At 220 pounds, the 29-year-old comedian is double the average weight of Japanese women her age. “Japan is not like the U.S. You don’t see many plus-sized women around here,” she said, this day sporting pink and blue curls through her long pigtails. Only 3 percent of Japanese women are classified as obese, according to the World Health Organization, compared with 34.9 percent in the United States. Government health data shows that 22 percent of Japanese women in their 20s can be categorized as underweight or malnourished. “Japanese women are changing, and there are loads more women who can express themselves and many fewer women who just say yes to everything like before,” she said.

Source: National Post February 08, 2017 21:01 UTC