Here's a peculiar case. As reported in Bengo4, a woman is suing her employer in Japan for enabling sexual harassment. Her company failed to act after it was alleged the woman's section chief sent her around 150 pornographic images. They were sent to her at the company address over three occasions between January and April 2020, with the third batch alone containing 100 photos and an adult toy. The woman in her thirties is seeking ¥4.4 million in damages in the lawsuit that began at Tokyo District Court on March 30. The man in his fifties sent them to her by private post anonymously. She ...

The fashion model and celebrity Marie has stirred up the perennial issue of the casting couch in the Japanese entertainment world. The 33-year-old, who is half French Canadian and half Japanese, has claimed that she was propositioned when she was 18 by the now-retired comedian Shinsuke Shimada. The encounter is being described as "makura eigyo" (literally, pillow business), the Japanese word for the casting couch. Shimada was then at the height of his fame and the implication no doubt was that sleeping with him would further her own career. Marie made the allegation on April 4 and then ...

A Japanese newswire article about sexual harassment among aspiring models and idols is doing the rounds, confirming what we've been saying for years. Apparently, a government survey has shown that 26.9% of Japanese young female models and starlets have received "unwanted requests for sexually oriented photo shoots." This comes hot on the heels of last year's controversy about widespread coercion in the porn industry. In the first survey by the Cabinet Office on sexual abuse against young women, 7.7% of respondents had been offered contracts to become models or starlets. Asked about ...