A prefecture known udon wheat flour noodles said Tuesday it has decided to keep a contentious poem printed on a promotional playing card after concluding it manifests the author's love for his wife and the smooth white noodles, and that it is not intended to offend women.
" 'Strong koshi, fair-skinned, chubby, just like my wife' is a poem intended to express how the author loves his wife, just like he loves udon, and such sentiment was linked with the characteristics of the noodles," Kagawa Prefecture said, referring to the conclusion drawn by a committee comprising prefectural officials and experts.
Koshi is Japanese for "springiness," but it can also be taken as referring to a person's hips.