Nagisa Watanabe has bounced back from personal hardship to achieve major gravure success with her debut photo book, Horizon, which has now won the top prize at the Weekly Playboy Gravure japan Award 2025.
Watanabe commented: "When I received the offer to do the photo book, I remember repeatedly telling my editor, 'Are you sure you want me? It won't sell, you know?' I was filled with anxiety from my first overseas shoot to the release date, but I am filled with gratitude to all the staff who worked with me to create Horizon."
Watanabe is a former TV announcer who is generally assumed to be ...
Last year was full of gravure comebacks big and small. One of the more minor ones that nonetheless made us happy was Mayumi Yamanaka, now a mother of two and a mature, sensual 32.
In July 2025, she made a return to gravure after a few years away, appearing in a Weekly Playboy shoot and releasing a digital photo book. Mayumi has been in the industry for over two decades, having started as a junior idol when a teen. Her comeback proved once again that jukujo are the best.
She's also got a 30-year-old sister, Tomoe, who ostensibly retired in 2020.
That seems to have changed, though, since the ...
Gravure idol and cosplayer Minami Awa had a somewhat sad end to December. She posted on social media on the evening of December 23 that she was forced to cancel her meet-and-greet event due to a lack of attendance. In a move that some might interpret as highly Japanese, the 29-year-old offered an "unprecedented apology" for the cancelation.
Known for her curvy body and dyed hair, Awa wrote: "Apology. The handshaking event scheduled for today has been canceled due to zero people in line."
She posted a shot of herself sitting alone with a sad expression at the event venue, which had been ...
It feels a bit like we are back in the second half of the 2000s, with all the recent gravure comebacks: Serina of SDN48, Yuka Kosaka, busty actor Megumi Kagurazaka, and Saaya.
And now comes another! Former first-generation AKB48 idol Atsuko Maeda has returned to gravure for the first time in fourteen years.
Her "last" photo book, Beste, is due for release in mid-February next year.
Some initial preview pictures were released on December 26, showing the ex-idol's naked back and her buttocks framed by an alluring thong as she lies on a bed. Don't expect actual nudity but it looks like the ...
The former SDN48 idol Serina made a gravure comeback late last year with a new photo book released when she was 39.
It was enough of a hit to fuel a new stage in her career. She has followed up with another gravure shoot for a digital photo book produced by Weekly Friday. For a woman now aged 40, she looks stunning -- and isn't afraid of appearing in provocative erotic shoots just as sexy as the ones she did 15 years ago during the SDN48 peak.
Her latest release, Realism, is in three volumes, and follows another digital photo book in June. It has a black lingerie theme and, at least in ...
The manga artist and cosplayer Ami Honami has made a spectacular professional gravure debut in the latest issue of Weekly Flash, which went on sale on December 16.
Acclaimed as too beautiful and already enjoying a large online fandom, this is the model's first appearance in a gravure magazine. She has gone with a classic white lingerie shoot, showing off her slim body as she lounges on a pristine bed.
On December 26, Honami will also release a 90-page digital photo book called First Love. From the looks of things, Christmas has come early.
Slink, sexy Honami has also released a ...
The curvy, comely Sayaka Isoyama has demonstrated her ageless allure yet again with the release of her latest photo book Yoin (translating as “afterglow” or “resonance”).
It was released by major publisher Kodansha on October 22, marking Isoyama’s 25th anniversary in the entertainment industry. Kodansha quickly released a follow-up digital edition, afterglow, on December 5 with further images.
Both books were shot in Cairns when Isoyama was 41 years old, though she has since turned 42. Isoyama is famously unmarried and perpetually single.
Images of a voluptuously, ...
Is it something in the water? Or in the early winter air? Because we seem to be witnessing a wave of comebacks in the gravure industry right now, from 2000s favorites Yuka Kosaka and Megumi Kagurazaka to real blast-from-the-pasts like Mayumi Yamazaki and Reiko Kato, returning after decades away.
The latest returning star is Harumi Inoue.
Now aged 51, the freshly divorced 1990s and 2000s star has made her first full gravure appearance in 26 years.
Debuting in 1991, Inoue was a biggie of the post-bubble years but met a Mexican man in Canada, and ultimately married the foreigner and had ...
The gravure idol, YouTuber, and entrepreneur Kuriemi recently gave an interview to Weekly Gendai about the use of generative AI in the gravure industry.
The 31-year-old is the CEO of Pinyokio, a "virtual human" celebrities agency set up in December 2023 with funding from AiHUB, where she serves as CMO.
In July that year, Kuriemi released a digital photo book with AI-generated content based on her image, but its release was cut short after only a few days by Amazon due to legal concerns. A print photo book in which six "creators" used AI to generate images of her was released in ...
The TV announcer Tomoka Takenaka has surprised fans by branching out into gravure at the age of 43. The former NHK presenter now works for Radio Okinawa.
She announced her sudden pivot from presenting into sexy modeling in September, quickly attracting attention. And the initial photos that have appeared show why she may have plenty of success: she's been hiding quite a pair under those professional clothes.
The comely jukujo appears in the issue of Weekly Playboy on sale from November 17 and a digital photo book is also available. The shoot was a lot of fun, she recently told listeners ...
