It's a crowded market for minor celebrities and idols, especially if you come from the competitive ranks of AKB48 or its sister groups.
While a few former members have gone on to have major careers -- mostly the original generations of idols -- hundreds of others have faded from view or pursued careers like porn that they perhaps did not expect (but for which we are grateful).
That said, we think this is the first time we've heard of a former idol from the AKB-related groups turning to crime to make ends meet.
Juna Yamada (山田樹奈) was arrested on March 16 in Nagoya for fraud, ...
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 ...
Nayuka Mine is one of the most high-profile ex-porn stars in Japan.
She worked as an adult video performer for five years from 2005. She has since become a popular manga artist. Her latest book, a semi-autobiography, came out in December last year.
In a recent two-part interview with the Bunshun online, 36-year-old Mine explained her past.
She was scouted for AV at the age of 19. She hadn't appreciated that she had big breasts until then, when her assets were praised by the scout. Rather, at high school, she had been teased for being "fat" by her male cohorts. At the time, she had come ...
While most recent news about Japanese porn has been dominated by the very welcome return of Asahi Mizuno, we wanted to highlight another example we found that shows how part of the industry operates.
Once again, a minor idol from a group relatively unknown in the mainstream has been persuaded to switch from music to porn.
In this case, it's 19-year-old Sayaka Takayama (高山さやか), formerly of Girl's Horizon (aka Garuhora), who has made her AV debut under the name Nana Yaotome (八乙女なな) mere weeks after leaving the group.
The 180-minute release (MIFD00140) comes ...
Detailed detective work on the part of Japanese netizens have identified newbie porn star Sora Minamino (南乃そら) as Miyako Torase (虎瀬美也子), a former member of idol group Oyasumi Sekai.
Torase was active in Oyasumi Sekai from November 2018 to April 2019. If the netizens are right, it would seem that she struggled to find a post-idol career or otherwise specifically chose to enter AV with the right offer.
Sora Minamino released her first adult video title on September 1 with a splashy 149-minute feature (MIDE-812) from Moodyz.
The video, which nominally follows ...
Call us morbid, but we have a strange fascination with the afterlives of gravure idols.
This is a competitive, cruel industry, one where young women are discarded after two or three years. From gracing the covers of the weekly tabloids like Spa! and, if you're lucky, releasing digital or print photo books, you might descend quickly into obscurity when the editors and people behind the scenes decide to make someone else a star for another brief run.
Given the open secret of the casting couch, it is hardly a giant leap of logic to see why some, if not many, gradols go on to second (or, let's ...
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 ...
While the world rages with unease with the virus whose name we won't mention, we are holed up snug at home, devouring the latest releases in Japanese porn and adult toys.
Among the former, we spotted a nice release that we reckon our readers will love as much as us...
Miu Nakamura's porn career continues to go from strength to strength, proving that JAV crossovers don't have to fizzle out after just one or two releases.
Her latest effort (SSNI00715), which came out in mid-February from S1 No.1 Style, is a 144-minute epic with the 28-year-old now looking older and more mature, but in ways ...
Former Magical Punchline and Idoling!!! member Rena Sato (佐藤麗奈) has posed for her first serious gravure shoot and it's a good one.
She left the idol world for good back in 2018 and since last year has been working as an independent "talent."
In the February 18 issue of weekly magazine FLASH, the 21-year-old has posed for a lavish gravure shoot showing off her cute body in lingerie on a bed and while lying in a bath.
If you want to know what Rena's pert butt cheeks look like when wet, you're in for a treat. Especially if you also like juicy fruit.
Don't know about you, ...
The tabloid, Otakara, claims that the unnamed former SKE48 idol is now working at Osaka's Tobita Shinchi red-light district as a prostitute.
According to the magazine, the idol offers blow jobs with a condom for ¥16,000, though kissing is not allowed. Full sex with a condom is also apparently possible.
The idol joined the group in 2009 but was an underdog in the elections. Hmm...we wonder who it could be.
We have no way of verifying the truth behind this short of visiting every establishment in Tobita Shinchi (sounds like a fun assignment!), nor have we yet seen the full article in the ...
