More than 20,000 brassieres have been recalled after a Japanese lingerie maker received complaints that underwires were unexpectedly poking out of the bras and injuring women, Reuters reported.
Japan's famous lingerie maker Triumph International, which has made a name for itself with concept lingerie such as a solar-powered bra and an "Abenomics" bra, said they took the move due to fears of female clients being injured while wearing them.
"We are sorry for the bother, but we ask customers to stop using the bras immediately," the Japanese branch of the multinational brand Triumph International said in a statement, adding that it deeply apologized and would take steps to prevent a recurrence.
According to complaints received by the company, the tips of underwires were suddenly protruding through holes in the fabric after being washed or even when it was worn.
Sold only in Japan, the recall applies to roughly 22,000 such bras ranging in cost from 5,600 to 6,200 yen ($48 to $53), a company spokeswoman said.
Although there have been no complaints of injuries from the faulty design in the bras yet, the lingerie company said "it would be terrible if it happened and somebody's skin was scratched."
Last year, the Switzerland-based company had released the "Abenomics" bras in Tokyo as a take on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's "three-arrow" economic revival plan.
Meanwhile, the discovery of a cockroach inside a frozen pasta packet had led to the recall of hundreds of thousands of frozen pasta meals in Japan a week ago, Agence France-Presse reported.
All across Japan, Nissin Frozen Foods was calling for the return of about 750,000 meals sold by supermarkets, a Nissin spokesman said, adding that the recall did not include food being sold internationally.
The company, a unit of instant noodles pioneer Nissin Foods Holdings, was probing "a claim by a customer who spotted something foreign inside a product, and discovered that part of an insect believed to be a cockroach had slipped" into a bag of frozen pasta, it said in a statement.
