If you went out at Halloween in Tokyo you might have seen some very scantily clad ladies.
Likewise, a trip to Akihabara often means the chance to see idols performing on the street with a lot on display. Flasher idol Asuka Sawamoto famously got herself arrested in 2008 when she did a series of performances in Akiba where she let hordes of men photograph her underwear. (She went on to a career in porn.)
But what about just "risque" fashion. How far is this legal?
A fashion website asked a lawyer about how far you go with see-through underwear in Japan.
Exposing yourself in ...
This story is super old now but we wanted to blog it anyway because it's important.
With its low use of condom usage, Japan is a bit of an HIV time bomb -- something the gay community is more proactive about. Complimentary condoms are frequently available at bars and clubs, and HIV awareness posters are also displayed in gay nightlife areas.
However, one HIV awareness poster was too much for the authorities and locals.
Designed by illustrator and animator Poko Murata, this billboard was hung in Shinjuku Nichome, Tokyo's main gay district, from December 2013. Its design soon became ...
Porn star Ai Uehara has many talents but did you know they also include rap?
In "REAL remix" Uehara has now lent her vocal skills to a song following her victory at the AV Open 2014 awards, which are voted for by the public. The track is by INCUBUS, who is the male rapper in the song.
The video itself is a weird mash-up of anime images of nubile girls, based on three porn stars, including Uehara. The lyrics sing the joys of being able to see the "real thing" (i.e. Ai Uehara) at the event, rather than just a video of her.
Take a gander.
It's also funny to hear words like "semen ...
Rokudenashiko (or Rokudenashi-ko), the "vagina artist" arrested in the summer for distributing 3D data of her pussy, has been taken into police custody again, promising to reignite what became an international sensation about female rights and censorship.
This time her "crime", says Tokyo Reporter, was another vagina selfie artwork, though sculptural this time rather than photographic.
Megumi Igarashi -- Rokudenashiko's real name -- was arrested with a writer called Minori Watanabe.
Rokudenashiko, an artist name meaning "Good-For-Nothing Girl", has previous made a series of ...
Photographer Yuki Aoyama has managed to persuade the world that he is not a sleazy guy with a lens, but an artist. That takes some skill because his subject is always schoolgirls, particularly sweet and innocent-looking Japanese ones.
What other country in the world would revere a photographer who calls his breakout hit "Schoolgirl Complex"?
"Taiwan Kawaii School Girl" is his new release this month and, as the name suggests, features not Japanese female students but Taiwanese ones.
Can Taiwanese schoolgirls be as cute and alluring as their Japanese equivalents?
It seems ...
AKB48's Haruna Kojima has shown us what she looks like when she wakes up in bed, in the bath, and gets dressed in the morning.
For her latest ad for Japanese lingerie brand Peach John, the Akihabara idol is shown stripping down and taking alluring selfies.
Kojiharu is the main marketing model for lingerie line Peach John and has frequently appeared in risque advertising stunts for the brand, including stripping off at a race track and doing some downright sizzling photo shoots.
Peach John is encouraging women around Japan to copy Kojiharu by stripping off to their underwear and ...
We're on a bit of a cross-dressing roll at the moment. After blogging about a major new josou club and bar in Osaka we now want to introduce a new photography exhibition at Ginza's Vanilla Gallery.
It features portraits Tachibana has made over six years of newhalf (shemales) and josou cross-dressers.
The exhibition is called "Traces of josou and the Theory of Happiness". Tachibana runs a studio that specializes in portrait photography for cross-dressers and shemales, as well as hair and make-up services. She has worked with top idols to old-timers in their seventies -- more than ...
A man in his late thirties living in Tokyo earlier this year sued AKS, the company that manages AKB48, as well as King Records (AKB's record label), and Google Japan for "nonfulfillment of financial obligations" after he had been denied the chance to shake hands with his favorite idol, Karen Iwata.
The verdict on the case was heard in a court in Tokyo on November 20th.
The court threw out the Hidenobu Onishi's suit, since it ruled the complainant had the choice to purchase or not purchase the band's CDs with the handshaking event tickets.
The fan had previously sent AKB member ...
Our favorite fashion designer of the moment, Gomi Hayakawa (of feast, the lingerie for flat-chested girls, fame), has come up with a great combination of two great things: Tenga and coffee.
She has come up with a "tumbler" in the Tenga onacup color -- tongue in cheek, of course, and without official endorsement from either Tenga or Starbucks as far as we know.
Hayakawa shared her design idea via Twitter as an example of "Tenga merchandise for girls".
Hayakawa, something of an intelligent-looking cutie herself, hasn't yet made a prototype, it seems, though this is one tumbler ...
Onna no ko Kurabu (Girls' Club) is where the action's at if you want an easy way to sample Japanese cross-dressing subculture.
Man or woman, you can go to the club -- currently one in Tokyo, with a new club in Osaka's down-and-dirty Dotonbori district from December 1st -- to try on girls' clothing. The club keeps a wardrobe of rental clothes and wigs for joso (or josou) cosplay, dressing up as a girl.
As we know, otoko no ko cross-dressing cosplay is big in Japan, though it is a hard-to-define point somewhere between "transvestite" and "cosplayer". Joso is the more conventional ...
