Can you still change your bust size or shape after reaching adulthood? Papuwa, who was featured in Mac’s column a little while ago, had an amazingly stunning figure—in a good way. They say your bust size is determined during puberty, so night bras probably aren’t all that effective, right...?

Maezawa from the CEO’s office will answer this one too. I think the easiest way to understand growth is by looking at height. As for height, boys’ growth starts to slow down around age 14, and there’s very little growth after about 16. For girls, growth starts to slow down around age 12, with very little growth after about 15. (This is based on a chart created from the 2010 School Health Statistics Survey.) Since height is related to the bones, I assume this means that bone growth generally stops around those ages. With that in mind, you might think breast development would stop around the same time. However, for some reason, you often hear about women whose breasts continue to grow even after age 20. When I searched online, I found the following explanations for increasing breast size: 【Developing the mammary glands】 Breasts are about 90% fatty tissue, so they naturally get larger when the amount of fat in them increases. However, the fat you consume doesn’t necessarily go to your breasts. By developing the mammary glands, the body supposedly becomes more likely to direct fat toward the breasts. The mammary glands also develop through the effects of female hormones. Breasts swell during pregnancy and puberty because increased female hormone activity causes the mammary glands to develop. Female hormones are produced in the uterus and are secreted in greater amounts around menstruation. Avoiding anything that interferes with this process is said to help increase breast size. 【Working out the pectoral muscles】 This doesn’t directly increase breast size. When the pectoral muscles are trained, they develop into a rounder, fuller shape. Since women’s breasts form on top of those muscles, the breasts are lifted along with them. 【Consuming a moderate amount of fat】 Fatty tissue is what actually increases breast size. Even if the mammary glands develop, the breasts won’t get larger if the body doesn’t absorb enough fat. Fat is often avoided for dieting purposes, but it’s one of the three major nutrients and is extremely important. It provides energy for maintaining bodily functions and is also essential for hormone production. If you avoid fat through excessive dieting, not only will your breasts not grow, but a lack of female hormones may also reduce the luster and elasticity of your skin and hair. Generally speaking, the average body-fat percentage for adult women is said to be around 30%. If yours is significantly lower than that, you should actually make an effort to consume more fat. That’s the sort of thing I found written online. Apparently, there are also massages intended to increase breast size, and I seem to remember seeing many people write that their breasts really did get bigger. During interviews, a female staff member would ask a woman something like, “How did your breasts get so large?” The woman would then say, “They got bigger after I started massaging them like this,” and they filmed a video. But since it was a profile video for men to watch, I think they decided not to use it because men would probably find it a little… awkward. I do think they should publish it on a blog for women, but if it were made public, the woman would probably worry about being recognized and might not be able to agree to it. I even thought it would be nice if they could publish it with her face blurred, but… By the way, this massage method looked like it might be the same as the one described above. Maybe this massage method really does work after all…