Numbers don't lie. Not in Japan anyway. Here, they tend rather to flatter. Or "fibulate." Or nourish.

Yes, forget rice cakes, noodles and even raw fish. For Japan is a land of number lovers. And here nothing hits the spot more than a plate of yummy statistics. Hungry? Munch on some these tidbits.

Forty percent of Japanese men find their own faces embarrassing. Forty-three percent of Japanese brides fart audibly within their first year of marriage. Some 73.4 percent of Japanese hate to see someone lick their chopsticks. I mean, lick "their own" chopsticks, not those of the people watching. I'd hate that too.