2023 was another busy year for us, publishing an article almost every weekday. We hope you enjoyed reading our content.
With just a few days of 2023 left, let's look back on the year through some of the major developments in the gravure industry.
In January, Ichika Miri announced her retirement (though since she's just 24 years old, we hope she might return under a different name and new management).
One-time top gravure princess Anri Sugihara released her first photo book in over six years. She is now a charmingly mature 41 years old.
In March, Memo Oba retired. Gravure is brutally ...
The gravure model and actress Yuka Someya has reached that ripe thirties jukujo age when every role she gets offered is erotic (previous occupants of this type included Mitsu Dan and Minami Hashimoto).
In the first episode of TV drama Are kara Doshita, she plays a woman who is having an affair with a securities company.
Someya is playing to type here as a seductive woman who has an affair. It seems the way into someone like that's heart (and panties) is to arrive at her day bearing an expensive gift.
This being mainstream TV and not a streamer, there's no actual nudity on display. ...
As the year draws to a close, it's natural to look back on the past months and get a little nostalgic.
Present-day Japanese gravure idols dressed up and photographed in the style of vintage pinup models? Yes, please!
That's the basic concept behind a new photo book called Pin-Up Girls Selection, which is attempting to conjure up the image of "American porn from 100 years ago," according to the promo spiel.
There are nine participating models: Rin Takahashi, ENA, Hinano Ayakawa, Miku Oshima, Miyako Sono, Miyu Nakagawa, Aya Hazuki, Haruka Bando, and Saki Yanase.
Bando and Oshima are ...
Here's a nice little (late) Christmas present for you.
The Japanese tarento and music idol Ourin (王林) is branching out into gravure with the release of her first solo photo book.
Born in 1998, the Aomori native made her debut way back in 2007 and has been part of several idol groups over the years.
One Chance was released by Shueisha on December 20. We love its flamboyant, bubble-era look.
She has previously released calendars, so gravure is not a completely new career path for her, but the swimwear photos definitely seem to indicate a conscious step up in the sexy stakes compared to ...
It's Christmas in Tokyo, which means . . . what exactly? Well, not really Christmas in the traditional sense.
Christmas in Japan is, of course, not a holiday per se (and falling on a Monday this year, everyone will be working as normal, including yours truly), but Santa cosplay is very popular, as are "Christmas cakes" (which rarely resemble what a European might expect), German-style Christmas markets, and going on dates on Christmas Eve.
In fact, Christmas is basically just a romantic day for couples, and one of the busiest times of year for love hotels.
Gravure idols and models often ...
A retiring actress has complained that the mainstream media is ignoring the open secret that is the casting couch in the entertainment industry.
Though the sexual abuse that took place at Johnny's has now received the media attention it deserves after decades of silence, Misa Hayashi (林美佐) has said that there are still major issues of abuse in the industry.
In an interview with Daily Shincho, Hayashi relates how she was told to sleep with people when her DVD sales were poor. This was when she was working as a gravure idol in her twenties.
As we have noted in the past, the casting ...
Around this time of year, a lot of celebrities, music idols, and models release photo books and calendars. But something that might surprise people outside Japan, where streaming has become so dominant, is that gravure DVDs (or what used to known as image videos) are also still a lucrative market.
Yesterday saw the release of a new DVD by one of our favorite gradols, Eimi Matsushima. The Saitama native who is tall and busty has put out a new 105-minute DVD called special thanks to... and, as the title suggests, it is meant to be her final gravure DVD.
Though we haven't seen anything ...
Our friends at Kanojo Toys, the biggest online source of Japanese adult toys shipping anywhere worldwide, are holding a Christmas sale.
You can currently get 20% off any order. The sale runs through at least December 26 (in all time zones) and the code is valid on multiple orders (so you can get something on different days and still claim the discount, if you're indecisive like us).
To claim your discount, use the code XMAS at the checkout.
We were browsing the latest arrivals at Kanojo Toys (something like six or more toys are added every day), and spotted a lot of toys we want to ...
The top Japanese porn star Minamo has appeared in an advertising campaign for leading Japanese lingerie brand Ravijour.
She is modeling various holidays-themed underwear items that are now available from Ravijour stores and online. She is also holding a promotional meet-and-greet event for the brand in Shinjuku in January, where you even get a signed Minamo-Ravijour mug.
We adore Minamo and she looks ravishing in the Ravijour lingerie, which comes in an erotic red. In keeping with the "holiday collection" theme, the lingerie is festively colored. A Christmas campaign for a ...
Every time we think Tama Toys can't surprise us anymore, its designers come up with a truly WTF concept and our proverbial jaw hits the table.
Hats off and cocks out, the brand has done it again with one of its latest releases: the Kodoku Tsubo Poisonous Insect Pot Onahole.
The toy is whacky as its title suggests. The visuals on the box art and the toy itself are even crazier.
The masturbator is inspired by a Nara-era kind of magic called kodoku, in which poison is extract from the most venomous, strongest insects. It is derived from Chinese gu magic.
It has played a big part in manga ...
