from necessities such as children's clothes and basic, essential food items?