After adultery scandal, YouTuber Ikechan releases final gravure photo book

The popular YouTuber Ikechan has launched her photo book Afterglow, which is advertised as her final gravure release following her adultery scandal in July.

Published by Kodansha, the book came out on December 10. To promote it, Ikechan has made her first public appearance since her scandal in July, when it emerged that she was having a relationship with a married man, Kosuke Minowa, a prominent editor at publisher Gentosha.

They were pictured by a tabloid photographed after a Korean BBQ date. The images of Ikechan, puffing out her cheeks and looking cute and happy with a belly full of grilled meat, went viral.

Minowa, who was accused of sexual harassment in 2020, was known for his media appearances with famous figures, and for a bestseller he wrote in 2018.

While we can’t saw for sure about the repercussions on his domestic life, the editor in question has not suffered any professional consequences for his actions, as far as we know, and he continues to appear in the media (currently on a Tokyo FM radio show, for instance).

Ikechan, though, suffered far harsher consequences. He real name and address were made published and she lost job offers. She issued an apology on her YouTube channel, but it was to no avail.

At the launch event for her book, she described the year as the most difficult in her life yet.

The 28-year-old could likely have enjoyed a longer modeling and gravure career, but the scandal seemingly forced her to retire from gravure. She’s going out with a bang, though, since Afterglow is supposed to be her most explicit shoot ever.

Afterglow is her second print photo book after another in 2023, though she has also released numerous digital books.

Ikechan, who is a qualified architect, was also involved with renovating an old house in rural Akita, where she is from, but found it hard to stay in the village after the scandal.

It’s another example of how while it takes two to tango, society tends to punish women harsher for adultery.

The once-ubiquitous celebrity Becky saw her career fly off the rails when her affair with a married musician was exposed. The music star’s life was largely unaffected.

And it’s not just the public world of entertainment either. The female head of popular outdoor brand Snow Peak was forced to resign after it emerged that she was pregnant with a man’s child.

Adultery is widespread in Japan, not least because so many partnerships are sexless, and while we suspect men are the most guilty parties, women are increasingly active in seeking out “second partners” (as a lover is sometimes called in Japanese).