Put up with smelly smalls to save planet, Japanese wives told

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

TOKYO (AFP) — Japanese wives are being told to put up with the whiff of their husbands' dirty socks and underwear to save the planet from global warming.

One in four Japanese housewives "always or occasionally" separates their husbands' clothes from those of other family members when they do the laundry, according to a new survey.

Nearly all of those who did so said their husbands' clothes were too dirty or smelled bad -- with socks, underwear and pillow covers said to be particularly foul.

"The figures were bigger than we had initially expected," said Yuki Shimoya, a spokeswoman for detergent maker Lion Corp, which conducted the survey.

"It's partially because many Japanese care about cleanliness."

But she advised against separate laundry...