One of our pet projects is finding out what happens to idols and celebrities are they stop being gravure, music, or adult video idols.
Sometimes they can struggle to find work and their careers can take unexpected turns.
Some go into acting. Some graduate to porn. Some work in nurseries. Some go into hostessing or prostitution. Some teach yoga. One or two become manga writers or academics. A few even go into politics.
A former junior idol, Hirona Oura (大浦央菜), has found a second career and revealed a whole other, more mature, and much more alluring side to her body as a lingerie ...
It's one of the lesser known yet particularly problematic aspects of Japan's idol industry and it has found itself in the spotlight once again.
A recent tweet by Umiuminemui has ignited something of a social media storm, with tens of thousands of retweets and likes in reaction to her indignation over a chidol or junior event in which underage girls (apparently preteens) are put on show for older men to touch and hug.
One minute of shaking hands with and talking to your tweenager idol costs you ¥3,000.
In the pictures, grown men are shown holding, leaning over, and playing Twister with ...
Whatever happens to Japan's junior idols?
This is a controversial topic. Many find the idea of junior idols (or chidol) -- girls often as young as their tweens or even younger -- repellent and tantamount to encouraging pedophilia in the same way as lolicon.
However, it's worth remembering that many gravure idols start their careers in their late teens and are technically below the age of adulthood in Japan (20 years old). So it's not all about the specific genre of junior idols and things are very ambiguous when you start looking around.
After all, many music idols from groups like ...
Adult retail giant DMM.com announced on September 7th that it would no longer sell content in which performers are under 18 years of age.
This will apply to "image video" DVDs and so on featuring idols and tarento.
DMM also said that since July 25th it had stopped selling adult content that had not been screened by industry bodies like the euphemistically named Intellectual Property Promotion Association (IPPA). Moreover, it said that it had never sold any pornography involving performers under the age of 18.
DMM also said that the non-adult DVDs featuring performers under the age of ...
Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, the UN’s special rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, has been in Japan for a week-long visit.
At the end of it she praised Japan for tightening up the law and banning possession of child pornography in June last year.
But she said Japan must do more and ban all "sexually abusive images" of children in manga.
“When it comes to particular, extreme child pornographic content, manga should be banned,” she said.
Japan's new laws have some loopholes, such as images and videos where underage models are wearing ...
Our slinky idol this week is actress Meibi Yamanouchi.
Born in 1987, Meibi has done some stunning nude shots showing off her nice butt.
She started as a teen idol (junior idol) and then switched tracks to be an actress. She has appeared in the NHK Taiga drama Go: Hime-tachi no Sengoku as well as some minor films. No sex scenes (nureba) yet, as far as we know. Give her time!
While Meibi lacks the fame of some of the other Japanese idols and actresses that we like to feature, we hope that changes in the ...
The BBC has weighed in on the whole "Is-manga-child-porn?" argument with an online article and radio show with the balanced headline: "Why hasn't Japan banned child-porn comics?"?
James Fletcher reports from Tokyo on this now slightly tired issue.
Posters of elfin-faced, doe-eyed cartoon heroines, many of them scantily clad and impossibly proportioned, turn the cavernous space into a riot of colour.
We stop at one table where the covers on display feature two topless girls. To my eyes they look to be in their early or pre-teens, and the stories show them engaged in explicit ...
Breaking news just in. Japanese teenaged girls are cute.
Take this 17-year-old idol, Mizuki Kimoto. Born in 1996, this year she has started to appear in magazines like Young Jump in various states of undress.
Is this wrong? Should we be even looking at these young girls dressed like this?
Well, the powers that be in the world of Japanese idols and Gravure seem to disagree -- as do the girls' legal guardians -- since they have them disrobe for these kinds of photo shoots.
Here's another 17-year-old hottie.
The good news is that Mizuki ...
This week let's take a lustful look at Karen Kobayashi (小林かれん).
Karen is a gravure idol born in 1997, making her a tender 16, and perfect for the youth-obsessed Japanese entertainment world.
Let's hope Karen sticks around our world for a little while ...
This week we take a long, lingering look at Honoka Ayukawa (鮎川穂乃果).
Born in 1994, Honoka is still a mere 18! That means we have years and years of adoring her cute face and nubile body to look forward ...
