Hihokan (literally “secret treasure hall”) are Japan’s sex museums, a wealth of postwar kitsch that fester around the country. Now Atami Hihokan, one of the most famous of them all, has apparently achieved the dubious honor of being the last remaining sex museum. Like a lot of regional facilities in Japan, the effects of a…

It is said that half of all sex in Japan happens in a love hotel. 1% of the population uses a love hotel on any single day; something like 1,370,000 couples. A large proportion of the nation’s new babies are conceived in a love hotel. There are 500 million visits a year. Room occupancy is…

The annual Kanamara Penis Festival is one of the most famous and popular in Japan and seems to be attended by as many foreigners as Japanese. While you probably won’t find it promoted in any of the official government tourist information, sightseers to take snaps of the phallic objects of worship as well as sample…

Being of that kind of mind, the Japan Suspicious Person Information Centre (JASPIC) conducted a seven-month study on “perverts” based on reports from police and municipalities. The Japanese term here is fushinsha, a “suspicious person.” This, though, does not refer to spies or would-be thieves, but voyeurs, flashers and chikan (gropers). JASPIC reports that 11,607…

Enako is one of the most popular (and diminutive) cosplayers in Japan. Her legions of male fans will do a lot and pay a lot to take her photographs, buy her merchandise, and admire her latest poses. And now they can get a little bit closer to their goddess. Or at least, they could. At…

You might think that being married to the beautiful model and actress Nozomi Sasaki would be enough to satisfy a man. You’d be wrong. A scandal has broken out in the Japanese entertainment world after a tabloid scooped an interview with a mistress of popular comedian Ken Watabe. Apparently they met numerous times even after…

There is something of a minor trend among gravure idols to emphasize their academic background. If they come from a prestigious or famous college, this is often made a significant part of their appeal. And so it was when Serina Fukui first burst onto the gravure scene a few years ago. The pharmacy student at…

The gentrification of Kabukicho, which has turned the main strip and square into a cleaner, more tourist-friendly place, has not changed the fundamental nature of the district. Just turn a corner and you’ll find blowjob parlors and host or hostess clubs galore, not to mention Shinjuku’s massive love hotel area right behind. The dark side…

Have you ever wondered what that sex position is called in Japanese? This could be for purely academic reasons, of course, if you are a bit of a linguist. Maybe you just like having random knowledge in your arsenal. Or it could be for that time when you need to explain to your Japanese partner…

We recently wrote about the frankly shocking papakatsu compensated dating fraud perpetuated by a woman to fund her trips to host clubs. It shows many things, not least the extraordinary lengths some women will go to to feed their addiction to host clubs. This issue has drawn attention of late, with host clubs seen as…