Times-Union readers want to know:

Is it true that a Japanese law makes it illegal for citizens of that country to be overweight?

Well, it is true that the country requires that companies and local governments measure the waistlines of citizens between the ages of 45 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population, The New York Times reported.

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, the Times reported.

If necessary, those people are steered toward further re-education after six more months.

The hope is that the campaign will encourage healthy lifestyles and keep diabetes, heart disease and strokes in check.

Still, it is not a crime to be fat in Japan, as most of these viral posts state. Japanese citizens can't be fined or imprisoned for being overweight.

In January 2008, Japan passed the "Metabo Law," named after metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions - increased blood pressure, a high blood sugar level, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels - that occurring together can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes, Snopes.com reported.

"If you have metabolic syndrome or any of the components of metabolic syndrome, aggressive lifestyle changes can delay or even prevent the development of serious health problems," the law stated.

To reach its goals of shrinking the overweight population, the government imposes financial penalties on companies and local governments that fail to meet specific targets.

With the new law, for example, Matsushita, a company that makes Panasonic products, has to measure the waistlines of not only its employees but also of their families and retirees, the Times reported.

NEC, Japan's largest maker of personal computers, said at the time the law went into effect that if it failed to meet its targets, it could incur as much as $19 million in penalties. To avoid that, the company started measuring the waistlines of all its employees over 30 years old and sponsored metabo education days for the employees' families.

Opponents of the Metabo Law have told the Times that the weight guidelines are too strict. Yoichi Ogushi, professor at Tokai University's School of Medicine, has argued the law will not have much of an effect on the health of Japan's citizens:

"I don't think the campaign will have any positive effect. Now if you did this in the United States, there would be benefits, since there are many Americans who weigh more than 100 kilograms [220 pounds]. But the Japanese are so slender that they can't afford to lose weight."

And whether the law has had an impact or not, Japan's citizens don't seem to have a pervasive weight problem.

According to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, as of 2009 only about 3.5 percent of the Japanese population was classified as obese, versus rates as high as 30 percent or greater in the U.S. and elsewhere.

And depending on which source you use, Japan is No. 1 or No. 2 among countries in life expectancy. The OECD ranks Japan as No. 1, with both sexes averaging 83.7 years. The U.S. is 31st, with an average life expectancy of 79.3 years.

The CIA World Factbook 2015 puts Monaco at No. 1, with residents living to 89.52 years and Japan at No. 2 at 84.74 years. That list has the U.S. at No. 43, with a life expectancy of 79.68 years.

Carole Fader: (904) 359-4635