Well, there's no denying it any more: the size of Japanese mammaries have become larger. We know this thanks to a survey by lingerie manufacturer Triumph International Japan, which recently made public the results of its research.

According to Nikkan Gendai (Aug 7), the subjects of the survey were Japanese females between the ages of 20 through 60 years. And when the data was confirmed, Triumph found that while only 4.5% of its customers had required a D-cup size bra or larger back in 1980, that percentage had expanded to 17.6% by 1990. By 2018, the percentage had swelled impressively to 53.1%. Or in other words, a remarkable twelve-fold increase over 40 years.

Interestingly, the 17.5 centimeter average measurement from the underside of the breast to the top had not shown any appreciable change during those four decades. Which means the size of the breasts themselves had definitely become larger.

Naturally Nikkan Gendai's reporter wants to know why.

"There are two reasons for this," explained Shuko Sakata, manager of brand marketing at Triumph. "The first is changes in the diet, such as increased meat consumption and westernization in general. The other is because we manufacturers have become better at teaching customers the correct way to select a brassiere. When putting on their bras, women tend to lean forward and by so doing gravity collects fleshy parts on the sides of their torso to fill up the cup. That alone can increase cup size by as much as two sizes."

Mutsuko Taniguchi, a veteran stylist with some 40 years in the trade, is in agreement.

"These days when women put on their bra, they press in their flesh from four directions -- from the sides below their arms, up from their stomach area and then downwards from their collarbones. Doing this produces more cleavage, and posture benefits from an overall improvement," she said.

Japan has a culture of exposure, says Taniguchi, so women here want to emphasize their cleavage, whereas these days western females tend to dress in a way that enables their left and right breasts independent movement.

Arata Samon, a doctor and author, estimates that 70 to 80% of women's breast sizes are determined by heredity.

"But for the remaining 20% or so, nutrition has a certain effect," he says. "About 90% of a breast is composed of fat cells. The levels of body fat are determined at three life stages: while still an embryo, while nursing up to around age 3, and then at puberty. If one's mother ingests a lot of beef or pork during pregnancy, the number of fat cells in the fetus will increase. Then what they consume as children and adolescents, such as meat, dairy products, fried chicken, convenience store sandwiches and so on, will enhance the size of the breasts. If you look back at dietary changes over the past 40 years, the greater ingestion of fats has definitely had an impact on women's breast size."

And no doubt we can look forward to continued growth in the future, the writer says.

© Japan Today