The debate over surnames in Japan has become a surprisingly big sticking point: polls tend to show that the majority of the public want the law to change, but the conservative government is committed to retaining the current situation, where Japanese citizens must change their surnames when they marry so that both members of a married couple have the same name. In practice, this almost always means the woman changes her name to her husband's. (One loophole around this is to marry someone who isn't a Japanese citizen, though we doubt the government will actively encourage that!)
The ...
The Japanese porn star Rina Kago (雅子りな) has stoked controversy by going off on an online rant about her dislike of Taiwanese people.
The 24-year-old adult video performer released a bizarre flurry of tweets on March 9 with a series of stark pronouncements that all Taiwanese people are trash, and that she doesn't want them to watch her AV releases.
"Taiwanese men make my skin crawl," she declared on X, apropos of nothing. She described Taiwanese food as smelling like piss and their language as unpleasant, and that she would "kill the dirty Taiwanese trying to enter Japan."
She ...
Nude photos of a female student at a Shiga Prefectural High School were shared with multiple friends by her ex-boyfriend, a male student at another prefectural high school. According to a report in the Kyoto Shimbun, the prefectural board of education has determined that this constitutes a crime and revenge porn, and is currently working with the school and police to address the issue.
Shiga Prefectural Board of Education said that the perpetrator shared several nude photos of the victim to friends in the 2025 academic year. He sent the images to friends by phone, making it possible for the ...
Approximately 40% of women working in broadcasting in Japan said that they have received "sexual advances," according to a new survey.
A research team including the University of Tokyo Graduate School surveyed men and women who have worked in the broadcasting industry via email and other means, and found that around a significant number of women had received "sexual advances," and some had even been forced into sexual relations.
The open survey was conducted between May 2025 and January 2026, targeting people with experience working at a broadcasting station, regardless of employment status ...
Lady Gaga sang of bad romance. Was she singing about Japan?
For the fourth consecutive year, Japan's "romantic satisfaction" rate has ranked among lowest in an international poll.
According to a survey by the Paris-based Ipsos, 51% of people in Japan are satisfied with "feeling loved," significantly lower than the 29-country average of 77%.
Only 33% of Japanese respondents were satisfied with their romantic and sex lives, a 6-point decrease from 2025 -- and the lowest satisfaction rate among the 29 countries (the 29-country average was 60%). Only 6% of respondents in Japan said they were ...
Japanese contact lens maker Ace has just launched a new brand called Cunte.
Yes, that's not a typo. Ace really did decide to call its new brand of one-day color lens Cunte, and to advertise it with music idol Amu Nigemizu (of Kyururin te Shitemite and Team Strawberry)
There's nothing quite like seeing publicity photos with a cute young Japanese woman fronting a campaign called Cunte.
Even better, the lineup is described as "Cunte special charms." Indeed, cunt does have special charms aplenty.
Apparently, it's meant to be a combination of "kyun" and "cute," the former an ...
The gravure idol and actress Rio Teramoto is to make a comeback after five years.
In the intervening time, she has focused on her acting career, including teasing us with an almost-nude scene in the Netflix drama Sanctuary, in which she played a hostess.
Incredibly for someone who seems to have been around so long, she is still only 24 but hasn't released a photo book in six years.
Teramoto's second release comes out on April 1 and was shot in Perth, Australia. "This is my first gravure shoot in five years," she wrote on Instagram to her fans. "I'm grateful to everyone who waited for ...
A Small Love Story: The World of Mameban Shunga is a new exhibition of erotic prints in Tokyo.
It focuses on mameban (literally, "bean format") shunga, referring to palm-sized prints that were distributed privately in the form of pictorial calendars and given to people like greeting cards. It is the world's first such showcase of shunga in this format, and features around 300 examples.
"These palm-sized prints contain intimate, humorous, and tender love stories," the organizers say. "Though small in scale, they are rich in expression."
The exhibition runs, aptly, from Valentine's Day on ...
A college student. A pachinko parlor worker. A hostess. An influencer. What do all these young Japanese women have in common?
While not as famous (or perhaps infamous) as a place like South Korea, plastic surgery is not uncommon in Japan among models, idols, and porn stars, and also sex workers and social media influencers.
Some female celebrities spend millions of yen on multiple surgeries, though few admit it.
Which is why it tends to make the news when someone does break the taboo and talk about this industry secret.
On a recent edition of the Abema TV show Hyena of Love Season 5, ...
Who watches the watchers?
While the regular cop in his koban substation on your local street corner seems like a friendly and useful member of the community (and for the most part, is), police officers are human beings, and so subject to temptation like the rest of us.
According to a report in the Yomiuri Shimbun, the National Police Agency announced on February 5 that the number of police officers and staff members nationwide who received disciplinary action last year rose to 337, an increase of 98 from the previous year, and the highest number in the past 10 years.
Of the 337 officers, ...
