Hina Kikuchi’s latest photo book is a bestseller
April 7, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
Hina Kikuchi was the joint winner at Weekly Playboy's Gravure Japan Awards 2024 announced in December, and it's clear that the public is lapping her up as well.
The 20-year-old's highly anticipated third photo book, memory, is a hit, selling 50,000 copies across physical and digital editions since March 19.
As the weather warms up in Japan, fans are clearly connecting with the photo book's summery theme.
Since she's still only 20 years old, we suspect Hina Kikuchi -- with her slinky body and pale skin -- has a long and fruitful gravure career ahead of her.
She got her break as a ...
Jun Amaki announces retirement (or does she?)
April 2, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
One of Japan's top gravure idols, Jun Amaki, has announced her retirement.
On April 1, the hugely popular gradol posted on social media to her hundreds of thousands of followers, claiming that her retirement was immediate.
"I entered the entertainment industry at the age of 17 and started my activities as a national underground idol. From the age of 18, I used my miraculous two-dimensional body as a weapon and continued to run as a gravure idol until today! This is my last year in my twenties. I have come to terms with my life and have decided to retire from gravure modeling."
She thanks ...
Cameraman arrested for groping gravure idol during shoot
March 17, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
A cameraman has been arrested for groping a gravure idol during a shoot.
The 61-year-old Nobuhiko Namai was arrested for touching the model on multiple occasions on a two-day shoot that he was handling for the production company where he works.
The alleged incident took place in October last year during a shoot in Chiba. It was not clear why it has taken so long for the incident to come to light or for police to act.
During the shoot, Namai is accused of touching the model's lower body without consent. He was in charge of filming for an image video they were shooting for release on DVD. ...
Busty gravure idol Jun Amaki entertains men at Tokyo sauna
March 10, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
There's little more rejuvenating than a long, relaxing session in a sauna, especially in winter. But how about a session in a sauna with a top gravure model?
That's the basic premise behind an event recently held by the gradol Jun Amaki.
Known for her huge bakunyu breasts (an I cup?!) and for making the Virgin Killer Sweater a viral hit, Jun Amaki has been part of our lives at Tokyo Kinky for so long, she's practically family. In fact, it's been a decade or more, since she's practically 30 (she hits that milestone in October), so is relatively mature by gravure standards.
The industry ...
Moka Hayashida reveals true reason behind gravure retirement
February 27, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
The gravure idol Moka Hayashida announced last month that she was retiring from gravure at the end of February. After much speculation, the truth behind why the slinky 24-year-old is leaving the industry has now come out.
It brings to an end a five-year career that has encompassed numerous video releases and four print photo books, including one to come in March.
She is known for her long legs that she likes to show off in revealing swimwear.
So why is retiring this month? Yesterday, Hayashida shared more details with fans on her personal Instagram account and they sadly expose an ...
Yui Koike returns to gravure after 10 years
February 24, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
We love a good comeback story at Tokyo Kinky. Last week, we reported on Yumi Sugimoto's return to gravure in an issue of Weekly Playboy.
That same issue featured a number of Super Sentai alum and we are delighted to share the pics of Yui Koike, marking her first gravure shoot in about a decade.
Like with Sugimoto, 33-year-old Koike is releasing an accompanying digital photo book via Weekly Playboy.
The tokusatsu sci-fi series often hires gravure idols to play female roles. Koike prevously appeared in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger.
She still has those girl-next-door looks and a slinky ...
Yumi Sugimoto makes gravure comeback to mark Super Sentai anniversary
February 21, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
The actress Yumi Sugimoto is now 35 years old and first appeared in the Toei tokusatsu series Engine Sentai Go-onger, broadcast around 17 years old. From about that time, she established herself as a gravure idol too, despite not having the chops in terms of cup size.
She enjoyed a prolific gravure career throughout her twenties, perhaps peaking with her semi-nude photo book Chiamata in 2015.
This was followed two years later by her marriage to a younger man, which seemed to signal the end of her gravure output -- but she got divorced in 2019.
Sugimoto appears in the February 17 issue of ...
Winners of the Grademy Award announced
February 12, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
Celebrating the fortieth anniversary of top gravure magazine Weekly Friday, the Grademy Award was announced last autumn and votes collected online to find what was billed as Asia's top gradol.
Almost all of the 232 candidates were Japanese, though, so the "Asian" claim was slightly disingenuous. But quibbles aside, the public votes have been counted and the results -- and awards -- finally announced online earlier last week.
The top prize -- billed as Most Valuable Gradol -- went to leading gravure idol Ina Enohara.
Best Newcomer (also billed as Best Gradol Debut) was shared by ...
Yuno Ohara goes nude for new photo book, shot by Fumi Nikaido
February 9, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
Here's some very good news for fans of gravure idol and actress Yuno Ohara, and we know that there are hundreds of thousands of them out there.
The 25-year-old gradol has just released her fourth photo book, which marks her fifteenth anniversary as an idol (she began her career as a dancer way back in 2009.
Titled √25 and published on February 7 by Shogakukan, it's her most nude release to date.
And what's really interesting is that the model teamed up with Okinawan actress Fumi Nikaido for the photo book.
The 30-year-old Nikaido is an established photographer in her own right, ...
44-year-old Mariko Seyama takes trip to hot spring in new photo book
February 6, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
Aging like a fine red wine, the former Japanese TV announcer Mariko Seyama has proven year by year that older is not only better, but more provocative.
The mature gravure star has continued to strip even as she reached her forties. Indeed, it wasn't until she arrived at that milestone that she showed us her naked breasts, after years of semi-nude shoots.
Seyama is a former announcer for NTV who moved into gravure in 2012. The Tokyo native is a graduate from Keio University, one of the most prestigious colleges in Japan. She is also divorced, having been married from 2009 to 2015. Her ...