Officials from the Tokyo subway system have reversed an earlier decision not to display a "overly stimulating" poster of highly-talented and highly-pregnant US chanteuse Britney Spears in her birthday suit on the cover of Harper's Bazaar.

The powers that be originally ordered the image, which graced the cover of the magazine's US August issue, to be blacked out below Britney's waist, thereby allowing a tantalising glimpse of her pre-maternity mams but obscuring the swelling in which her and Kevin Federline's second sprog is currently wallowing in a-list amniotic fluid awaiting an autumn release.

The censored area would have contained the statement: "We apologise for hiding part of a beautiful image of a mother-to-be."

Tokyo commuters will, however, now be exposed to the full Spears, the BBC confirms. Tokyo subway spokesman Tatsuya Edakubo explained: "Our earlier request to cover the photo from the waist down was because of nudity, not because we had anything against pregnant women." ®

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