Sometimes Japan can seem behind the times.
While the American entertainment world is finally waking up to the endemic nature of the casting couch with a resulting scandal that may continue in waves for a long time, there seems to be (as far as we know) zero serious discussion of the situation in Japan. The casting couch (makura eigyo) is a prevalent problem that music idols, gravure idols, models and actresses all have to deal with.
Likewise, though the last couple of years have seen the global profile of trans rights raised immensely, no similar movement has taken shape in Japan. Sure, ...
We all know there are various ways to get close to your favorite 2D characters from games, anime, light novels, manga and so on. The hug pillow, decorated with a character's face and body, is surely the most effective: you can hug it and, with the help of a certain toy in the right slot, even have penetrative sex with it.
But for some people that's too much. They want a more romantic experience.
And for that, there is this new tumbler with an anime character's face on the lid. Every time you take a sip, you are kissing the character on the lips. The liquid in the cup also comes out of ...
What is it about (certain) Japanese guys that seemingly makes them want to dress up as girls at any opportunity?
The music video for Gen Hoshino's latest single, Family Song, casts "him" in drag while only the other day we blogged about the deceptively feminine charms of one male high schooler?
Okay, Kabuki, lack of Victorian-era binaries, yada yada. Let's not try to come up with an anthropological mumbo jumbo answer for this. But it begs the question: are we witnessing an exciting surge in agender identity in Japan? From clothes to toilets, genderlessness is definitely growing in ...
This cute Japanese high school girl has gone viral, but not for the reasons you might think.
It's because "she" is not a "she" in the conventional sense of the term.
Like Shiseido did before him, @ginsyamu has managed to fool a lot of people into thinking he is a member of the fairer sex.
The 15-year-old young lad has amassed thousands of followers on social media with his uncanny ability to bend genders and strike convincingly feminine poses. Would this young lady have fooled you?
It's not just the hair or makeup (including mascara, lipstick and eyeliner) but ...
This video by i-D features interviews with young people who identity as genderless.
The makers say that this "hypnotic youth movement are [sic] rejecting ideas of fashion defining sexuality" and call it "Tokyo's most boundary-pushing scene". The interviews are with four people -- Yutaro, Muyua, Yoshiaki, and Satsuki Nakayama (pictured below) -- who all have quite large followings on social media.
Genderless identity has particularly risen to the fore in the Japanese media recently with the popularity of the model and television personality Ryucheru.
"When I first wore a skirt, my ...
Overseas there has recently been a lot of talk about making things like public toilets "genderless" so as not to show bias towards people who do not identity by binary genders.
Japan has not embraced this kind of debate in the same way, not least because the LGBT community is largely reduced to being a subculture without real legal rights. On the other hand, fluid gender identity has been part of Japanese culture for a long time in Kabuki and so on. In many ways people just don't need all the labels and legal discussions that have obsessed other countries for the past generation.
Things ...
If last week's Newhalf Otoko no Ko Anal Penetration and Penis Combo Masturbator wasn't enough for you, or the Ryosei Guyu Onapet Futanari Onahole or even the amazing Futanari Sex Doll... then get ready for this.
Newhalf AV star Serina Tachibana now has her own sex doll and masturbator toy -- and it's a tribute to her gorgeous breasts and stunning erect cock.
The toy makers, KMP, use "otoko no ko" in the original product name but Serina Tachibana is technically a newhalf (shemale), since she has breasts (i.e., she's not "just" a crossdresser). And what breasts they are.
You ...
Japan's futanari fetish just got a new toy to gratify all those urges that sadly can't be easily satisfied in real life.
As we know, futanari are not newhalf transgender women or josou cross-dressers. The key difference is that they are genuine hermaphrodites with both sex organs. As such, futanari is normally relegated to the world of anime, eroge and adult manga, or AV with carefully placed dildos so the girls seem to have cocks.
The Ryosei Guyu Onapet Futanari Onahole has everything you could want -- and it fits in the palm of your hand.
The name literally means "hermaphrodite ...
It's almost time for the first ever Tokyo Comic-Con, only there is a strange rule: men cannot dress as female characters.
The news has been blazing down the internet grapeview that Tokyo Comic Con in December at Makuhari Messe will be banning cross-dressing men from attending if they dare to arrive in costumes of female characters.
This is a move that would surely disappoint the likes of Ladybeard, Sailor Fuku Ojisan, and the legions of otoko no ko cross-dressing cosplayers out there.
Needless to say, the announcement has caused something of an uproar because so much of cosplay ...
A Yokohama court has ordered a transsexual parlor to leave a residential complex in the city after a group of residents got together to sue it on grounds of violating the terms of usage.
Locals were annoyed about the large numbers of employees and customers coming and going in the elevator.
Police were unable to do anything about Hanatsuki Yokohama because it was a classed as a gay service.
In Japan, paying for penetrative sex is illegal, so prostitution services get around this by officially not offering "full service", though this is frequently a mere camouflage maintained to ...
