Who knew that coffee enemas were a Japanese beauty secret?

The Prize for the Most Bizarre Example of Government Regulation? Japan’s Licensing Rules for Providing Coffee Enemas

Not I, well, not till today. But I admit that Japan, and Russia have been in an Internet death match for years over who has the wildest, wackiest videos.

The Russians play the Russian Dash Cam gambit, while the Japanese play the Japanese Prank, and Absurd Social Custom gambit.

I admit I frequently cannot decide who is ahead. 

​Read more below the break.

I can watch a Russian dash cam video where a small piece of crap Russian car is crushed down to the size of an aluminum beer can, yet immediately after the dust settles, 10 or 15 dazed people crawl out of the windshield hole. Car crash to clown car in 5 seconds. Amazing.

On the other hand, the Japanese will play a prank on a sleeping man where an actual canon is wheeled into his bedroom, and fired to awaken him. Yes, firing the canon also blows out the windows, knocks all the doors off their hinges, and clears everything off the night stands, but hey, it was funny!

In one we look on in horror, until we realize that everyone in the car, no matter the fact that the accident was not survivable, survived.

In the other we look on in horror, realizing that it is socially acceptable in Japan to fire a canon in a sleeping man's bedroom, without his permission, video tape the entire event, and show it on television. 

Regulating coffee enemas in this environment does seem strange, but well within the bounds of public acceptance, of course, the public is certainly clinically insane.

Here's Dan Mitchell on the subject:

"Too bad the gift-giving season is already over. Thanks to this story about three men who were arrested by Japanese police for providing coffee enemas without regulatory approval, I now know that I could have purchased a “rectal infusion kit” for only $110. But since Senator Reid will still be around next Christmas, let’s focus on the public policy angle and ask ourselves why Japan’s government has licensing rules for coffee enemas?

In almost all cases, licensing rules are imposed by governments to protect politically powerful providers in a certain industry. The Institute for Justice has done heroic work on this issue, and they are always fighting to break up government-sanctioned cartels that limit competition, lead to higher prices, and make it hard for new providers to enter the market.

I’m sure these Japanese rules exist to unfairly enrich that nation’s medical profession. I can’t help but wonder, though, whether Japan’s bureaucrats have covered all the bases. Are tea enemas also covered by the regulations? What about if you use “fair trade certified” coffee from Starbucks? Are people allowed to buy toilets with built-in enemas? And what about bidets? Surely regular people can’t be trusted to operate such equipments without some sort of government involvement!

So many…um…fascinating questions to ponder. Anyhow, here’s a blurb from the story.

Police in Chiba Prefecture arrested three men this month on suspicion of violating Japan’s Medical Practitioners Law by providing coffee enemas without the proper medical qualifications, according to local media reports. Chikayoshi Hishiki (55) and two associates offered coffee-based enemas as a beauty treatment at their now-defunct alternative medicine clinics, according to leading daily Sankei Shimbun. The three suspects denied any wrongdoing, claiming they only provided the equipment and cleaned up afterwards, while the clients themselves administered the procedure, the report said. Some Japanese have become interested in filling their bums with java, believing they have discovered a secret dieting technique used by celebrities in the US and Europe.

CYA Disclaimer: Just because the Internet is a handy way of accessing information, that doesn’t mean that everything you read is true. So I make no claims that this story is 100 percent true, though governments are so stupid that I’m guessing it is accurate."

All the words here are English, but let's be honest, they are inane nonsense to Americans of normal sensibilities. 

Here is the Mitchell post which led me to this gem, it is about Japan, the basket-case:

Japan’s Descent into Keynesian Parody

Go read it all!

Someday I will post a marathon Japan versus Russia video post.