When the new Japanese era name of Reiwa was announced on April 1st, sparking intense speculation about how best to translate it into English, our first thought was: that could be a great porn star’s name! Admittedly the kanji characters (令和) are unusual, so it would have to be a homonym. Unfortunately we couldn’t find…

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…

We think we probably do more than enough damage to Brand Japan by our daily blog posts without perpetuating media myths about “sexless Japan.” We see a lot of articles and coverage of this topic, which we feel is a real problem but nonetheless also exaggerated by sensational, mostly foreign reporting. Nonetheless, we like to…

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…

We stumbled upon this great Twitter feed detailing a report by Shinbunka, the publishing industry trade journal in Japan, about the decline of the much-loved porn magazine vending machine. It also cites from an interview with the photographer Tetsuya Kurosawa, who has documented the vending machines (visiting some 500 locations along the way!). It’s true,…

Today is the final day of Heisei. As the emperor abdicates this afternoon, we are remembering the past three decades and all those lovely ladies that have passed through our lives (in actuality or through the lens of gravure and adult video). We should put together a proper “adult Heisei” post soon but it might…

It’s May 1st, the inaugural day of the new Reiwa era. And what better time to take a gander at some old porn from this cache of images recently shared online? Strictly speaking, we reckon these adult magazines come from the Showa period, which ended in 1989, rather than the past three decades of Heisei,…

Girlfriend and boyfriend “rental” services are one of those “wacky Japan” narrative favorites, though they do actually exist. They are also not as crazy or sleazy as they might sound — after all, if you want someone to date and then sleep with, there are countless prostitution services or “compensated dating” clubs out there. So…

Ero-manga (erotic manga comics) is associated with sex, of course, but not just any old sex. Great sex. Strange sex. Fetishes. And, let’s be frank, non-consensual sex. But is that reputation justified? How much sex in ero-manga is actually non-consensual? At the recent Niconico Chokaigi event, statistician Midori Makita presented a list of different ero-manga…

Back in the 2000s, when we first start doing this blog, one of our favorite gravure idols was Chisato Morishita. Now 37 and officially retired from gravure, the ravishing Chisato has nonetheless been tempted back to glamor modeling for a new photo shoot. It’s her first gravure shoot in ten years and it’s a triumphant…