When I was doing a book tour in Japan for Why Men Are The Way They Are, I was told of an institution called the snack. The snack works like this: A man is coming home from work, and has had a bad day. He doesn't feel that his wife wants to hear about it, so he pays between $50 and $80 for a snack -a sandwich and a drink and an attractive woman who will listen empathetically to him-sort of a beautiful psychologist with refreshments. No men need apply.