The path to becoming a celebrity is different in the social media age, with many becoming influencers and so on first on other platforms before transitioning into modeling, TV shows, acting, singing, and so on.
This trend has affected the Japanese adult video industry too, with TikTokers like Okogetan, Ichika-sensei, and Unpai all making the move into porn after building a following on their channel.
We haven't seen so many splashy gravure debuts in this regard, but it could be that such TikTokers or Instagrammers regularly appear in the weeklies but on a one-off basis on an obscure page, ...
Former race queen and gravure idol Chisato Morishita is committed to launching a career as a politician for the conservative Liberal Democratic Party.
As reported here before, she stood for election in Miyagi Prefecture in 2021. Though ultimately unsuccessful, she is still hoping to win a seat at the next election. By chance, we actually passed through the area earlier this year and saw lots of posters for her dotting the landscape.
Now aged 42, the unmarried Morishita was one of the biggest gradols in the late 2000s and a regular face on TV. Her last gravure shoot was in around 2019 with ...
Actress and model Ayame Misaki (水崎綾女) has been part of our lives since the early 2010s (this was when her career began to really pick up but we were slow to catch on -- she actually made her gravure debut way back in 2005).
Now 35 years old, she gets better and better with age.
As she has got older, she has gotten more beautiful and more athletic. Her sun-kissed body is now very voluptuous and muscular, with a finely shaped butt and waist that looks like she's ready to take charge of things in the bedroom.
Her latest photo book is glossy eyes, which came out from Kodansha a few ...
The gyaru with her tanned skin, heavy makeup, pronounced eyelashes, fake nails, and (frequently) dyed and wavy hair is a mainstay of Japanese fashion, with particular magazines and shops catering toward the style.
If you can't get to Shibuya's 109 to see gyaru in person, the next best thing are photos. And is this the hottest lineup of gyaru talent in Japanese fashion today?
Weekly Young Magazine has a stunning photo shoot in its April 22 issue. Titled "Bohemian GALsody," the shoot features five gorgeous gyaru models: Kimi, AiRi, Maami, Aimero, and Ruru Tanaka.
This slinky ladies are ...
Marin Shiosaki (潮崎まりん) may at a glance seem more Filipina but she is Japanese -- and a fresh new face on the gravure scene, a crowded industry where we hope the Saitama native makes a lasting impression.
Her curves are just great, giving her a really sexy, natural body that stands out among the willowy, straight bodies that can dominate Japanese ladies (though voluptuous women are, of course, not unusual among gravure models).
Her huge breasts (we assume a G cup) also look awesome under the sheer slingshot lingerie on the cover of her first DVD, which comes out in late ...
In December last year, we showcased the mature beauty that is svelte and sexy Yoko Kumada, who continues to release image videos in her forties.
Aging like a fine wine, the athletic yet mature Yoko is now 41 but still going strong.
Her latest gravure image DVD comes out in late April, a couple of weeks shy of her 42nd birthday. It's called Bath of Temptation and has a hot spring theme, a common trope in the Japanese erotic imagination.
Such image DVDs are not classified as porn, so there's no actual nudity, but the footage tends to push things as far as they can go without revealing ...
As we've written before, plastic surgery is an open secret in Japanese entertainment. Almost no one talks about it but everyone knows that some celebrities get it done. Only a small minority come forward and admit to having submitted to the surgeon's knife, and sometimes face mockery for it.
One such is Minami Fukuoka, the 28-year-old Tokyo University of Science graduate and former gravure model who now seems to make a living from media appearances and endorsing products on her social media channels.
Having apparently made a small fortune from live streaming -- to such an extent that she ...
We wrote yesterday about the very welcome return of Rina Aizawa, who is releasing her first gravure photo book in 12 years -- and it is supposed to be her most nude one yet.
Today, we have the opposite kind of news. The 27-year-old gravure idol and actress Yuki Kiyose is to retire from gravure modeling and focus on her acting.
She has announced that her final event will be a promo for a calendar on April 30 in Akihabara.
Her last shoot appears in Weekly Playboy (the same issue that features the Rina Aizawa photo book preview pics), which is also a photo book published by the magazine ...
We like a good comeback story here at Tokyo Kinky and especially love to welcome back ladies we haven't seen in a while (hello, Aya Ueto!).
Rina Aizawa has focused on her acting in recent years, including plenty of roles in TV dramas -- including some that involve (non-nude) sex scenes.
And so it is a delight to hear that she will release her first photo book in 12 years. She is publicizing her return with a shoot in the current issue of Weekly Playboy.
To be accurate, she hasn't been away from gravure all these years. She did a Weekly Playboy cover shoot in summer 2022, for instance, ...
Earlier this year, we wrote about the surprise yet very, very welcome return to gravure of two major stars now in their late thirties: Aya Ueto and Haruka Ayase.
Indeed, as the likes of Yoko Kumada amply demonstrate, you can continue a career in gravure into your forties.
While the industry is dominated by ladies in their twenties or late teens, we like to see veterans and survivors in there, and love a good comeback story.
But even we were surprised by the return of Erika Yamakawa to gravure after a 20-year break.
Now aged 42 and the mother of two children, the model made her gravure ...
