Japan's Noto Peninsula was hit by a huge earthquake on New Year's Day, causing massive damage to roads and buildings, and triggering a tsunami. Over a hundred have died, with many more still missing, and Ishikawa and surrounding prefectures have suffered almost immeasurable levels of destruction to property and infrastructure.
As locals subsist in evacuation centers or try to leave the area, and emergency services pour in to bring supplies and rescue those still trapped, the authorities have specifically requested that people outside the region not come as volunteers yet to ease the burden ...
The New Year period in Japan is traditionally a time when celebrities announce marriages. Despite being overshadowed by tragic events in Noto and Haneda, this year proved to be business as usual in that respect: the actress Aya Hirano announced her marriage, and gravure idol Tomomi Morisaki confirmed her long-rumored coupling with baseball player Shota Hiranuma (and the fact that she was pregnant to boot).
And another celebrity story emerged: that the former TV announcer Minami Tanaka, who has made a wildly successful transition into modeling and acting, is dating the KAT-TUN singer Kazuya ...
A survey has found that 46% of unmarried Japanese men in their twenties have never dated a member of the opposite sex.
The figure is a record high, representing a significant increase from 34.2% in the last survey two years ago.
The survey by Recruit Bridal Research Institute found a slight drop in the numbers of men in their forties who have never dated (down from 27.1% to 22.9%), but a rise in the numbers of men in their thirties (up from 35.4% to 41.2%).
Just 26.7% of men in their twenties said they currently had a partner.
On average, 43.5% of men said they wanted to get married in ...
We recently wrote about TV announcer Kasumi Mori's continued forays into modeling, including a sexy photo shoot for the magazine Anan.
We ended by musing that it was high time that the 28-year-old put out her first photo book, following in the wake of the example set by former announcer Minami Tanaka, who made a hugely successful shift to modeling, released a bestselling photo book, and has now also done some acting.
That proved a naive comment, since of course Kasumi Mori and her management were thinking about this.
She has since announced the release of her first photo book, tentatively ...
They say that YouTubers and other social media content creators are the new celebrity elites of our day, and that seems to extend to their romantic escapades.
A list has emerged apparently showing the sexual conquests of the macho male YouTuber Purotan, who has 2.1 million subscribers to his channel.
The list features 127 women. It was supposedly saved on Purotan's phone and then leaked by another YouTuber, Yagi, after their own relationship ended badly. Purotan has apparently paid ¥5 million as compensation for his alleged domestic violence and infidelity. Yagi appeared in Purotan's ...
Japan has begun a trial roll-out of the morning-after pill, finally bringing availability of emergency contraception in line with most other industrialized nations.
To the chagrin of condom manufacturers (of whom Japan has some of the best in the world), a lot -- if not most -- sex in Japan is unprotected, resulting in a lot of unwanted pregnancies or fears of conception (not to mention, an explosion of syphilis cases).
Sometimes it seems that every celebrity marriage is the result of the woman in the partnership getting pregnant, which is hardly the best example to set (and, let's be ...
The cops are meant to be the ones protecting us and taking down the bad guys, right?
Not always, it seems. Yesterday, Japanese media reported on a female police officer who has been arrested for impersonating a man in a "romance fraud" to get money.
The 25-year-old Yurina Otani is a cop in Osaka but moonlighted as a fraudster, it is alleged.
She apparently pretended to be a Canadian male doctor on social media and even an actual Japanese fashion model from July to August. Well, that certainly trumps a Nigerian prince.
By constructing stories about needing money for "patients in Yemen," ...
A 43-year-old man has been arrested at a hot spring facility in the Mie city of Kuwana for entering the women-only bathing area.
The man, who is described in media reports as unemployed, is from Kasugai in Aichi.
According to police, the man is suspected of sneaking into the women's baths at around 8:30 pm on November 13.
A female customer alerted a member of staff, who confirmed that a man was washing himself in the female bathing area, and then called the cops.
However, the story then becomes complicated because the man told police: "I'm a woman inside, so I can't understand at all ...
We recently wrote about the frankly shocking papakatsu compensated dating fraud perpetuated by a woman to fund her trips to host clubs.
It shows many things, not least the extraordinary lengths some women will go to to feed their addiction to host clubs.
This issue has drawn attention of late, with host clubs seen as more exploitative than hostess clubs. Host clubs have developed an image as an ecosystem that preys on vulnerable women and with a financial structure that leads to debt, whereby women are encouraged to rack up huge bills that they pay later.
Many of the women who go to host ...
Have you ever wondered what that sex position is called in Japanese?
This could be for purely academic reasons, of course, if you are a bit of a linguist. Maybe you just like having random knowledge in your arsenal.
Or it could be for that time when you need to explain to your Japanese partner the position you want to try next.
This superbly useful guide has illustrations of various sex positions with their Japanese name, including transliterated versions if you can't read the kanji.
The guide was created by illustrator Jikumaru and published online in 2019, giving kind permission for ...
