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 ...
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 former Morning Musume idol Ai Kago has collaborated with Young Magazine for a cosplay shoot where she became the title character from the "sexy manga" Heisei Haizanhei Sumire-chan. It is part of a series of winter shoots recreating alluring female characters from six manga with different models.
The striking images have attracted both media headlines and social media buzz because of the seemingly superhuman ability of a woman who is almost 40 to transform into a schoolgirl. While makeup and Photoshop no doubt help a lot, mother-of-two Ai Kago has apparently drunk from the elixir of youth ...
This weekend is Comiket 106, the latest edition of Japan's largest cosplay and doujinshi event held at Tokyo Big Sight.
But it's also mid-August in Tokyo, which is hot, humid, and very sweaty. Comiket gets insanely crowded and also tends to attract a lot of otaku, who do not have the best reputation when it comes to personal hygiene.
This combination of seasonal climate and demographic has reached such a serious level that exhibitors are choosing to ask fans to make more of an effort.
Japan's most famous and successful cosplayer, Enako, has issued a plea for fans to attend Comiket only ...
The Osaka expo has proved controversial for a number of reasons, not least the huge budget overruns, the infestation of bugs, the unfinished pavilions, and the overpriced food.
But what about panchira (panties flash)? The latest issue involves a young Japanese woman who has posed for photos deliberately showing off her panties, and then posted those pics on social media for likes and views.
She certainly succeeded in getting a lot of attention.
The OL-themed cosplayer yuu_OLdays posed against the expo's famous wooden ring structure (the largest wooden structure in the world), wearing expo ...
Readers with longer memories may well remember the shocking case of Yuka Takaoka, the young hostess who almost killed her host boyfriend in 2019. The shocking nature of the crime -- stabbing the guy with a kitchen knife and leaving him in a pool of blood while she sat on the floor, smoking a cigarette, and talking on the phone call -- and her cute looks earned Takaoka a legion of followers online in the wake of her arrest. She was proclaimed a living example of a yandere or jiraikei girl.
The impact of the case was amplified by certain visuals: the image that quickly appeared of Takaoka ...
Stand back, guys, because there's a new gal in town.
She's called Mimi Yuzuki (柚月美美). She apparently works as a regular office lady for a company while moonlighting as a cosplayer. And now she's a gravure idol after making her debut in the April 21 issue of Weekly Playboy.
"I was nervous. It was not just the gravure-style poses I had to make, it was also my first time to work with a professional cameraman, makeup artists, and stylist."
The shoot has also resulted in a digital photo book.
Besides her obvious beauty (which has drawn comparisons with ex-gradol Misako ...
Comiket was held on December 29 and December 30 in Tokyo, and attracted 300,000 attendees -- the most since the COVID pandemic.
It's a welcome sign that Comic Market is back in rude health after the grassroots cosplay and doujin event seemed to be on the decline both in terms of attendance and demographic, with fears that participants were aging and becoming increasingly male.
Initial analysis of this edition's numbers suggests that half of attendees were in their twenties.
It certainly is a male-centric event, though, and booths like Neowiz's do little to dispel this reputation.
The ...
Marin Shiosaki (潮崎まりん) may at a glance seem more Filipina but she is Japanese -- and a fresh new face on the gravure scene, a crowded industry where we hope the Saitama native makes a lasting impression.
Her curves are just great, giving her a really sexy, natural body that stands out among the willowy, straight bodies that can dominate Japanese ladies (though voluptuous women are, of course, not unusual among gravure models).
Her huge breasts (we assume a G cup) also look awesome under the sheer slingshot lingerie on the cover of her first DVD, which comes out in late ...
It's Christmas in Tokyo, which means . . . what exactly? Well, not really Christmas in the traditional sense.
Christmas in Japan is, of course, not a holiday per se (and falling on a Monday this year, everyone will be working as normal, including yours truly), but Santa cosplay is very popular, as are "Christmas cakes" (which rarely resemble what a European might expect), German-style Christmas markets, and going on dates on Christmas Eve.
In fact, Christmas is basically just a romantic day for couples, and one of the busiest times of year for love hotels.
Gravure idols and models often ...
