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The "good" news about Japan's increasingly American diet?

This story in the Wall Street Journal just caught my eye: Japanese Clothiers Update Their Lines; Changes in Diet Produce Curvier Bodies in Women. It begins:

All over Japan, retailers are scrambling to keep up with a new look known as "bon-kyu-bon." It means "big-small-big" and it signals a change in the way Japanese women look: They're getting curvier.

Japanese stores that used to keep just two or three sizes of clothing on hand are rushing to stock larger sizes... Wacoal Corp., Japan's largest lingerie company, was once known for its super-padded brassieres. Now the company has a new best-seller: the "Love Bra," a cleavage-boosting creation with less padding, aimed at curvier women in their 20s.

We've read this story before: the Japanese are eating more like Americans—more meat and junk food—and gaining weight. Of course, they're not just gaining weight: they're gaining obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart problems. Japanese girls are now menstruating earlier as well.

It's as if the writer of this story decided, "hey, let's look on the bright side!" The omission of any reference to the fact that the weight gain is society-wide and not limited to 15-year-olds' boobs makes this story read more like something out of Pornography Weekly than the esteemed Journal.

There is, however, this inscrutable claim:

The physical changes are largely the result of an increasingly Westernized diet, say nutritionists. Meals that used to consist of mostly fish, vegetables and tofu now lean heavily toward an American-style menu of red meat, dairy and indulgences such as Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Cold Stone Creamery ice cream. All this extra protein and calcium has led to longer, stronger and fuller bodies.

Stronger? Really? No idea where that one came from, as there's not a bit of evidence here to support it. Besides, fish and tofu are protein.... leading us to think... what exactly? That all those ice cream cones and doughnuts are building muscle mass?

I'm tempted to blame this one on Rupert Murdoch, but it seems like every actual news writer at the Wall Street Journal doesn't want anything to do with him (which is to say, they oppose his bid to buy the paper). Oh, well, at least the writer gets off a nice zinger, ending off with this quote by Saki Toraiwa, a 21-year-old cashier who "likes to wear skin-tight T-shirts, jeans and high heels":

"If I'm feeling confident, I'll show it off," says Ms. Toraiwa, "but lately a lot of it just depends on what my boyfriend likes."