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 ...
We recently wrote about AKB48 idol Mion Mukaichi's somewhat surprising decision to do a semi-nude photo book while still a member of the supergroup.
As we mentioned in our post, most music idols wait until graduating before posing semi-nude or nude. And in fact, they are often forced to do something like that to build any sort of career in a crowded marketplace.
A case in point is the ravishing Satomi Kaneko, who carved out a name for herself as a provocative, sensual model after a brief stint in AKB48 in 2007.
She started doing gravure in 2014 after an acting role in a sexploitation movie ...
With music sales down, fewer meet-and-greet events like before, and far less general public interest in its current members (which means fewer TV appearances and fewer lucrative advertising campaign contracts), AKB48 is in, well, perhaps not quite a state of decline but certainly a period of less prominence in popular culture compared to the glory days of the early 2010s.
Is this why its members are doing semi-nude photo shoots even before graduating the group? The AKB overlords used to be very exact about how much flesh the members could show, determined to keep things tantalizing and ...
Unlike the members of AKB48 and Nogizaka46 and all their sister groups, the fine young ladies of the somewhat tamer Momoiro Clover Z have not indulged in gravure shoots during their long careers as performers.
Now as they edge toward 30 -- a significant milestone for music idols -- and even start to get married, it seems even less likely.
Or so you would think.
Reni Takagi, a member of the color-coordinated group, announced her marriage last year, though thankfully not her retirement from the group.
She is now set to release her first solo photo book on August 29 at the ripe age of 30. ...
Morning Musume idol Maria Makino is promoting her ninth (!) photo book, the aptly named Dear Maria, which came out in Japan earlier this month.
That's quite a career and she's still only 22!
The summer-themed photo book, which was shot in Guam, includes pics of the young Aichi native in a figure-hugging, skin-tone swimsuit that makes her look naked.
Unfortunately, the actual photo book is too new for decent shots to exist online, it seems, but there are a few somewhat grainy behind-the-scenes shots of lovely Maria in her skimpy swimwear.
Netizens are, it almost goes ...
Recently graduated from Nogizaka46, Asuka Saito has released a new photo book and it's making a splash.
Saito, who is half-Myanmarese and half-Japanese, was a first-generation member of Nogizaka46. The 24-year-old graduated the idol group earlier this month.
She was one of the most popular members of the group, having performed with them for over 11 years, and is hoping to use her departure (and the buzz surrounding her graduation concert last week) to launch a solo career.
This week, the first images from her new photo book, Museum, were released. They are semi-nude, with the slinky ...
