About 70% of Japanese women say they regularly wear nylons - typically called tights in the UK and pantyhose in the US. Japanese nylons come in a vast range of styles and designs, and 150 million pairs are made each year. The technology behind them i... (more)s now being applied to revolutionary artificial blood vessels. On this edition of BEGIN Japanology, our theme is women's nylons. We'll explore the lengths to which Japanese women go to make their legs look stylish, and the cultural history behind it.

Peter Barakan, Stuart Varnam-Atkin