Ojiroku, Obasa: The slave virgins of the Japanese mountain villages
November 5, 2013
/ Taro
When we think of Japanese virginal girls, we tend to think of cute girls like this.
But there were another kind.
The Ojiroku and Obasa was a rural custom that is said to have continued until the twentieth century.
They weren't allowed contact with anyone except the oldest son and could not marry, instead being worked by the family like a slave all their lives.
Due to Japan's mountains, there are many villages separated by peaks and forests, giving rise to unique isolated culture. Take the village of Kamihara in Nagano.
In this village, there was no space for children other ...
Kanna Hashimoto: impossibly cute idol from Fukuoka charming the nation
November 3, 2013
/ Tadashi Anahori
Forget Tokyo. Sometimes for the real cuties you need to look elsewhere. In particular, go south to Kyushu and the biggest city, Fukuoka.
There you will find Kanna Hashimoto (橋本環奈), the latest virginal girl to capture the hearts of Japan's netizens.
You don't get more innocent and cute than the 143cm lass.
The response online has been explosive:
A real angel.
THIS is an idol.
Give me this girl!
Probably a non-virgin.
Hashimoto was born in 1999, making her very much underage for all you guys with imaginations. She is part of the Hakata (Fukuoka) ...
Female college student caught making porno in park, arrested
November 1, 2013
/ Tadashi Anahori
Japanese porn shoots are very professional things. We have personal experience (not of appearing in them, we might add!) and can tell you that the major production companies run very slick operations. They come in and shoot their stuff very efficiently, and leave without any trace. They are meticulous about garbage and know exactly what they are doing, because they are literally making a new movie every day.
And then there are the more amateurish efforts. The results still have some value and charm. But the shoot itself won't be as well done.
Was this one of those?
Police have arrested ...
Our lovely lady this week is Mai Sasaki (佐々木麻衣).
The curvy, sultry girl was born in 1988 and though she doesn't enjoy the front-page fame of her colleagues in the Gravure world, she has built up a quiet following of men eager to see more of her body.
See previous Japanese idols of the ...
Child gives handjob on Japanese TV
October 30, 2013
/ Tadashi Anahori
Japanese TV is disgraceful at times. Here is the shocking image from a TV show broadcast on state channel NHK.
It shows quite clearly a young child fondling a certain member. What a scandal!
Hang on, it's not human. Does this make it worse? Is it bestiality as well as prepubescent porn? Well, no.
But it does look a bit funny!
For your information, it actually shows a girl helping to milk a jersey cow in Miyazaki prefecture. Still, with shots as ambiguous as this, it's almost enough to make you pay your NHK ...
After it got big media attention last year, designer Kaori Kato's novel if creepy "flip-a-skirt" calendar has returned with a new edition for 2014.
We weren't sure what to make of it when we blogged about the skirt-lifting calendar last year. Now we have been thoroughly won over by its charms.
Like in 2013 you can lift up the skirt to reveal the calendar below. This year's version comes in two colors! You get the pleasure of lifting up a skirt for every month.
Plus there are memo pad-like skirts where you can attach a note to a girl's ...
For around ¥4,000 an hour you can have a girlfriend or boyfriend. Well, you can have what's nice about having a partner without the physical stuff, at any rate.
Rental friends have been around for a while in many places and the ones in Japan have often disproportionately been given space by the foreign media. Obviously they are a fringe service for certain types of people who need extra bods at weddings and so on. How much truth is there in the coverage?
Well, the services do exist, that's for sure, and they are often more innocent (and innovative) than you might think.
We read an ...
BBC on “The Japanese men who prefer virtual girlfriends to sex”
October 25, 2013
/ Tadashi Anahori
It must be the season. Just as Tokyo is getting pounded by typhoons on a weekly basis, so is the foreign media taking an interest in reporting about "nerdy" Japan.
First we had the respected newspaper the Guardian cherry-pick some statistics to produce the dubious conclusion that young people aren't having sex anymore.
Now the BBC has an article about "the Japanese men who prefer virtual girlfriends to sex". Well, my first response was -- you've just found out about this now?!
Secondly, of course, it tars us Japanese guys with the same brush as the otaku. Much as we love otaku ...
Our lovely lady this week is the cute Rio Uchida (内田理央).
Born in 1991, Rio Uchida is an up-and-coming Gravure idol.
She made her debut in 2010 and her popularity is on the rise thanks to her slinky body, topped with girl-next-door charm -- and a cute ...
Police report big surge in stalking among seniors
October 23, 2013
/ Tadashi Anahori
There's been a lot of media attention about stalking recently, not least due to the sad case of 18-year-old Saaya Suzuki, murdered by a stalker earlier this month.
Now comes another odd twist on the situation.
The National Police Agency (NPA) has reported a 3.8 increase on incidents of stalking by citizens over 60 over the last decade.
So much for the golden years.
Apparently stalking is on the increase in general, though the rise is much more notable for pensioners.
Stalkers in their sixties jumped from 383 in 2003 to 1,329 in 2012, plus there was an increase from 90 to 505 of guys in ...