Japanese snowmen

[Otaku]

Why do Japanese snowmen only have two circles?

[lkelly2477]

What do you mean? Did you see a snowman allready?

[Otaku]

It came up in class today. My JTE pointed out that Japanese snowmen have 2 balls (excuse the pun) and non-Japanese snowmen have 3. I had never really thought about it before but my brain went in all kinds of different directions:

1. Japanese people are short...no need for the third ball.
2. Foreigners are fatter...need the third ball.
3. etc.

But, truth of the matter is, I have never thought about it before now.

[lkelly2477]

I never noticed, it harldly snows here. I made a snowman twice in my 10 years here.

[Otaku]

I know you're not going to believe this but...

When I was living up north, one village I worked in actually packaged mini-snowmen and shipped them to Okinawa as omiyage for people to buy. I'm not sure how successful this business was but I laughed my ass off the first time I heard about this. I thought this was the most ridonkulous idea I had ever heard of. Of course, this was the same village that packed a ton of snow into an air tight building and used the snow during the summer to pump cool air into the school.

Needless to say, I couldn't figure if the people in this village were complete morons or absolute genius.

[TENGU]

Has anyone seen a picture of だるま　(達磨) the priest?

he is like a big ball for a torso and a smaller one for the head.

I think that explains the shape.