This is a story that's been bubbling along in the background for a while and has now come more fully to light. Mariko Shinoda, the celebrity once one of the big original stars of AKB48, is locked in a legal battle with her estranged husband over the custody rights to their child. Shinoda graduated AKB48 in 2013 and got married in autumn 2019 to a man she had been dating for just a few months. In April 2020, she gave birth. She became something of a model of motherhood, devoting her Instagram to pictures of her parenting. This all seemed to stop in summer this year amid a tranche of ...

It's election time for the AKB48 idols. But lurking under the surface right now are several unsavory rumors. For a start, the alleged connections between AKB48 executives and the yakuza. These have emerged again even after AKB48 big wig Yasushi Kubota sued the Shukan Bunshun last year for such remarks. Now there are also suggestions that Kubota and former AKB48 hottie Tomomi Kasai (21) -- and no stranger to her own sex-related scandals -- are conducting an affair. Images have been published supposedly showing the pair returning late at night to a luxury condo. Kasai is also ...

Police are now apparently investigating Kodansha and the producers of the controversial (or just ridiculous) Tomomi Kasai pseudo-child porn photo where a foreign kid stands behind her, peeking over her naked body while holding her breasts. Well, nothing's sacred for long -- and certainly not when Japan's Netizens get their clutches on something. Tomomi Kasai's "hand bra" picture might well have been banned from a magazine ad and from her debut soon-to-be-re-released photo book, but you can now enjoy the sight of her rather generous bust being cupped... Only not by the odd foreign ...

Continuing on from the maelstrom that engulfed Tomomi Kasai's much-hyped photo book release, publisher Kodansha has made a formal apology for the controversial image of a young foreign boy clasping the naked bust of a smiling Tomomi. "The cause was our checking system for publishing did not get to it," they explained. Perhaps the big yen signs in front of their eyes, branded there by the AKB management, prevented them from seeing the incredible bizarreness of the image. Kodansha also publishes Young Magazine, which was set to print a big ad for the photo book with the provocative ...

After a brouhaha that erupted in the last days, including Young Magazine's latest issue being shunted to the next week, the controversy over the Tomomi Kasai photo book continues. Now Kodansha, who also publish Young Magazine, has announced that the photo book won't be going on sale as planned on February 4th. Presumably they will pulp the copies and re-print it without the problematic photo. The provocative image featured Tomomi with her luscious bust bare, with the nipples cupped and covered from behind by a seemingly naked foreign infant. Certainly people seemed pretty ...

Kodansha, which had planned to put the latest issue of Young Magazine on sale tomorrow (January 12), has been forced to postpone the publishing date to January 21st. Why? Because it suddenly realised that an ad page announcing a new photo book for Tomomi Kasai, soon to leave AKB48 formally and concentrate on her solo career, was "inappropriate". Yes, Tomomi and her "hand bra" poses are too sexy for Kodansha (admittedly, the "hands" are not Tomomi's but those of a young boy). The issue would have featured Kasai heavily, including on the cover. Instead, the next issue will appear ...

Although this time it's not due to a sex scandal, AKB48 will be losing another of its main members at some as yet to be disclosed time in the future. The lovely Tomomi Kasai (21) has announced her "graduation" from the Akiba idol super group. Her first solo single Masaka is also set for release on December 26th. A veteran of the all-consuming, all-conquering band since 2006, she is now the ninth member to attempt a career outside of the group. With the main members now seemingly dropping like flies, who will be next?! I guess they are all watching Atsuko Maeda's progress ...