Erika Ikuta of Nogizaka46 has a major hit on her hands with her latest photo book, which may more than just a little to do with the fact that she has posed semi-nude for it. After all, as Rena Kato amply demonstrated, raising the sexiness level for a photo book generally leads to buzz and sales.
Here are some of the delights waiting for readers on the pages of "Intermission."
The photo book was shot over seven days in New York last September.
Following a series of successful photo books by Nogizaka46 and Keyakizaka46 idols, not least Mai Shirase, but ...
Another one bites the dust.
Mayu Harada has announced she is officially leaving Keyakizaka46.
Of course, we are sure this has nothing to do with the fact that the 17-year-old was featured in leaked photos showing her kissing and embracing an older man.
It is rumored that the man was her junior high school teacher. The school where he works in Ota ward, Tokyo, has apparently been flooded with phone calls from angry parents. After all, who is next on his hit list of underage kids?
The idol industry's response? Nothing to see here, keep moving along, nothing to see ...
In the latest example of how the "sex ban" on AKB-affiliated idol groups does not work in practice (er, these are young women with legions of male admirers) and is just a ruse to appease certain otaku, images have leaked showing Keyakizaka46's Mayu Harada apparently kissing a man.
The much older male is shown kissing Mayu Harada on the lips and groping her breasts in what appears to be Puri Kura photo-booth images.
The 17-year-old Mayu may be in a relationship with the older man, who some suspect is her former junior high teacher. If true, a physical courtship between the two ...
Remember when we reported on two former idols in Aoyama Saint Hachamecha High School (Mechahai) in 2014, who were being sued by their managers for dating fans?
Well, now the sorry state of Japan's idol industry gets worse.
When a 17-year-old girl who was a member of an unnamed idol group (allegedly Dokidoki) was found to have "breached" her group's rules against dating, it meant the management apparently was forced to disband the entire idol group.
The management then sued the teenager and her family for around ¥5.1 million (over $40,000) in damages.
The courts ruled on the suit on ...
At last, the first major Nogizaka46 scandal!
The idol group's Sayuri Matsumura has been snapped kissing a man. But unlike her peers in AKB48 who tend to have affairs with their managers or with their otaku fans, Sayuri has opted for a guy in his thirties already married with a kid!
The tabloid Shukan Bungei ran the photos this week showing Sayuri on the street in the arms of the man.
Way to piss off your management, "betray" your fans, AND play up to the fantasies of older male admirers all at the same time, Sayuri!
The 22-year-old Sayuri has tearfully apologized but we ...
Why do all the Japanese hotties go with sports stars?
From news readers to pop singers, everyone seems to want a sportsman for a husband. Cute ex-Morning Musume member Rika Ishikawa is no different.
After it was reported in some tabloids she has confirmed the rumors on her blog, and crushed our fantasies. She is indeed dating Seibu Lions pitcher Ryoma Nogami.
Nogami is a mere 27 to Rika's 29 -- the dangerous age when girls get serious about you-know-what.
These day the former Musume is named as a tarento rather than singer or idol. Sadly, with her career on the wane, Rika ...
Yasushi Akimoto, the producer behind AKB48 and its cohorts, never misses an opportunity to make money, even when the stimulus is safety and a nearly tragic event.
After the saw attack incident that saw two AKB48 idols Rina Kawaei and Anna Iriyama hospitalized, along with a male member of staff, and a maddened "fan" taken in custody by police, many predicted the end of the group's famous hand-shaking events. AKB has always promoted itself as "idols you can meet" but were they now just too big to be safe from madcap young men?
What to do?
Metal scanners? Checks on all bags ...
She may well have only come second this year but she still has her die-hard fans.
Exiled former AKB48 idol Rino Sashihara finished runner-up in the AKB48 General Election last weekend but this was in spite of the best efforts of a farmer, who voted for her 4,600 times.
A strawberry farmer apparently with money to burn was personally responsible for over 3% of Sashihara's winning 150,570 votes last year.
He claimed he would get at least 4,600 votes for her this year, despite having a wife and two children of his own. Regardless, it didn't help as Mayu Watanabe beat Sashiko to the ...
As spotted by Kotaku and now doing the rounds on the Internet to much hilarity, ex-Morning Musume idol cutie Ai Takahashi has been photographed posing innocently with a t-shirt that says boldly "I am a whore".
Another Morning Musume graduate, Yuko Nakasawa, had the offending image of Ai Takahashi taken when the 27-year-old Takahashi visited Fukuoka for some filming. After it was then uploaded to her blog it quickly went viral and Ai Takahashi's reputation as a sweet girl-next-door-type immediately went out the window.
Takahashi also uploaded it to her blog (both posts now long ...
An otaku has made a shocking confession that he bought 3,000 CDs due to his obsession with Rina Ikoma, the 18-year-old idol and member of girl group Nogizaka46.
Naturally he is also a regular attendant at Nogizaka46 handshaking events.
These meet-and-greet sessions are where they can have a few seconds of bliss stroking the hand of the idols they adore.
He told Rina what he had done at a recent handshaking event.
Unfortunately he was less than impressed with her muted response to his confession, crushing his dreams of happiness with the teenaged idol.
He now claims to ...
