Japanese model and actress Karina (30) has made her first appearance after disappearing from public view since spring this year, when the weekly tabloid magazine Friday ran a picture of her in a supposedly post-coital passed-out state. The world was shocked when Karina, mostly known as a fashion model and innocuous TV actress, was pictured partly naked with her legs spread wide open. Not just unflattering, it was overtly sexual and dirty -- not Karina's usual clean image. Friday published the image in March this year, though it actually dates back to a party in Hawaii in summer two years ago ...

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The 2020 Olympics have found their future local star. This young man can run super fast, no doubt because he has energy feeding into his body courtesy of his love for 2D idols. Yes, this is Japan's fastest otaku. At the Emperor's Cup 83rd Japan Student Field and Track Championship over the weekend, Hiroki Hashimoto ran the male 400 meters dash in under 51 seconds, claiming the number one spot on the podium. Hashimoto, who is a student at Nihon University, Japan's largest college, chose to celebrate his victory on Sunday with his best friend, a 2D idol that is his most beloved ...

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We've long said that Tenga are one of the most interesting sex toys brands not just in Japan, but in the whole world. Here's another example. They are innovative for two reasons. Their approach to sex toys always prioritizes the design of the product, from the way it looks on the outside as well as the inside, and even the packaging. Secondly, their attitude towards marketing, which is bold, clever and fun. Although the brand has lots its personal touch since it got absorbed by Soft on Demand and started using a major ad agency, we can't think of many sex toys that would sponsor an ...

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For a culture that doesn't really have much sense of irony (especially in its comedy or mainstream entertainment), the Japanese sex toys industry seems to take the lead in introducing a healthy dose of parody into proceedings. And so we get sex toys very unofficially modeled on hunky EXILE member Atsushi and even a unique handjob toy and porn film series inspired by Hello! Project idol group Berryz Kobo. In the past we have also seen lubes and lotions based on famous drinks, Gundam-inspired condoms, and even Pachinko vibrators. This Listen to Me, Girls! I Am Your Horny Father Onahole, ...

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Just when you thought the AKB franchise couldn't get any bigger, along comes another sister group. The AKB empire has stretched its tentacles all over the Japanese archipelago and even to Jakarta in Indonesia. And now the "idols you can meet" concept finally arrives up in the colder climes of Hokkaido, Japan's large northern island. Next spring there will be SPR48, the new sister group in Sapporo, Hokkaido's capital city. This is according to the AKB boss, Yasushi Akimoto, the 56-year-old honcho who the government wants to represent everything "Cool Japan" can offer to the ...

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Now 41 but still alluring as ever, Ryoko Shinohara has loosened her shirt buttons again to show off her bust for a new Triumph bra ad to hit the small screen in Japan in September. Here is the revealing ad for the new "Tenshi no Bra" (Angel's Bra). Shinohara previously stripped off for the bra-makers spring ads, which boosted sales by 200%. That time the bra was a sultry red. While not as sexy as its rivals Peach John and Ravijour, Triumph tends to focus on slightly odd publicity stunts with a biannual bra designed to reflected the motifs of the zeitgeist. Its use of Ryoko Shinohara ...

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It's not easy being in an idol group. Constantly shuttling from photo shoot to TV appearance to recording studio to media interview. No real private life. Always under the watchful eye of your minders and agency controllers. And now we have the sad news yesterday that Korean idol group Ladies' Code has lost one of its members in a traffic accident on a drive from Busan to Seoul. EunB was killed and Sojung and Rise hurt, the latter critically, when a vehicle carrying all five members of the idol group crashed into a guardrail at 1.30 in the morning on Wednesday. Other ...

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Sony has bizarrely chosen to show off its virtual reality headset Project Morpheus with this creepy demo Summer Lesson, to be exhibited at Tokyo Game Show later this month. Sony, perhaps with an eye on its dismal sales of late, seems to want to attract the otaku dollar, since the demo, in contrast to previous ones that involved such exciting scenarios as a shark cage, is about leering at a loosely-dressed schoolgirl as she hangs around at home. Here's the demo, though you'll have to wait until TGS to test it out. Directed and produced by Katsuhiro ("Tekken") Harada -- who ...

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Let this be a warning to everyone: Don't snap pictures of hot Japanese girls you don't know. Anywhere. Sure, we know we shouldn't do this in the office when a cutie goes by. And we also know there are plenty of cases of people being arrested for taking photos under girls' skirts. But just an innocent snap of a pretty girl on the train. Surely this wouldn't be a police matter, right? Wrong. On the evening of August 28th, a 40-year-old Kawasaki City employee was riding the Denentoshin Line, a major suburban train line between Tokyo and Yokohama. He glanced at a cute 21-year-old ...

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There has been some mild panic in the local media after reports of school kids catching Dengue fever from mosquitos in Yoyogi Park in central Tokyo on August 21st. The cases have been increasing since then, with 22 confirmed victims so far. On August 27th the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced they were the first recorded domestic cases of Dengue fever in Japan in around 70 years. A rather unlikely scenario has manifested itself, though, in that two tarento have also contracted the illness, it was announced today. Eri Aoki (25) and Saaya (20) were doing a TV shoot ...

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