A nineteen-year old university student was in the college library when he got a message from his mother.
"Super Sonico hug pillow has just arrived" it read.
The student was obviously very ashamed claimed he wasn't sure if he should go home or rather fling himself into the nearest river.
Japan's embarrassed men buying ero manga or ero geemu (erotic games) are frequently defeated by the retailer's over-enthusiasm for nice packaging, resulting in attractive boxes decorated with images of the featured otaku idol and the like, and making any attempt at secrecy ...
Parks are not just for strolling around in.
Unlike other cities, Tokyo's parks are open all night. Photographer Kohei Yoshiyuki used to visit Chuo Park in the early Seventies and search for goings-on in the dark.
At the time, it was common for couples to go the park to have sex. But that alone wasn't what was interesting.
The couples weren't alone. People were watching.
In effect, the park was an open-air public happening bar.
After spending months entrenches with the voyeurs so that they would trust him as a "regular" in Chuo, Yoyogi and Aoyama parks, Yoshiyuki then ...
The upcoming AKB48 General Election is proving an odd event, with lots of surprising choices.
Tomomi Itano, who has announced her graduation from AKB48, is nonetheless appearing in the election. Two other members who are pursuing solo projects and are very likely to graduate soon -- e.g. Haruna Kojima, Minami Takahashi -- are also taking part.
On the other hand, Sayaka Akimoto has also announced her graduation from the group and that she won't be making a swan song entry in the election, depriving fans of the chance to vote for her one last time.
Some other members have said they ...
You may have heard a lot about instant messaging app LINE over the last two years. It is meant to be the most rapidly rising and exciting social service in Japan and other parts of Asia.
Well, it's not just about chatting and sharing cute virtual stickers. When you have 100 million users, you can guarantee that a certain proportion of them will be horny.
And when you get horny users, you get porn!
Some creative users have been creating conversations where the chat bubbles only just about preserve the modesty of sexy idols.
Okay, so here's the secret ...
That's what the results of a survey would have us believe.
It surveyed 3,616 men and women aged 20 to 49 around Japan on the theme of marriage and children online in early February.
30% of men in both their twenties and thirties answered that they had never had sex or been in a relationship. The numbers of people dated increases for men in their thirties compared with respondents in their twenties, but the proportion of people who with no experience of romance among the unmarried remains the same.
On the other hand, girls in their twenties with no experience of a relationship is ...
The car in front is a Toyota. Really?
Yes, Toyota has proved that otaku are valuable members of its customer base by creating an itasha decorated vehicle especially for the Anime Contents Expo 2013.
The itasha car is available for both the Prius and Vitz models, and has been customized with images from the Girls and Panzers anime.
The cars will also be sold from a showroom in Ikebukuro.
Otaku certainly have enough cash to buy AKB48 singles by the thousands -- but do they have the means to purchase a car? Toyota hopes ...
Here is the otaku hug pillow for the new generation.
A smartphone that is the size of a bed.
That's right, you can sleep on this phone, run on it, even live on it.
But otaku will be interested in how it can revolutionize the hug pillow.
Take the Soine App 4.1, which allows you to snuggle up (soine) to a life-size 2D anime character.
Before you jump to any conclusions about "Japanese" engineers, the development team was actually led by a white ...
The movie of the bizarre manga Hentai Kamen, about a hero who wears panties on his face, has released a suitably odd trailer.
Apparently Hentai Kamen's groin has the potential to block phone signals, obstruct camera lens and even blaze light to punish the selfish members of the audience.
It is actually a parody of the much-mocked "No More!" video that is featured before showings of movies in Japanese cinemas, warning people not to make illegal recordings of films.
Hentai Kamen is released in Japan on April ...
...if these pictures are to believed, showing a group of high school students engaged in some very well-orchestrated recreations of Dragon Ball powers.
And it's not just the girls...
So, if you are thinking of trying to seduce a Japanese high school girl, be ...
There are people with smell fetishes everywhere and we are not sure if there are more in Japan -- or whether the Japanese are simply much better at integrating their fetishes into products and social structures.
Either way, you can find a ton of pretty amazing smell fetish goods out there.
We went shopping...
Japanese Schoolgirl Armpit Smell Bottle
This bottle collects the aroma of a sweaty schoolgirl's armpit especially for your pleasure.
Japanese Virgin Girl Sweat Spray
And if it's just perspiration you are after, try this virgin sweat spray, which is great for adding to clothes, ...
