Earlier this month, the French Parliament began contemplating a bill that would make it illegal to promote extreme thinness. Following the death in 2006 of a Brazilian supermodel from complications associated with anorexia, the issue of young women purposely starving themselves for the sake of self-image has come to be taken very seriously, and not just in the fashion world.

Eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia are not unknown in Japan, but their recognition is muted by a media culture that takes extreme thinness for granted. An article in last week's issue of Aera says the quest for the smallest waistline is not confined to teens and young women, the demographic most associated with extreme thinness.

The article focuses on a 48-year-old homemaker named Shino, whose own abdomen is an astonishingly tight 56 cm. Shino used to fluctuate between 63 and 66 cm until she gave birth, after which she ballooned to 86 cm. She was so depressed that she became a recluse and even thought about suicide. None of the dieting methods she tried worked, and then one day, while taking in the laundry, she came up with an odd but apparently effective exercise method while taking in the washing. Within six months she was back to her old waist size and just kept going, parlaying her success with weight loss into success as a fitness guru. Her books have sold more than 900,000 copies.