Did you know that rather than the 9 months it takes western women to give birth after conception, it takes Japanese women 10 months.
Why would this be? Is it due to a difference in body temperature? Is it because of body size? or is it that Japanese babies take longer to mature in the womb?
We actually iy is none of the above. There are two theories why the Japanese (including doctors) believe that from conception to birth takes ten months.
The first is the way the months are counted. In Japan, it takes 40 weeks to have a baby. That's nine months right? Well it is if you count calendar months, but in Japan, for some reason, months are counted as four weeks. This means that although the pregnancy lasts for 40 weeks, it counts as 10 months due to the 4 week month rule.
Another difference lies in the way the date of conception is arrive at. In western countries doctors count from the next period and Japanese doctors count from the last cycle giving a one-month descrepency.
Whichever counting system is used, women, both in the west and in Japan have a pregnancy of 40 weeks.
How long does it take in your country?
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