

The Japan Times: Feb. 12, 2004
It's widely assumed that whatever their station in life, most Japanese women over the age of 24 are tsukarete iru (tired). This has less to do with modern living than something ingrained in the Japanese tradition that tires women out before their time -- namely, the emphasis on shigoto (work)..... nowadays women are looking for the honwaka (warm and fuzzy) type, or as my girlfriend Megumi likes to say: makura ni nattekureru hito (someone you can curl up against like a pillow). It's no coincidence that overweight men are enjoying a popularity unprecedented in the past five decades. ....