It always feels good to welcome back an old favorite.
The gravure idol Ayame Misaki was a regular on this blog in the early 2010s. But then she got married in 2016 (only to divorce the following year) and also started working as a "serious" actress, landing a role in a film by art-house auteur Naomi Kawase.
But she didn't forget her gravure roots, even if her days of doing nude scenes in low-budget movies are sadly behind her.
Now aged 32 and teetering on the edge of youth and jukujo territory in the most alluring of ways, Misaki made a gravure comeback in late May with a shoot for the ...
Mariko Seyama (脊山麻理子) has shown us herself at her most naked yet.
After years of teasing with lingerie shoots and semi-nudes, the 41-year-old has finally stripped to reveal more of her body. While she has sadly stopped short of full nude (the "hair nude," as it is known in the industry), her new photo book shows her in see-through lingerie that reveals her nipples. In addition, she generously flashes us her naked butt, though we have seen this wonder before.
"Milk" is released in Japan on July 1.
She joined a new agency last year, perhaps signaling a shift in ...
The 39-year-old gravure model and celebrity Yoko Kumada is "working" at a luxury hostess club in Ginza. Well, kind of. The initial media headlines were a little misleading.
Kumada's entrepreneur husband was arrested last month for assaulting her, including allegedly hitting her in the face, but was released without charge two days later. She has announced her intention to start divorce proceedings, though there are also reports that the incident was prompted by her husband's suspicions of her adultery, which might complicate things. She and her husband have three young children.
She shared ...
People come to gravure from different paths. Not all gradols start off at teenagers fresh to the industry and willing to do anything.
Some dip their elegant toes into the waters of gravure when the fancy takes them, having already establishing themselves as entertainers, singers, or actors. (By contrast, some quickly build strong mainstream careers as actors and would like us to forget the bikini shoots they did when they were 18.)
The former figure skater Mai Asada (older sister of Mao Asada) is one such example of the former. After competing at the international level in the 2000s, she ...
Is the hair nude making a comeback?
Well, the full-frontal nude shoot never went away per se, but it's a rarer species these days. Have gradols become more risk-averse? Where are the mainstream actresses of the 1990s who had big hits with hair nude photo books (like Rie Miyazawa, Miho Kanno, Eri Ishida, or Saki Takaoka)? Many, if not most, such full-frontal shoots these days are published in a weekly tabloid magazine and often as a promo for an upcoming porn debut (like Anri Sakaguchi). The singer KOM_I is a notable, welcome exception to this trend.
But we are pleased to report two new ...
Miyuki Komatsu (小松みゆき or 小松美幸) was a star gravure idol in 1990s. She furthered her status by doing hair nude (full-frontal nude) shoots -- this is back during the hair nude boom -- and also made the transition into soft-core porn films and hard-core adult video -- yes, back when it really was just video. She has since continued to do acting in various kinds of roles on TV and in films, though her career started to tail off during the 2000s.
But this isn't a sad story about a faded star. Far from it, in many respects.
Komatsu has entered a whole new phase in her ...
What can gravure idols do after their careers dry up? We have chronicled many intriguing responses to this classic conundrum. But how about becoming a politician?
That's what the one-time gradol and tarento Chisato Morishita is apparently trying to do.
Originally a race queen, Morishita was a big star in the gravure world and a fairly regular face on TV in the 2000s, winning popularity in bikini shoots that accentuated her slinky body and F-cup bust. After several photo books, however, her career stalled as she entered her thirties. She instead started teaching golf and published a novel in ...
We've said it before and we'll say it again: it's the older ladies who know how to sex things up.
The tarento and actress Chiharu Niiyama (新山千春) has released her first gravure shoots in -- yes, this is quite a gap -- 20 years!
Now aged 40, Niiyama last posed two decades ago. Last's do a before-and-after.
Here is what she looks like now, featured in a recent issue of weekly magazine FLASH.
And here is what she looked like 20 years ago, in 1998.
This is her again in the magazine FLASH but in May last year.
Now that she is firmly in the jukujo "mature" stage of ...
The model Minami Tanaka continues her ascent.
After a bestselling photo book, the former TV announcer has turned her jukujo charms to lingerie. She already set a precedent for how good she can make lingerie look with her 2017 Anan magazine shoot, which helped launch her career on this current path.
The 34-year-old model (and alumna of the prestigious Aoyama Gakuin University) is the new face of top lingerie brand Peach John, a role previously filled by the likes of Miyuki Watanabe, Saeko, Elaiza Ikeda, and Haruna Kojima.
Usually these models are younger, so it's an interesting step ...
We have some sad news to report.
Normally the release of a new photo book by an idol would be a cause for celebration, but Mai Ishioka's (石岡真衣) upcoming "After the Rain" is apparently to be her last.
One of our long-time favorite gradols, Ishioka has announced that that she is "graduating" -- i.e., retiring from the industry.
This can be more one of several things: her career is stalling and so her agency is dropping her at the end of her contract; she is fed up with the industry and her career, and wants to do something else (or get married, which is hard to do while remaining a ...
