Health is for the body, for the country

Toilet habits could not be disregarded in this wellness regimen. The Asahi newspaper labeled hemorrhoids as a "national sickness" in 1928, and at about the same time, news stories of leaders, including Prime Minister Kat Tomosabur, who is suffering from them appeared. Alexander R. Bay estimates that "in 1925, approximately 55,000 army workdays were lost to hemorrhoid treatment," with some blaming Japanese-style toilets for causing the illness. The army even set tight procedures for a rectal examination. For instance, Dr. Hirano Kd claimed in favor of Western-style bathrooms that "squatting over the latrine and exerting all one's power restricted circulation and created blood congestion around the anus"