For the most part I enjoyed Tomoko Otake's well-researched story about "herbivorous" men. Overall, though, I felt that the topics of the related Timeout stories (May 10) were quite dubious as they were trying to pound a round peg into a square hole. For example, a survey by toilet-seat makers shows that men sit down to urinate? I would wager that if urinal-makers carried out the same survey the results would be different.

In short, journalists should question their sources. So what if a novelty company makes a kneepad for men? To present this as a "trend" in Japan, and then try to connect it to "lady men" of the main story, is ludicrous.

Same goes for the part about male bras. My BS detector goes off when I read that they are experiencing "brisk sales." So overweight men have man boobs and a few want support? End of story. Keep on moving. Nothing to read here.

I know journalists see it as their responsibility to give us the big picture, but, unfortunately, in this case, thumbnail snapshots do not equal a whole.

matthew port