Down-filled downer

I forget -- are quirky human-interest stories supposed to make you feel good or bad? The quote from a satisfied customer in this excerpt from a news article about human-shaped pillows somehow manages to take it into the realm of the mildly upsetting.

In Japan, women can doze with man pillow

Nagareyama, Japan -- After a long night at work as a radio DJ, Junko Suzuki likes to snuggle at bedtime -- and she says she's found the perfect partner: a man-shaped pillow.

Linen maker Kameo Corp.'s new "Boyfriend's Arm Pillow" -- which consists of a headless torso and a stuffed arm that curls around the sleeper -- might make some people uneasy.

For Suzuki, who is estranged from her husband, the pillow has definite advantages: It doesn't squirm or thrash in the night, and you know it'll be there in the morning.

"It keeps holding me all the way through," she said in her home outside of Tokyo. "I think this is great because this does not betray me."