[NTREEG]

I don't know about the female perspective, but I can tell you as a male that my pot belly was a source of amusement for all of my girlfriend's female friends when I first visited Japan last year. Every last one of her female friends upon meeting me made some comment about (or rubbed like a Buddah's Belly) my stomach, although not in an intentionally hurtful way. They are just blunt and say whatever comes to mind, like "Wow! It's so big!". LOL. I came to expect it and didn't take any offense to it. While I do see obese people in Japan, the percentages are drastically lower than back home in the U.S. Most guys here in my age range would be considered skinny by U.S. standards. However, I've never heard guys talk about weight here. Only females.

I can tell you that since moving here I've lost about 15kg. I have not been doing any intentional exercising. The weight just comes off from having to walk 15 minutes each way, to and from the train station every day. Since I don't have a car, I have to walk everywhere and that burns calories. I also eat smaller portions since that's how food is served here. So that's less calories going into my body.