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Man bras big seller in Japan

A bra made especially for men is taking Japan by storm.
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Mail order underwear company Wishroom' had started selling the unusual underwear last year. Unsure of its reception, at first they only produced 160 bras as a start. These sold out immediately, prompting the company to order 5,000 more.

According to Masayuki Tsuchiya, president of Wishroom, the company decided to create the male bra after receiving a number of enquiries from people looking for just such a product. In Japan men who wear bras are known as "Bra-o", which means "Bra men".

One author has even produced a book in which they interviewed around 100 men who like to wear bras, most of whom are white collar businessmen in their 40s and 50s.

Wishroom's bras are made out of a silky material in a choice of white, pink and black and retail for around u00a320.
In terms of cupsize they are all an 'A' with a chest size ranging from between 80 cm and 95 cm.

According to Mr Tsuchiya, office workers in their 30s and 40s are Wishroom's main clients. They're not interested in cross-dressing or in making their pectoral muscles look bigger. They simply find that wearing a bra makes them feel "more calm, relaxed and revived". "Japanese salaried men have a lot of stress, and the bras seem to relieve that," comments Tsuchiya.

Another, more surprising market, is in their 50s and 60s who, it turns out, are also partial to the calming effects of a bra.

"They were the generation we had been told were 'manly' they led Japan in the postwar period," explains Tsuchiya, speculating that they may now be reacting against this stereotype.

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