Eros and Thanatos are closely intertwined, Freud taught. And Asuka Watanabe embodies that curious entanglement.
The 30-year-old works as an occasional nude model but also had a former career as an embalmer -- specifically, the type of embalmer called a yukanshi, who specializes in the ritual washing of a dead body, as made famous in the Oscar-winning movie Departures (2008).
In a recent interview with the tabloid magazine Spa!, Watanabe explained more about her two professions. Here are some highlights.
Watanabe Asuka: When I researched about makeup, which I was interested in doing as a ...
While train gropers (chikan) are a well-known problem in Japan, people exposing themselves (particularly men to younger women) is another variant that combines the thrill of exhibitionism with the crueler fetish of enjoying the discomfort it induces on a vulnerable woman.
The classic choice of locations for such flashing is a public park, but it is also often done on a crowded train where the victim has no way to escape.
A train like the Shinkansen, which provides high-speed, long-distance rail services across Japan, might seem like an illogical choice. After exposing himself, the man has ...
The actress Aya Ueto is to release a new photo book in July.
Shot in Taiwan, Midday Reverie comes out on July 10 from Takarajimasha. The photographer is Kotori Kawashima, famous for his photos of a young toddler called Mirai, though he has done photo books for models before, such as Nanase Nishino and Asami Usuda.
Midday Reverie marks Aya Ueto's first photo book in 15 years. She turns 40 in September but, as the shoot preview images show, is still a remarkably beautiful woman. Don't expect any nudity, or even much flesh on display, though, since Aya Ueto has never had that sort of career ...
The ever-reliable and diligent fintan (pinakotheca) has done it again.
He assiduously seeks out old erotic art and photography books, buys them, scans them, resells the books, and then shares select highlights online. Whether due to personal preference or the quality of the material, he frequently features Japanese publications.
After our previous showcase of some of these last month, we cannot resist another set of images from obscure 1980s Japanese voyeur photography books and magazines.
If you're into voyeur fetish stuff or even a practicing Peeping Tom, this is surely pure catnip. ...
University teachers are generally seen as figures of respect in Japan, like elsewhere, but they sometimes do things that seriously endanger that status.
Who can forget the Taisho University educator who was found wandering the campus in the buff, having been ordered to strip off by his student lover?
But the case of a 49-year-old associate professor at the University of Toyama's Information Technology Center trumps that.
Toyama police re-arrested Hiroshi Takitani, a natural disaster and computational scientist, on June 2 on suspicion of fraud and extortion, having already been charged with ...
A Japanese man has been arrested for public indecency after exposing his lower body to a woman on the streets of Hongo, Tokyo, in January.
The 29-year-old Masaya Yamada was arrested in April, though the crime was only reported this week in the Japanese media. The incident took place on the night of January 18. The victim was a woman in her twenties.
It seems that the arrest also led police to discover other crimes carried out by Yamada in previous months.
In addition to silently exposing himself in January, Yamada is accused of getting sexual pleasure from urinating on children's bicycles ...
These are some remarkable erotic images from Peep Focus and Peep Document, two 1980s voyeuristic photography magazines from Japan.
The fetish images were shared by fintan (pinakotheca), who nobly finds old erotic art and photography books, scans, resells the books, and then shares highlights online. He often features Japanese publications.
He also shared scans from an incredible 1990 photo book called Binding Force: Japan’s First Facial Restraint Photo Book, which we wrote about in March.
The most famous Japanese photographer associated with voyeurism is Kohei Yoshiyuki, whose 19702 ...
Two Japanese women in their thirties have been arrested for defrauding a Shizuoka man of ¥900,000 in cash after they met him on a dating app.
The two women, who are both in their early thirties, persuaded the man (also in his thirties) that they needed the money for hospital fees.
The women, unnamed in media reports are aged 34 and 31, and live in Chuo ward and Shinjuku's Okubo district in Tokyo.
Police suspect the pair of engaging in badger game to cheat him of money between May 22 and May 24 last year, claiming the money was for hospital fees (presumably to get tested for sexually ...
The Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association has banned 30-year-old male caddy Ryo Kurinaga from the tour for nine years. The ban follows Bunshun reports published in March that the married Kurinaga had affairs with three separate pro players (24-year-old Miyu Abe, 22-year-old Haruka Kawasaki, and 21-year-old Yumeka Kobayashi).
It is unclear if Kurinaga carried out his philandering with the women at the same time and how long each affair continued. His ban extends to attending any JLPGA event too.
You might think that this was a private matter and unrelated to the sport. Nonetheless, ...
On May 17, Sapporo Higashi Police Station arrested a 34-year-old company employee from Higashi Ward of Sapporo on suspicion of setting up a phone in his workplace's restroom and then photographing the genitals of a woman in her thirties at around 6 p.m. on May 16.
The incident came to light after the woman came to the police station at around 10:30 p.m. on May 16, reporting that she had been photographed secretly in the company restroom. It is not clear from media reports how she knew but she presumably found the phone, which must have been a chilling experience to say the least.
The man ...
