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Often known as the doorway to the Internet, search engines like Yahoo! and Google are seemingly infinite mines of information, helping us find everything from anime inspired food to zebra installation. Without services like these, most of us would be lost.

As the end of 2012 approaches, data traffickers Google Japan have compiled a list of the top searches carried out by each of Japan’s 48 prefectures, unashamedly revealing the websites that we most often point our cursors at.

But one prefecture in particular is receiving a lot of attention this week as Google unveiled that people in Tokyo’s neighbour to the north, Saitama prefecture, have a special place in their hearts for hin-nyuu or tiny breasts…

Perhaps lashing out against this year’s paisura trend, or maybe simply fans of chippai and wanting to go tinier, Saitama prefecture has searched for hin-nyuu (written with the kanji for poverty 貧 and breast 乳) more than anything else during the last 12 months, with machikon organised dating events and, rather charitably, “city marathon” coming in second and third places, respectively.

Is it merely a coincidence that Saitama prefecture was ranked in a survey earlier this year as being home to the smallest average cup size in the country? Perhaps fans of smaller bosoms heard the news and promptly headed there in search of the perfect pair?

Poor old Saitama often gets a hard time from its more cosmopolitan neighbour Tokyo, with many referring to the prefecture as Dasaitama, an unfortunate blend of the prefecture’s name and the word dasai, meaning uncool or unfashionable. But with monthly rent often up to US$300 cheaper than Tokyo, literally tens of thousands of people choose to live in greener Saitama and commute into the city each day, which can be as short as a 15-minute train ride from the most southern towns.

The revelation of Saitama’s miniscule mammary fetish, coupled with the crowded Saikyō trainline that runs south into Tokyo being notorious for its chikan groping problem, however, is probably not going to do the prefecture’s image any favours. On the other hand, if we look at the remaining four entries in the prefecture’s top five searches, we see that people from Saitama are ordinary, manga-loving romantics with a passion for fitness, and nothing at all to be scared of!

▼Saitama Prefecture’s Google search ranking 2012, 1-5 in order: 1. Tiny breasts, 2. Local dating parties 3. City marathon 4. One Piece 5. Good date locations.

saitama ranking

But how about guffawing Tokyo? Can the big smoke’s residents be so quick to laugh at their neighbours, or do they have a few skeletons in their own closet?

Fortunately for them, Google’s data presents Japan’s capital in a rather more favourable light, with the top three searches consisting of “Diver City Tokyo”, “Fireworks festivals 2012” and the newly-opened shopping and entertainment plaza Sola Machi, which sits at the base of the new Tokyo Sky Tree. Pretty wholesome stuff, all-in-all!

People in Osaka, Kyoto and this writer’s home-from-home Fukushima, meanwhile, spent most of 2012 looking for information on Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, the tragic accident that occurred in the Gion district in April, and nearby fireworks displays.

Oh dear, Saitama. Oh dear.

Title image (C) Google Edited by RocketNews24
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