It is sometimes tempting to discard music idols as cookie-cutter enterprises whose ranks are filled with identical-looking young women.
But at least they are flesh and blood. The models of the future may well not be.
Digitally created models or even androids might be the faces of major commercial brands one day. After all, they don't age, nor is there the risk of your brand ambassador landing herself in hot water with a clumsily worded tweet or drugs arrest.
The cosmetics brand Kate has released a 30-second commercial with an innovative lineup of talent: two virtual models (imma and Ria) ...
Japan has a declining population. The government, in all its wisdom, has decided to do something about this.
Helping women maintain careers after giving birth? Fixing the toxic work culture that requires gruelingly long hours and male-dominated management?
That can wait. The government is hoping robots will fix things.
As recently reported in the mainstream media, the government plans to allocate a whopping ¥2 billion next year for giving out to local authorities that implement programs where residents find love -- assisted by artificial intelligence.
In fact, about half of the ...
A research team at Gifu University has developed the My Girlfriend in Walk (sic), a robotic hand that the user can hold to replicate the experience of a romantic walk with a partner.
The artificial hand apparently even imitates the way a human appendage sweats and smells as well as feeling soft and warm.
Grip the hand and its built-in sensors detect the pressure of your grasp and will squeeze your hand back in reply. The hand can also work in tandem with the user's smartphone to recognize whose hand it is holding.
Despite investing unknown amounts of time and yen in the development, the ...
Some women are so lonely they need a man's comforting arms around them all the time -- even when they listen to music.
Or so it would seem if you believe the latest clickbait.
This time, the purveyor of the headline-screaming story is a Japanese company called Otome Yusha, which literally means "Hero of Maidens."
It has come up with a concept audio device called the Boyfriend Hug Speakers, which may be the most arresting way to listen to music ever -- especially if you do it outside in public.
The Bluetooth-enabled speakers are integrated into a pair of "arms" that the user wears around ...
We all like to use our hands to grind out some pleasure. Now you are almost literally do this with an adult toy that is brilliantly low-fi yet effective.
The Generator Onahole is fitted with a hank crank that lets you grind the inside of the toy around your member for incredibly enhanced stimulation.
Given the likelihood of total planetary collapse in a couple of generations' time, we may not have the means of electricity left to power regular sex machines. Perhaps the Generator Onahole truly is the future in all its stripped-down tech glory.
It is available in four versions, all with ...
It was only a matter of time before someone came up with a way of linking maid cafes and hostess bars with digital idols and adult virtual reality.
Behold the VR hostess cafe.
Yumenographia is not a physical space, but exists purely in a digital realm: it's waiting for your patronage whenever and wherever you put on a VR headset. It is staffed by hostesses/maids who are, of course, entirely "fake" -- in the sense that they are digital avatars. But, and this is a big "but," the hostesses are real in the sense that they are the avatars of genuine people, rather than characters. At some remote ...
Virtual dating games and services are very well-established in Japan, and YouTube is the next logical step in this evolution. One of the biggest virtual YouTuber idols at the moment is Shiro-chan, whose videos offer private dining experiences.
Now the Japanese virtual YouTuber Note Takehana has upped the stakes with a crowdfunding campaign to remake the titular VTuber with 3D computer graphics. To encourage fans to contribute, "she" is offering supporters a range of merchandise depending on how far their wallets stretch.
So what's the top perk? If you fork out ¥1 million ($9,000), you get ...
Today in Japan is White Day, when men are supposed to buy chocolates for women, who do the same on Valentine's Day.
So it's another romantic day in the annual calendar, along with Christmas Eve.
As such, porn giant Soft on Demand has set up a novel light display in the heart of Tokyo's Shibuya neighborhood to promote, well, sex and renewable energy. And it's not even real sex, but the virtual kind.
The display, formally called the White Day Illumination Shining with Virgin-Produced Electricity (童貞力発電で輝くホワイトデーイルミネーション), is a way for ...
When our robot masters finally take over, we may simply be slightly annoying side projects that require too much electrical resources.
Take a glimpse into the future with this matchmaking service in Japan, which is using pairs of small robots to help couples hit it off.
The robots employed, as least in the promotional video, seem to be the RoBoHon miniature robots designed by Tomotaka Takahashi, here in a system developed by Cyber Agent and Sharp.
These "robotic cupids" sit on the table with the potential couple. Pre-loaded with profiles and information about their human counterparts, the ...
Photographer Yuji Susaki has returned with a follow-up to the successful Oppai Zukan Full-Sized Gravure Idol Breasts Reference Book, which included copious to-scale images of the busts of dozens of gravure idols.
The sequel, 3D Oppai Zukan Full-Size Adult Video Idol Breasts Reference Book (Gurutto Mawaseru! Gensundai Oppai Zukan 3D), is, as the title sugests, a three-dimensional update, since now you can also use your phone to read the QR codes on each idol's page and display the breasts in 3D.
Moreover, the idols this time are not gradol who have to keep their clothes on, but adult ...
