Winners of the Grademy Award announced
February 12, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
Celebrating the fortieth anniversary of top gravure magazine Weekly Friday, the Grademy Award was announced last autumn and votes collected online to find what was billed as Asia's top gradol.
Almost all of the 232 candidates were Japanese, though, so the "Asian" claim was slightly disingenuous. But quibbles aside, the public votes have been counted and the results -- and awards -- finally announced online earlier last week.
The top prize -- billed as Most Valuable Gradol -- went to leading gravure idol Ina Enohara.
Best Newcomer (also billed as Best Gradol Debut) was shared by ...
Yuno Ohara goes nude for new photo book, shot by Fumi Nikaido
February 9, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
Here's some very good news for fans of gravure idol and actress Yuno Ohara, and we know that there are hundreds of thousands of them out there.
The 25-year-old gradol has just released her fourth photo book, which marks her fifteenth anniversary as an idol (she began her career as a dancer way back in 2009.
Titled √25 and published on February 7 by Shogakukan, it's her most nude release to date.
And what's really interesting is that the model teamed up with Okinawan actress Fumi Nikaido for the photo book.
The 30-year-old Nikaido is an established photographer in her own right, ...
44-year-old Mariko Seyama takes trip to hot spring in new photo book
February 6, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
Aging like a fine red wine, the former Japanese TV announcer Mariko Seyama has proven year by year that older is not only better, but more provocative.
The mature gravure star has continued to strip even as she reached her forties. Indeed, it wasn't until she arrived at that milestone that she showed us her naked breasts, after years of semi-nude shoots.
Seyama is a former announcer for NTV who moved into gravure in 2012. The Tokyo native is a graduate from Keio University, one of the most prestigious colleges in Japan. She is also divorced, having been married from 2009 to 2015. Her ...
Will 47-year-old Aki Hoshino make a gravure comeback?
January 31, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
The new photo book by Yuki Kashiwagi has reminded us that a bunch of idols and models have made similar comebacks of late, some doing it just for kicks and others hoping to ride nostalgia to a quick yen.
Other examples include Reiko Kato, Serina, Chinatsu Wakatsuki, Rina Aizawa, Aya Ueto, and Haruka Ayase.
Another comeback that might be on the cards is Aki Hoshino.
Now aged 47, Aki Hoshino posted a video of herself in a swimwear (in what seems to be a sponsored post for Alexia Stam, a swimwear brand) and she looks great for a middle-aged woman.
Many fans commented that they want her to ...
Yuki Kashiwagi makes gravure comeback with new photo book
January 30, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
Former AKB48 idol Yuki Kashiwagi appears on the cover of the current issue of Weekly Young Jump, making a striking gravure comeback as she launches her latest photo book, Time Capsule.
The book went on sale on January 29 and brings together 14 years of shoots for Weekly Young Jump. Apparently it's so packed with photos that it weighs a full kilogram (about 2.2 pounds). Yukirin did her first cover shoot for the weekly magazine way back in 2010.
You'll have to get the magazine if you're a true fan, though, since the cover shoot isn't included in the new photo book, which is her fourth ...
Ex-gravure idol Yuka Kosaka reveals she was once brainwashed
January 21, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
A few years ago, we reported on the career of gravure idol Yuka Kosaka, who abruptly quit the industry in 2009, gained a lot of weight, made a brief comeback (with a semi-nude shoot), and then settled into a quieter life as a nursery school teacher from the age of 24.
She did that for around a decade now, though the 39-year-old has also restarted some activities in the entertainment industry since last year. It seems she no longer works as a teacher due to health issues and instead focuses on entrepreneurial projects launching new schools, consulting for schools, and doing counseling. She ...
56-year-old gravure idol Fumie Nakajima releases new photo book
January 14, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
In December 2023, we wrote about the incredible Fumie Nakajima, who proves that age is no obstacle to having a slender and sexy body, and continuing to release gravure videos and do photo shoots.
Now aged 56, Fumie Nakajima has released another photo book. Far from hiding her age, the publication embraces it: the title is simply #56. The cover features Nakajima in an alluring, semi-nude pose, with a wet shirt clinging to her body and with her panties half pulled down.
Last year, she marked 35 years since her debut. Having once retired from gravure at the age of 39, she made a comeback at ...
Meet Chihiro Midorikawa, the gravure idol who writes to prisoners
January 2, 2025
/ Tadashi Anahori
When you're languishing behind bars, there's probably a lot of things you miss from your life on the outside. Nice good and booze, for a start. Sex and intimacy too.
No doubt you'd find yourself thinking a lot about hot girls. Without a phone or access to the internet, you're probably starved of stimulation in this regard, but perhaps the occasional magazine or newspaper might provide glimpses of attractive models to give your fantasies food for thought.
And how about a letter from a gravure idol?
Chihiro Midorikawa is a 31-year-old gradol who won the Miss Tokyo Sports Grand Prize in ...
Winners of Gravure Japan Awards 2024 announced
December 25, 2024
/ Tadashi Anahori
Weekly Playboy has announced the top gravure idols of the year.
The winners of the Gravure Japan Award were Hina Kikuchi and Cocoro Toyoshima (joint winners of Grand Prize).
Leyla Ikeda and Ina Enohara were the joint winners of Best Newcomer.
No one who has followed the gravure scene in 2024 will be so surprised by these winners, especially the Grand Prize winners. All have been a dominant presence in gravure magazines this year.
Best Work was awarded to Yuka Iguchi, the voice actress in her late thirties who has made a big splash in gravure this year.
Best Photo Book went ...
1990s star Reiko Kato makes gravure comeback after 26 years
December 19, 2024
/ Tadashi Anahori
We love a good comeback story at Tokyo Kinky. And we especially love comebacks that defy mainstream expectations about women and beauty.
Why shouldn't older women still be sex symbols? A year ago, we wrote about Fumie Nakajima's image DVDs that prove a woman can still look great in her mid-fifties.
Now here's another 55-year-old Japanese woman who returned to our lives.
Reiko Kato was something of a legend in the later 1980s and early 1990s. She has answered our Christmas wishes and come back to gravure with her first such shoot in 26 years.
Kato's past photo book and shoots -- often ...