When the 27-year-old Mari Takahashi agreed to stand as a candidate for the Democratic Party for the People, the senior members of the party must have been pleased. Japanese politics is a staid world full of graying men in dark suits, and the presence of young blood — especially photogenic young female blood — is…

Do you want to work surrounded by vibrators, dildos, and female customers? Sounds like a dream job for us. The Vibe Bar Wild One in Shibuya is looking for new staff. The bar sadly closed at the end of September 2020, no doubt hit hard by the pandemic, but will reopen in 2024 at an…

Earlier in the month, we reported on a new services offered by a real estate company that puts couples together on blind dates to view properties. If that sounds a bit outlandish, wait till you hear what local governments think the solution is to boosting the marriage and birth rate in Japan. You’ve guessed it:…

In the FX/Disney series, a new adaptation of the James Clavell bestseller, Japanese actress Yuka Kouri (向里祐香) has a nude sex scene in the first episode. The 33-year-old actress, best known until now for her roles in local TV dramas and low-budget films, plays Kiku, a courtesan. She enters a room and then alluringly slips…

The book is out. Now to see whether the hype was worth it (and whether the media attention translates into hard sales). The announcer-model Kasumi Mori’s debut photo book, Su no Kasumi (Pure Kasumi), generated a lot of air time on TV and from gravure and regular media after it was announced in December. The…

When does a debate over gravure photography become a debate over public space, civil rights, freedom of speech, and other lofty notions? When it involves parks in Saitama. A surprisingly big controversy last year involved the withdrawal of permission to use public parks in Saitama for gravure swimwear events, where models would pose for fans…

It is widely perceived that adultery is common in Japan, but what’s the reality? Sure, there are lots of dating apps out there, including ones specifically for people already with partners. There’s also a bustling cottage industry of private detectives whose entire raison d’être is to find out whether your spouse is cheating or not….

While we are well inured to the knowledge that Japanese politicians spend their large salaries and generous expense accounts in hostess clubs (and sometimes get caught doing research on their next visit when they should be working), even this latest scandal raised some eyebrows, perhaps because it was so brazen. An event organized by the…

After tantalizing us with a short yet sexy nude scene in the very first episode, Yuka Kouri is back with more nudity in the Disney and FX series Shogun. In episode four, we get treated to a proper sex scene. She sits naked in her lover’s lap, who promptly lies down on top of her…

Every two or so months, we seem to stumble upon yet another news story about sexlessness in Japan. And with perfect timing, here’s the latest, following the claim that two in three marriages in Japan are sexless that we wrote about in January. As always, these assertions are based on surveys with dubiously small samples….