The mystery of Japanese clothes sizes

I was checking out some clothes on this website: http://gw.tv/fw/ and couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at the sizes. They were incredibly small! For instance, this dress here: http://gw.tv/fw/b/pc/Product.html?mthd=07&SC=0F1&PC=LIP...# has a bust size of 58cm (about 23 inches). How can any woman, unless she's a child, have such a small bust?!
I've been to Japan and except for the breasts, the average Japanese woman didn't seem to be any smaller than me (I'm a size 2/4US). So, how can they fit into such tiny clothes?

Where does it say "bust size of 58cm"? It must be a mis-printing for "waist size 58cm" which would typically be the smallest size for waists.

Oh, I found it now. Hey, obviously, the dress of the photo is not for people whose size is "waist 64cm, bust 58cm, hip 78cm." Email them for the correct measurement.

Initially I also thought it was a mistake but it's not the only one. Although this dress is the smallest of them, all clothes by Lip Service come in very small sizes. And it's not just Lip Service, other brands have similarly small sizes. Only some, like Cecil McBee, have more "realistic" sizes such as 82cm bust, 67cm waist and 90cm hips.
I wouldn't have posted this question if I didn't find these clothes to come in strangely small sizes, even if they were made for Japanese women. I just wanted to know if those clothes can really be that small because if they are I unfortunately can't purchase them.

See how baggy the back is - I think you may need to double the number to get the measurement of the dress around your bust and the waist. It's not quite clear, though.

http://gw.tv/fw/info/size/

Or maybe it's just the width of the cloth around your bust - check the photo, and you will see that there is opening at the back (with just the ribbon across).

Oh, AK is right! I was only looking at the No Sleave size guide and not at the Bare Top guide.

Anyway, I've never seen Japanese clothes with bust top surrounding size any smaller than 80cm.

So that's why! It certainly makes sense. I know Japanese women have small busts but that was just too small.

Since I don't know much about Japanese women's bodies I decided to take a look at some fashion magazines I bought in Japan because they all have "before and after" pictures of girls who supposedly lost some weight. I was looking at their measurements and they are indeed smaller than me, even though I didn't find most Japanese women to be any smaller than me while I was there. However a friend of mine reminded me I wasn't taking my height into account. A tall woman with the same hip measurement as a small woman will seem to have much slimmer hips.
I'm not very tall but I am taller than the average Japanese woman (170cm) and that probably explains why with smaller measurements than mine they don't actually look smaller. It also explains why some of those clothes are so small.
Well, with a 61cm waist and 86cm hips I can fit into at least some of the pants and shorts sold on that website but with a 90cm bust it seems everything else is out of the question. Which makes me wonder where busty Japanese women find clothes that fit. Also, if most clothes are made for women with small breasts why do those fashion magazines advocate breast enhancement? If women did that they would no longer be able to wear the clothes advertised in those magazines.

No, most clothes AREN'T made for women with small breasts. You seem to be looking at catalogues only for skinny model type girls. Surely, only a very low percentage of women in Japan wear barebacks in town.

A lot of ordinary women wear knits. There are also a lot of clothes that are more loosely fit, like baggy blouse. Of course there is a small selection of shops especially for big women.

For example, the following Japanese catalogues sell women's clothes with busts that generally range between 82 to 105.
http://www.otto-online.jp/store/category/ladies/index.a...

I also Googled "Ladies Fashion" in Japanese and the one at the top have busts over 100cm.
http://belluna.jp/ryuryu/01/010201/d/NEW5/02603/goods_d...

You are not only taller than the average Japanese woman, you are taller than *most* Japanese women, which makes it meaningless to compare your measurements with theirs. Someone with the same measurements as you who is 148cm may actually be slightly overweight, whereas you are very slim.

Obviously the sites you are looking at aren't really representative of what you will find in Japan- Uniqlo and Muji for example have much more of a range in their sizing.

I am 175cm, live in Japan, and I don't buy at the shops you mention at all, because the clothes don't fit me well. I am slim, but a somewhat different shape to most Japanese women- I have more in the way of hips, butt and thighs, which just makes it impractical for me and many other women to go to the kinds of shops you are looking at. I stick to Benetton, Zara, H&M etc., or Uniqlo and Muji which have a better range of sizes as I mentioned above.

You know, initially I also thought I'd feel quite tall in Japan but that wasn't the case, at least not in Tokyo. I saw some pretty tall Japanese ladies in Tokyo. Same goes for Japanese men. My boyfriend's 183cm tall and a lot of young Japanese men were at least as tall as him.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank you all for answering my questions and helping me shed light on this subject.

Men's clothes are ridiculously small by western standards. I'm not particularly big but the largest shirt size I can find is 4L and even that is too short in the arms. Japanese men's clothing seems to be very tight-fitting.