Size, shape, or suppleness – What does Japan want in a pair of breasts?【Survey】

Survey also asks respondents for their favorite color of women’s lingerie.

When a survey is being done by a lingerie company, there’s not much point in beating around the bush. So when Osaka-based shaping lingerie company Maruko put together its latest online questionnaire, one of the questions was “What kind of women’s bust do you like?”

A total of 800 responses were collected, 200 each from respondents in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s, with half of each age group being men and half women. You might assume that the guys were all devout believers in the “bigger is better” philosophy, but even with multiple answers allowed, big breasts weren’t their top choice.

What kind of women’s bust do you like? (answers from men)
1. Beautifully shaped (selected by 64 percent of respondents)
2. Supple (42 percent)
3. Round like a rice bowl (27.3 percent)
4. Big (26.8 percent)
5. Small (7.3 percent)
6. Other (3.5 percent)

The women’s responses followed the same ranking order, although with only about half the number of votes for “big” as the category received from men.

What kind of women’s bust do you like? (answers from women)
1. Beautifully shaped (74.8 percent)
2. Supple (46.3 percent)
3. Round like a rice bowl (32.3 percent)
4. Big (14.5 percent)
5. Small (3.3 percent)
6. Other (2 percent)

▼ It’s also worth noting that “other” got nearly twice as many votes from men as women, perhaps because guys have conceptualized a greater number of breast descriptors, or maybe because they’re simply more amenable to boobs of any kind.

The survey also asked respondents what color of women’s lingerie they like, again with multiple answers allowed. While black, white, and pink made up the top three for both male and female participants, their orders were different, and men showed a stronger preference for bolder colors overall.

What color of women’s lingerie do you like? (answers from men)
1. White (48.3 percent)
2. Black (39.3 percent)
3. Pink (32 percent)
4. Sky blue (23.3 percent)
5. Blue (14 percent)
6. Red (12 percent)
7. Raspberry (10.3 percent)
8. Gray (6.3 percent)
9. Beige (5.8 percent)
10. Other (5.3 percent)

▼ “Raspberry” here refers to a purple/magenta-ish shade reminiscent of the fruit, not some sort of flavored edible underwear.

What color of women’s lingerie do you like? (answers from women)
1. Black (53.3 percent)
2. Pink (37.3 percent)
3. White (28.8 percent)
4. Sky blue (22.5 percent)
5. Beige (18.3 percent)
6. Gray (17 percent)
7. Blue (14 percent)
8. Red (7.5 percent)
9. Raspberry (6.3 percent)
10. Other (3.5 percent)

Moving back to the topic of breasts, for anyone who, in light of Japan’s longstanding unabashed admiration of busty feminine physiques, is skeptic about how truthful the male respondents were in making “big” only their number-four choice, it’s worth stating once again that Maruko specializes in shapewear, which tends to focus on the upper-body appearance as a whole, not just visually enhancing bust size. As such, it’s possible that the structure of the survey’s respondent selection process was more likely to find participants with “nicely shaped” as their primary preference, but at least for this group, size isn’t everything.

Source: Maido na News via Yahoo! Japan News via Otakomu
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Pakutaso, Wikipeida/Arria Belli
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