A laugh a day and keeps the doctor away can be said to be the Yamagata prefecture’s appropriate phrase after its lawmakers passed an ordinance that asked the residents to at least giggle once every day for their well-being.
Based on research from Faculty of Medicine, Yamagata University, in northern Japan’s Yamagata Prefecture last week passed an ordinance which maintained that laughter can reduce chances of heart diseases.
The Conservative Liberal Democratic Party proposed and also passed this ordinance but other opposition politicians from factions like the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) have opposed it arguing that it violates human rights of those who cannot laugh due to sickness or injury, The Strait Times reported.
One state assemblyman said aspects such as unpredictable employment, low wages and rising cost of living could discourage locals from laughing because they live in fear of poverty.
On July 1st a group called the Yamagata administrative check volunteer association started a petition calling for the withdrawal of the laughing law.
Therefore, Yamagata’s prefectural assembly has designated every eighth month as ‘laughing day’ for its inhabitants’ “health promotion via laughter”
For instance, according to Daily Mail “the office or office must have at least one chuckle per day;” moreover “the law also requires businesses to” “develop a workplace environment filled with laughter,” and designates the eighth day each month as “day of laughter.”
