You might remember Chika Yuki (or Yuuki) (結城ちか) from back in the late 2010s.
The formidably busty gravure idol made her debut in 2014 (when she still at school) and enjoyed some initial success, but then left her agency and switched to another name -- Chika Takahashi -- in 2020, followed by yet another name -- Maiha Hinata -- in 2021.
All this seemed to suggest her gradol career was in free fall. Despite her obvious talents and assets that made her more than qualified for the job, it's a competitive industry that favors the flavor of the month for cover shoots and big gigs. She ...
Former NMB48 idol Miyuki Watanabe has released a new photo book, Dappi, marking what seems to be a somewhat maturer look and more sensual development in her career as she enters a new stage in life.
Also a one-time member of SKE48 and AKB48, Watanabe (known as Miruki to her fans) left NMB48 in 2016. She turned 30 earlier this week. Since leaving the music group, she has worked as a model and launched a music career as a solo artist and member of girl group Ange et Folletta.
Dappi is her fifth book and marks the latest stage in this more adult part of her career.
Last year, she ...
What is about female politicians in Japan at the moment? Just days after learning about Japan Innovation Party lawmaker's role in a past porn production, we now find out that Yuri Saito (斎藤ゆり), a one-time candidate for Politician Girls 48 Party, is alleged to have been a sex worker and nude model.
Well, we shouldn't be too surprised. She was a candidate for SJJ48 (as the party dubbed itself, parodying AKB48), alongside a bevy of other women with unusual backgrounds. Hasumin Yoshikawa, for instance, was a former Self-Defense Forces nurse and sex worker, and then embarked on a porn ...
Japanese politics, a dull place populated by staid old men in gray suits. Right?
Think again.
Look beyond the geriatric male statesmen and discover a fascinating example of models and celebrities enjoying well-paid second careers.
From former gravure idols like Renho and Ayaka Shioyama to nude performance artist Rena Masuyama, there are plenty of instances of women with rather questionable experience moving into politics.
The one-time top gradol Chisato Morishita is bidding to be a politician for the ruling conservative party, the Liberal Democratic Party, possibly making her the hottest ...
It's no secret that the Tokyo Kinky team has a thing for Mariya Nagao.
The former AKB48 hottie now works as a model, actress, and general TV celebrity.
And though it's hardly a surprise that a woman of her age, beauty, and social opportunities would not have lovers, we can't help but feel a bit peeved and sad at the news that broke recently about her new boyfriend.
Apparently, Mariyagi is in a relationship with a former Kabukicho host, having met through a mutual friend.
Fresh off releasing a ravishing photo book earlier this year, she's been spotted by weekly tabloid Shukan Bunshun in ...
Last month, we reported on the controversy over a new gravure idol who was supposedly AI-generated but seemed to be just a slightly different version of a flesh-and-blood gradol. The publisher eventually withdrew its much-hyped photo book featuring Ai Satsuki.
As we noted in a follow-up post, artificial intelligence has major implications for gravure, making it possible to churn out cheap photo books with almost now overheads (no expensive photo shoots, no model fees, etc.). It has meant the market is currently flooded with cheap or even free photo books.
The issue of AI and gravure has ...
We recently wrote about AKB48 idol Mion Mukaichi's somewhat surprising decision to do a semi-nude photo book while still a member of the supergroup.
As we mentioned in our post, most music idols wait until graduating before posing semi-nude or nude. And in fact, they are often forced to do something like that to build any sort of career in a crowded marketplace.
A case in point is the ravishing Satomi Kaneko, who carved out a name for herself as a provocative, sensual model after a brief stint in AKB48 in 2007.
She started doing gravure in 2014 after an acting role in a sexploitation movie ...
Just a few days ago, we were celebrating the return to gravure of Rika Adachi and ex-AKB idol Haruna Kojima, and now comes news of another gravure homecoming (of sorts). Clearly 'tis the season for it. The weather is certainly hot enough, at least in Tokyo.
Another AKB48 alumna who has moved on to acting and fashion modeling in subsequent years, Mariya Nagao, is dipping her very delightful toe back into gravure.
Though she has continued to do lingerie shoots, she doesn't do full-blown gravure as much as she used to do (though she did do a shoot for Friday in February and for Spa in ...
The former AKB48 idol Haruna Kojima has returned to gravure with her first shoot in six years.
She appears in a cover shoot for Young Magazine's May 1 issue, which went on sale this week.
As you might expect, the return of the model -- now aged 34, well into luscious jukujo territory -- known for her pale skin and slinky body has generated reams of media coverage. The magazine shoot, which was done in Okinawa, features Kojiharu in alluring, summery swimwear.
We've included some highlights here.
Her last bikini gravure shoot was for Young Magazine in 2017. The comeback is ...
Once one of the most famous idols in Japan, Mariko Shinoda has divorced her husband of four years. The 37-year-old announced the news on Instagram.
A former AKB48 singer who later branched out into acting, Shinoda married an entrepreneur three years her junior in 2019 and gave birth to a daughter in 2020.
As reported on this blog, rumors emerged last year that her marriage was on the rocks due to her alleged adultery. Her husband apparently took their child away from her for a time.
The divorce follows a mediation process due to the alleged infidelity. In Japan, the aggrieved spouse can ...
