We've always had a soft spot for Yuriko Yoshitaka, not least because her young debut means she seems to have been with us forever.
She has one of the most recognizable faces in the land, plastered on ads for drinks, banks, and more.
And she remains unmarried, despite being her looks and fame. Or perhaps it's because of her looks and fame: she may be fussier than others and unwilling to settle down with someone unless they
If so, good for her.
But her father seems to think otherwise. In a bizarre interview with Bunshun last month, Yuriko's father suggested that his daughter ...
Has the woke brigade, as some disparagingly call it, finally caught up with Japan?
The gentrification of Kabukicho is still ongoing and a new commercial complex, imaginatively called Kabukicho Tower, recently opened in the Shinjuku nightlight and red-light district.
Many noted that though it has conventionally gendered toilets on the upper floors, its second-floor restrooms are designated "all genders." The only segregation, according to the pictographs, is by whether you want to stand or sit down in the unisex stalls. The restroom has a shared washing station.
Some have hailed this as a ...
Another day, another celebrity adultery scandal. Sometimes it feels like this.
But there's something a little different about the latest (minor) scandal to hit the news.
Yukie Joji is herself a reporter. The 48-year-old is currently seen doing live reports twice weekly for a show broadcast on CBC and TBS.
Since its employees apparently have little important journalism to do, scoop-hunters from Flash trailed Joji as she enjoyed a date in Yokohama's Chinatown in mid-April. She and a man lined up to enter a popular restaurant. They allegedly left the restaurant after their meal and held hands ...
If Instagram is to be believed, everyone has a personal trainer these days and is obsessed with developing the perfect muscles.
In Korea, it's called geongangmi (healthy beauty) and here in Japan it's led by influencers who moonlight as models and trainers like Rose Melle or Kyoka, or female celebrities who show off their sporty bodies.
And if it's sheer muscles you're really into, Reika Saiki straddles the world of bodybuilding, gravure, and cosplay with serious aplomb.
But what about female otaku? Don't they also want to build up their muscles in between pursuing their oshi ...
The media narratives about Japan typically conform to a handful of familiar tropes: Japan is a sexless, childless hellscape, or Japan is a kinky, weird land of bountiful sexual fetishes.
Of course, neither is true. Japan is just Japan, with all shades and colors.
But it is a fact that the population is declining and people are having fewer children. The number of babies born in Japan dropped below 800,000 last year, the first time this has happened since records began in 1899.
The reasons for this are manifold -- and we think they are primarily economic -- don't rush to assume it's because ...
One of the most sensational stories that has gripped the Japanese media over the past few weeks has involved the arrests and deportations in the Philippines of several young Japanese citizens, who were allegedly part of the "Luffy group" responsible robbery and fraud since 2021 (including from behind bars). The name of the gang is a reference to the manga and anime franchise One Piece.
One of the most recently detained citizens was 25-year-old Hitomi Kumai. Japanese police issued a warrant for her arrest last September on fraud charges. She is accused of making phone calls tricking people ...
We've written before about the problem of scams in the Japanese "dating site" industry, where customers think they are interacting with real women who want to meet them but are actually exchanging messages with someone (perhaps even a man) who is trying to ensure they keep paying the membership fees for as long as possible.
In a recent article on Japan Today, someone apparently interviewed two such scammers.
The first is actually just someone who worked as a cheap hostess bar. We don't think this qualifies, since though it is possible for a customer to take a hostess out on a date, it's not ...
Many moons ago, we had the misfortune to live in a "gaijin house" -- one of those sordid guest houses that cater specifically to foreign residents of Tokyo. It wasn't as bad as some of the horror stories we have heard about such places, but the walls were decidedly thin.
One weekend morning, we woke to hear sounds from across the hall (through at least two doors/walls). Our young American neighbor was clearly balls deep in his Sunday breakfast. We could hear his partner (at least, the one he had snagged that week, since he always had several on the go) groaning how "kimochi ii" (good) it ...
Once one of the most famous idols in Japan, Mariko Shinoda has divorced her husband of four years. The 37-year-old announced the news on Instagram.
A former AKB48 singer who later branched out into acting, Shinoda married an entrepreneur three years her junior in 2019 and gave birth to a daughter in 2020.
As reported on this blog, rumors emerged last year that her marriage was on the rocks due to her alleged adultery. Her husband apparently took their child away from her for a time.
The divorce follows a mediation process due to the alleged infidelity. In Japan, the aggrieved spouse can ...
The travails of the Michibata family are set to continue, it seems.
After Angelica Michibata's husband was arrested for extortion, her career and reputation were left in tatters (not least because her involvement in the crime was also suggested). She later divorced her husband and made a comeback with a nude photo book in her mid-thirties.
The latest scandal to hit the glamorous Argentine-Japanese model family affects the most famous of the sisters, Jessica.
According to police announcement on March 20, the 38-year-old Jessica Michibata (one-time wife of F1 driver Jenson Button) was ...
