We've written before about Aya Takanashi and her columns providing her insights on Japanese porn. As a former AV performer herself from 2016 to 2018, she is in the know about such things. Her latest column for Spa! deals with the question of why so many underground idols (chika aidoru) are seemingly making the switch to porn? It's true that porn retails sites like Fanza do seem chocker-block with chika idols of late. One example is Ichigo Nekomiya (pictured), who is meant to be a member of an Akihabara underground idol group and is making her debut (4HMN487) this month on the Honnaka ...

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A 54-year-old Japanese man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering an ex-music idol. Police in Fuchu arrested Akira Ishikawa on February 3 for killing a 24-year-old former idol called Sana Hirabayashi at a hotel in the city in the west of Tokyo by stabbing her neck. Security camera footage captured the two entering the hotel at 2 a.m. on the morning of February 2. Ishikawa then left alone about four hours later. The hotel became concerned when Hirabayashi had still not emerged from the room by 1:30 a.m. on February 3 and couldn't be contacted. They called police, who found her in the ...

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An underground Japanese music idol group has claimed that one of its members will become an adult video star for being the least popular. Announced on September 16 and apparently running until September 19, the last day of a music festival, the Planck Stars said that the member who got the least number of snapshots taken with fans would be forced to debut in porn. Incidentally, the winner gets a free bicycle. The group claimed its members devised the campaign themselves. The original announcement got some attention back in September, but has received renewed outrage on Twitter in the ...

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We stumbled upon this confessional post on Amina du Jean's Substack, billed as "a digital temple for positive femininity." The title, "Crazy Sexy Tokyo," is provocative and sounds like another "wacky Japan" story at first, but we were especially intrigued to read the author's insights into compensated dating (enjo kosai). Writing about her personal experiences of participating in this social "custom" of young women, in which they go on dates with (older) men and receive monetary "compensation" for their troubles, the author is very candid and doesn't resort to the more obvious ...

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Things don't happen in a vacuum: even if the new porn star isn't already famous and making a switch from gravure modeling or another career to JAV (e.g., Ruu Yumemi or Shizuku Taiyo), the chances are she was doing something beforehand. And being an underground (chika) idol is one. These young women inhabit the groups that etch out a precarious living doing small gigs and events, attended by a modest but devoted following of fans. The chika idol group Miramajo (みらまじょ) made a sudden decision to disband in January of this year, giving no formal reason -- meaning it was probably ...

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We wrote about the adult video debut of Tina Nanami back in late 2018 but could only find time in our busy schedules finally to check it out last week. Released on January 10th, "Rin toshite hakanai" (roughly, Dignified Ephemeral) (1STARS00025) from SOD Star is a solid first porn title and Tina Nanami (七海ティナ), who is apparently a former Nagoya underground idol (chika idol) and Shibuya 109 Men's sales representative, should have a bright career ahead of her. Pale skin? Big bust? Beautiful face? Tina's got it all! Her second AV release (1STARS00037) already came out on February 7th ...

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