 |
| picture source/insidejapanblog.com |
Many Americans envy Japan's healthy citzenry and spartan eating habits. Japan's outstanding 3.5% obesity rate stands in stark contrast to the U.S. rate (over 30%!)
To millions of Japanese, the morning is the time for rajio taiso (radio exercises). Most Japanese know the approximate 5 minute (dai-ichi) first routine by heart. From an early age, students learn the moves at school/neighborhood parks and commit to memory the soundtrack the public broadcaster, NHK, airs on TV and the radio. Doing rajio taiso is also a big part of most factories' early morning routines.
Rajio taiso was actually an American idea before being adopted by the Japanese:
According to the November 2012 issue of Monocle, perhaps our favorite UK-based periodical: in the 1920s, Japan lagged behind richer Western nations by almost every yardstick: economic growth, health standards, longevity. Government officials felt there was a need for something that would improve the lot of the ordinary Japanese. So they did what anyone in their situation would: they sent their best and brightest overseas to learn from the West. One official from the life-insurance division at what was then Japan's post and telecommunications ministry returned from the US with a proposal for an exercise regimen modeled on Metropolitan Life Insurance Co's 15-minute radio calisthenics. By 1928, Japanese post-service employees at all 20,000 outlets were out on the curb every day to demonstrate the moves.
According to the non-profit National Radio Exercise Foundation, roughly one in five Japanese - amounting to 28 million people - does rajio taiso. Rajio taiso is successful because it has become many things: a warm-up exercise for the health-conscious; a routine for the elderly; team-building for corporate Japan; and a seasonal ritual for schoolchildren.
--Randy Lynch
