Another day, another celebrity adultery scandal. Sometimes it feels like this. But there’s something a little different about the latest (minor) scandal to hit the news. Yukie Joji is herself a reporter. The 48-year-old is currently seen doing live reports twice weekly for a show broadcast on CBC and TBS. Since its employees apparently have…

Has the woke brigade, as some disparagingly call it, finally caught up with Japan? The gentrification of Kabukicho is still ongoing and a new commercial complex, imaginatively called Kabukicho Tower, recently opened in the Shinjuku nightlight and red-light district. Many noted that though it has conventionally gendered toilets on the upper floors, its second-floor restrooms…

We’ve always had a soft spot for Yuriko Yoshitaka, not least because her young debut means she seems to have been with us forever. She has one of the most recognizable faces in the land, plastered on ads for drinks, banks, and more. And she remains unmarried, despite being her looks and fame. Or perhaps…

How to turn Japanese women on? Or even, how to turn just any women on? This is a question that keeps us up at night. Fortunately, there’s plenty of advice out there if you know where to look. And one such source of pearls of sexual wisdom has been added to the mix in the…

Japan is a great nation of customizers, adapters, and modifiers. You can see it in the cuisine, which is often a fusion of different influences and turned into something new. It’s also evident in various subcultures. Though original content is common too, Doujinshi (privately printed/bound magazines and manga) are sometimes a type of fan fiction,…

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: we think shunga, erotic woodblock prints, are one of the most impressive and significant parts of Japanese historical culture, and that the government should be singing its praises from the rooftops, instead of trying to hide them and keep people from seeing them under threat of…

On May 31, Kyoto police arrested a 37-year-old man who runs a hair salon in the city on suspicion of “quasi-forced indecency.” Teppai Kozaki is accused of forced use of a massager on a woman. The charge relates to an act allegedly done quite some time ago — February last year — in which Kozaki…

The actress Ryoko Hirosue has been accused of adultery with a famous chef. In a scoop published by Bunshun this week, photos show the 42-year-old going to a luxury hotel where the 45-year-old chef Shusaku Toba, who runs a restaurant called sio that has a Michelin star, was also staying. The two are already known…

This story has been percolating since early June and has now become a very interesting incident generating national headlines, and with potential implications for future gravure events. Swimwear photo shoot events in public pools in Saitama have ignited an intense debate. During the events, idols and models gather at the pool for fans to take…

It sparked both hype and controversy, and then just as quickly vanished. When publisher Shueisha released a digital photo book featuring a fully AI-generated gravure model on May 29, it felt like the tipping point of something. But then netizens were quick to point out that the “model” Ai Satsuki was uncannily similar to a…