Lilith
09-02-2006, 08:21 AM
(gg)
TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo's subway allowed a publisher
to display posters of a nude and heavily pregnant
Britney Spears Monday, overturning a decision to cover
up part of the image for being "too stimulating" for
young people.
The picture of the pop singer -- nude but covering her
breasts with her arms and crossing her legs at the
knee -- appeared in the August issue of Harper's
Bazaar in the United States and will be on the cover
of the magazine's Japanese edition for October.
Tokyo Metro and the publishers had initially agreed to
display a censored version of the cover photo, with
the pop star's body covered from the elbow down.
But the Metro reversed the move to mask the picture,
saying "the original decision wasn't a good one."
"It's a strong image of a working woman," said Tomoki
Ishikawa, a 19-year-old male university student
walking through Omotesando subway station in a trendy
part of central Tokyo.
"It's old fashioned that the Metro people thought that
way," he added.
One passer-by expressed concern for Spears' unborn
baby.
"It's becoming an absurd world," said 83-year-old
Tsuyako Egashira as she looked at the poster of the
former teen idol.
"Why does a pregnant woman have to show her belly? You
have to take care of it," she said.
But not everyone in her age group agreed. Takuro
Shimizu, 78, travelled in from a Tokyo suburb
especially to take photos of the posters. "I think
it's good for the low birth rate problem," he said.
"It's not so exciting for me since I'm old," he
smiled.
Harper's Bazaar commented: "We're happy that our
position was accepted."
Japan's low birth rate is at the center of public
concern as the fertility rate fell to an all-time low
of 1.25 in 2005, the same year that its ratio of
elderly people to the total population became the
world's highest.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo's subway allowed a publisher
to display posters of a nude and heavily pregnant
Britney Spears Monday, overturning a decision to cover
up part of the image for being "too stimulating" for
young people.
The picture of the pop singer -- nude but covering her
breasts with her arms and crossing her legs at the
knee -- appeared in the August issue of Harper's
Bazaar in the United States and will be on the cover
of the magazine's Japanese edition for October.
Tokyo Metro and the publishers had initially agreed to
display a censored version of the cover photo, with
the pop star's body covered from the elbow down.
But the Metro reversed the move to mask the picture,
saying "the original decision wasn't a good one."
"It's a strong image of a working woman," said Tomoki
Ishikawa, a 19-year-old male university student
walking through Omotesando subway station in a trendy
part of central Tokyo.
"It's old fashioned that the Metro people thought that
way," he added.
One passer-by expressed concern for Spears' unborn
baby.
"It's becoming an absurd world," said 83-year-old
Tsuyako Egashira as she looked at the poster of the
former teen idol.
"Why does a pregnant woman have to show her belly? You
have to take care of it," she said.
But not everyone in her age group agreed. Takuro
Shimizu, 78, travelled in from a Tokyo suburb
especially to take photos of the posters. "I think
it's good for the low birth rate problem," he said.
"It's not so exciting for me since I'm old," he
smiled.
Harper's Bazaar commented: "We're happy that our
position was accepted."
Japan's low birth rate is at the center of public
concern as the fertility rate fell to an all-time low
of 1.25 in 2005, the same year that its ratio of
elderly people to the total population became the
world's highest.