Japan has begun a trial roll-out of the morning-after pill, finally bringing availability of emergency contraception in line with most other industrialized nations.
To the chagrin of condom manufacturers (of whom Japan has some of the best in the world), a lot -- if not most -- sex in Japan is unprotected, resulting in a lot of unwanted pregnancies or fears of conception (not to mention, an explosion of syphilis cases).
Sometimes it seems that every celebrity marriage is the result of the woman in the partnership getting pregnant, which is hardly the best example to set (and, let's be ...
The cops are meant to be the ones protecting us and taking down the bad guys, right?
Not always, it seems. Yesterday, Japanese media reported on a female police officer who has been arrested for impersonating a man in a "romance fraud" to get money.
The 25-year-old Yurina Otani is a cop in Osaka but moonlighted as a fraudster, it is alleged.
She apparently pretended to be a Canadian male doctor on social media and even an actual Japanese fashion model from July to August. Well, that certainly trumps a Nigerian prince.
By constructing stories about needing money for "patients in Yemen," ...
A 43-year-old man has been arrested at a hot spring facility in the Mie city of Kuwana for entering the women-only bathing area.
The man, who is described in media reports as unemployed, is from Kasugai in Aichi.
According to police, the man is suspected of sneaking into the women's baths at around 8:30 pm on November 13.
A female customer alerted a member of staff, who confirmed that a man was washing himself in the female bathing area, and then called the cops.
However, the story then becomes complicated because the man told police: "I'm a woman inside, so I can't understand at all ...
We recently wrote about the frankly shocking papakatsu compensated dating fraud perpetuated by a woman to fund her trips to host clubs.
It shows many things, not least the extraordinary lengths some women will go to to feed their addiction to host clubs.
This issue has drawn attention of late, with host clubs seen as more exploitative than hostess clubs. Host clubs have developed an image as an ecosystem that preys on vulnerable women and with a financial structure that leads to debt, whereby women are encouraged to rack up huge bills that they pay later.
Many of the women who go to host ...
Have you ever wondered what that sex position is called in Japanese?
This could be for purely academic reasons, of course, if you are a bit of a linguist. Maybe you just like having random knowledge in your arsenal.
Or it could be for that time when you need to explain to your Japanese partner the position you want to try next.
This superbly useful guide has illustrations of various sex positions with their Japanese name, including transliterated versions if you can't read the kanji.
The guide was created by illustrator Jikumaru and published online in 2019, giving kind permission for ...
The gentrification of Kabukicho, which has turned the main strip and square into a cleaner, more tourist-friendly place, has not changed the fundamental nature of the district. Just turn a corner and you'll find blowjob parlors and host or hostess clubs galore, not to mention Shinjuku's massive love hotel area right behind.
The dark side of Kabukicho, which gets its name from an unfulfilled plan in the postwar years to build a kabuki theater in the neighborhood, reared its head over the weekend -- in two very unpleasant scenes.
A few weeks ago, someone was thankfully prevented from jumping ...
Papakatsu is the new "sugar daddy" genre of compensated dating. For some, it's an easy way for guys who are middle aged or older with some money to have sex with younger women.
For others, it's a way to fall victim to crime.
In May, a man was almost murdered by woman who looked in reality very different from the cute lady in the pictures she put online.
Now comes a fresh cautionary tale. A 25-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of fraud. According to media reports, Mai Watanabe is accused of swindling a whopping ¥52 million -- in cash!
She was first indicted in September on ...
The crackdown on happening bars and clubs in Tokyo sadly continues. Even, as in this case, if they have been around for years.
Such venues are places for swinging and tend to be members-only, though this is usually bypassed by making people members when they pay a fee at the entrance.
The legal issue comes with public indecency, since people are engaged in sexual activities in a place accessible to the public like a bar or club. A way to circumvent the law against indecent exposure is to have private playrooms.
The happening bar was 9259 in Shinjuku, which made a nominal claim at being a ...
Politicians like to show that they are the same as us, the regular public. The advent of social media has been a huge part of this, giving them instant access to a means of sharing their "ordinary" lives with the voters.
So when Shun Otokita of Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) went to the sauna after work, he surely thought he was doing something positive when he shared on Twitter (X) a picture about his achievements with keeping his weight down.
The only issue is that he wasn't paying much attention to what he was wearing and where he was standing.
The 40-year-old House of ...
If you ever worry that your kink is weird or a problem, or might land you in trouble one day, spare a thought for this guy.
A 32-year-old man from Kobe was arrested recently for trying to abduct a female junior high school student. Why? It's perhaps not what you expect: the company employee wanted her to step on his body.
Atsushi Yamamoto and the student met in a local park. "I'll pay you several thousand yen for stepping on my body," he told her. They got in his car and he paid her in cash. The act then allegedly took place in a parking lot near a train station between around midnight on ...
