In a recent interview with Aera, the former AKB48 idol Nana Okada (岡田奈々) has come out as nonbinary.
They don't explicitly also come as bisexual but the 26-year-old does say they are attracted to both men and women, and that they dated a woman back in 2017 (during their tenure in AKB48, which started in 2012).
As readers will remember, Okada was fired from AKB48 over a dating scandal in 2022. Until then, she had been one of the most popular members of the idol group.
For a more in-depth analysis of the interview and what Okada reveals, we recommend this thread. Okada is currently ...
On October 13, NMB48 announced that Fuuwa Kuroda (黒田楓和) was to leave the music group with her graduation performance being on October 26 and last official day as a member on November 5.
However, on October 28, the group announced that Kuroda will instead leave with immediate effect, and won't attend three hand-shaking events as planned on October 29, November 4, and November 5.
Health issues are nominally cited as the reason, but Japanese netizens have speculated that the real reason is much darker.
It is alleged that the 19-year-old made a sex tape with her boyfriend, which has ...
People in Japan sometimes look over the water at South Korea, where plastic surgery among women is relatively common, and tut in disapproval. But the truth is, plastic surgery also happens in Japan -- and is something of an open secret in the entertainment world, where models and actors have work done early in the career but keep it under wraps.
Only a few go public about it, though internet rumors persist over several other celebrities.
Former AKB48 idol Kana Kobayashi has admitted to having had plastic surgery.
The model Tenchim (Tenka Hashimoto) has confessed to a boob job (the results ...
Former NMB48 idol Miyuki Watanabe has released a new photo book, Dappi, marking what seems to be a somewhat maturer look and more sensual development in her career as she enters a new stage in life.
Also a one-time member of SKE48 and AKB48, Watanabe (known as Miruki to her fans) left NMB48 in 2016. She turned 30 earlier this week. Since leaving the music group, she has worked as a model and launched a music career as a solo artist and member of girl group Ange et Folletta.
Dappi is her fifth book and marks the latest stage in this more adult part of her career.
Last year, she ...
Hinatazaka46 idol Hinano Kamimura has released her first photo book.
The 19-year-old's book, Sono mama de (As It Is), came out on September 12 with four different covers (one for each of the seasons).
It features a series of pics of the music idol in underwear or swimwear, plus a somewhat more explicit of her in a bath. Some shots have a summery vibe; others look ahead to the imminent autumn season.
If you want a slim and youthful Japanese girl, you've come to the right place.
There's one decidedly sexy, more mature shot where she's lying in her underwear on a ...
Talking about going out with a bang.
So many idols from AKB48, Nogizaka46, and their sister groups quickly disappear into the ether after graduating, so their final individual release (photo book, photo shoot, etc.) may be one of the last ways they can make a mark.
Seira Hayakawa is doing just that, and then some.
Whatever happens to the 23-year-old Osakan after leaving Nogizaka46 at the end of August (and she has indicated her intention to fully retire from the entertainment world), she has rewarded fans with her most explicit photo shoot yet.
Her photo book, Some You Again, Someday, ...
The travails of former music idol Ai Kago continue.
Once a member of long-running female idol group Morning Musume -- she was part of the same generation as Rika Ishikawa and Nozomi Tsuji -- she departed the group in 2004, joining other groups like Hello! Project.
Such young female idols are forced to maintain a wholesome image but this was hard for Kago, who clearly has a rebellious streak. She was suspended from her agency for underage smoking (oh, the horror!) in 2006 and dismissed the next year.
In 2009, she had an affair with an actor and his wife sued them both. In the early 2010s, ...
It's one of the industry's open secret that most Japanese music and gravure idols are poorly paid. While it's natural to assume that a struggling musician or an underground (chika) idol has a day job, the agencies and management for other kinds of idols are very controlling, and prefer their idols to be available 24/7 despite not paying them a living wage.
It leads to scandals sometimes, when the compensated dating that many idols do gets exposed. Such a scandal led to the end of Shoko Takasaki's gravure career in 2015 -- and the birth instead of her porn career, where she enjoyed immese ...
Takako Uehara is back in the news again over another alleged adultery scandal.
The beautiful former member of pop group SPEED has experienced some real highs and lows since the group disbanded in 2000.
Uehara published a successful semi-nude photo book, Vingt Takako, in 2003, but this divided fans, some of who saw it as a betrayal of her image. We are eternally grateful, though, for the fapping material she provided during this period.
She worked as an actor and model, fronting advertising campaigns for the likes of Shiseido.
But the Okinawan's complicated love life has proved a thorn ...
We recently wrote about ex-AKB48 idol Satomi Kaneko's retirement, noting how she had carved out quite a striking career as a sexploitation actress and nude model after her brief stint with the group.
In general, after leaving one of the AKB or Sakamichi groups, or any idol group for that matter, the surest way to cement your status is to do more provocative shoots in gravure magazines, release photo books, and branch out into fashion modeling and TV gigs, either acting or presenting.
Only a lucky few land "serious" acting roles (perhaps only Atsuko Maeda and Yuko Oshima spring to mind), but ...
