Nobody Wants to Eat Whale Meat Anymore

In the weekend WSJ, there was a story that was short but sweet. It was about the challenges facing the whaling industry. Next week there will be a meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Anchorage. But interest in their products seems to be fading away, moratorium or not.

It's just that whale watching has become such a big business, and not as many people want to eat whale as in the past. I can vouch for that--we ate some slivers of whale on a few occasions when Paul Shoul and I were visiting Greenland. Boy was it terrible. Hard to chew, blubbery, and just plain awful. Our hosts of course were pretty gung ho about the meat, though they reserved their most lavish praise for the blood red seal meat.

The article states, "Japan's whale meat reserves grew by one quarter last year, while fishermen in Iceland are struggling to sell the whales that they caught last year, in defiance of the moratorium. Meanwhile, whale-watching has turned into a thriving business."

Va, Va, Va VOOM: Japan's Women Get Curvy

Today's WSJ had a story by Amy Chozick that caught my eye. That's because it was about the new curviness in Japan's young women.

Apparently, the stores and designers there have caught up with the US, and the old style of kimonos that flatten the bosom are being replaced with "the love bra" a cleavage boosting creation with less padding aimed at curvy 20-somethings who are showing it off these days.

It's mostly because, well, they can. Women in their 20s here wear a bra at least two sizes larger than their moms. Waist size, too, has gotten smaller to create a perfect "bon-kyu-bon, or Big small big--the sexy curves we've seen on these shores for decades.

"Nami Sakamoto, an advertising agency employee, embodies the new look. The 26-year-old is tall, by Japanese standards--at 5 feet 5 inches. She's also voluptous, with a 35-inch bust and 35" hips. "I had a hard time finding button down shirts that would close," she said. Sometimes the buttons would burst off."

Kumi Koda is a young pop star who started the craze of showing off skin. She performed at a Japan Record award show wearing thin tape-like gold satin straps over her breasts that revealed nearly everything when she danced. I guess that was the tipping point, because now the revealing look and 'showy bras' are the rage.