Like a lot of gravure idols recently, RaMu has taken to YouTube to connect directly with fans and also occupy herself during downtime (which the coronavirus pandemic is generating a lot of for precariously employed models and idols).
These days, gradols are YouTubers, and one video that RaMu uploaded at the end of 2020 is gaining some traction (over 360,000 views and counting).
In it, 23-year-old RaMu talks about the secrets of how a gravure photo shoot works. It is all in Japanese but she has some illustrative props.
These include panties with see-through string so that the model can ...
Like most people, we are keen -- alright, desperate! -- to see this year done and dusted. With the new COVID strain, though, something tells us that the calendar simply turning into 2021 won't suddenly makes things OK.
So we are always pleased to see news like this sneak into the final days of the year.
The gravure idol Kaoru Yasui is known for her busty body, large butt, and come-hither looks. The 21-year-old previously went through a professional name change, her kanji shifting from 安位薫 to 安位カヲル when she changed left her agency at the end of August. Having made her debut ...
Gravure idol and actress Miyu Kitamuki has posed for her most explicit photo shoot to date, a semi-nude spread in which she is fully naked but her modesty is hidden by carefully placed body parts -- not least, the classic "hand bra" (tebura).
The pictures appear in her first photo book, Koiyou (恋夕, Love Night), which came out last week from Kodansha. Previews were published in Weekly Playboy magazine.
The 20-year-old Kitamuki got her start in the entertainment industry in 2018 and, as an actress, her career highlights so far include the NHK drama series Idaten. She is ...
One of the staples parts of being a gradol, or gravure idol, is posing for a photo session at Sofmap in Akihabara.
The women stand there, invariably scantily clad in a bikini while members of the media snap away. This is usually part of a press conference to promote some kind of release or appearance.
The photos are ubiquitous: a gradol posed against the squared advertising on the wall behind her.
Just occasionally does a photo session stand out.
In this case, gravure idol Rin Sakura (桜りん) was going through the standard motions of a session -- in this case, to promote a DVD, her ...
The Japanese gravure idol (glamor model) industry is a competitive and overly populated place, with idols coming and going in quick succession.
In order to maintain their status, idols are required to keep up strong social media presences. This, of course, means Twitter and Instagram, but increasingly also YouTube. Gradols have to be YouTubers these days, too.
The coronavirus has made this more urgent than before as splashy shoots and meet-and-greet events are either not having or only in far reduced numbers, decreasing the potential for idols to earn fees. Perhaps feeling the pinch, ...
Airi Sato (佐藤あいり) is an up-and-coming gravure idol and actress whose recent shoots have seen her earn a following for a rare fusion: sensual, sexy allure; a genuine and clean beauty; and girl-next-door charm.
It's an unusual ability to combine sultry come-hither looks with marriage-material middle-class respectability. But Airi Sato, who emerged first in 2018 when she won a prize at a beauty contest run by a magazine, seems to achieve it.
Specifically, the 23-year-old is praised by fans as an example of hattoshin (八頭身 or 八等身) -- literally, "eight-heads body" -- an ...
A Japanese TV show asked a man what he thought about gravure photo shoots. Nothing strange about this, perhaps, but the details are more unusual.
This man may look like a regular white-collar worker but his younger sisters are anything but: they are gravure idols and he was shown images from their provocative shoots.
The ladies in question are Tomoe Yamanaka (山中知恵) and Mayumi Yamanaka (山中真由美).
The brother laughs uncomfortably. "Yeah, I have mixed feelings about that."
To our shame, we did not know that Tomoe Yamanaka and Mayumi Yamanaka were sisters, though now ...
At the end of last year, we reported on a nude photo book by Aya Hazuki. Though nominally naked, Hazuki stopped short of actual nudity by carefully posed dressing gowns and tape.
Aya Hazuki is not to be confused with Tsubasa Hazuki (葉月つばさ), who has a similar name but is younger.
The other Hazuki has taken things further with her latest shoot, where we finally get to see what she's been keeping under wraps (to be fair, at times barely) throughout her photo shoots so far.
While her generous bust remains hidden, the slinky 22-year-old's cute butt is on fully display. We prefer a bit ...
Sara Kamiki (神木サラ) is still only 20 years old but has already dropped her robe for a nude shoot, even though her first official gravure shoot was only published in June this year.
While some gradols wait a while before taking the plunge, sometimes only resorting to it when other options dry up, Kamiki has no such qualms -- even stripping off for her debut gravure shoot in the magazine Flash.
She has posed for an explosive (as in bakunyu "explosive breasts") nude photo shoot where she shows off her incredible breasts and nipples (an I cup, apparently!) and curvy ...
Call us morbid, but we have a strange fascination with the afterlives of gravure idols.
This is a competitive, cruel industry, one where young women are discarded after two or three years. From gracing the covers of the weekly tabloids like Spa! and, if you're lucky, releasing digital or print photo books, you might descend quickly into obscurity when the editors and people behind the scenes decide to make someone else a star for another brief run.
Given the open secret of the casting couch, it is hardly a giant leap of logic to see why some, if not many, gradols go on to second (or, let's ...
