We have some sad news to report. Normally the release of a new photo book by an idol would be a cause for celebration, but Mai Ishioka's (石岡真衣) upcoming "After the Rain" is apparently to be her last. One of our long-time favorite gradols, Ishioka has announced that that she is "graduating" -- i.e., retiring from the industry. This can be more one of several things: her career is stalling and so her agency is dropping her at the end of her contract; she is fed up with the industry and her career, and wants to do something else (or get married, which is hard to do while remaining a ...

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As we've blogged before, there are a few cases of sexy Japanese siblings who both work in gravure or modeling. Now those rare ranks have received a new addition: Nanami is the sister of the model and actress Maki Horikita, though the latter is now technically retired since she married and started a family. The mononymous choice of name is probably deliberate, as she probably does not want to trade on her older sister's fame. (There is also a porn star called Nanami Horikita, so she surely wants to avoid potential confusion!) She is certainly carving out a different career path, at least ...

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Earlier this year we wrote about the comeback photo book featuring 40-year-old model Asami Kumakiri (熊切あさ美). Even after entering her fifth decade, the jukujo beauty still looks stunning with her sun-kissed, well-toned body, which she shows off in the modest yet sensual shoot. The appropriately named "Bare Self" is her first photo book in 16 years and has enjoyed good sales. Now we have more images from that photo book to share as well as a semi-nude photo shoot from a weekly magazine that Asami Kumakiri did recently. We've also included some images from a 2021 calendar that went ...

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The actress Mao Miyaji is to release a new photo book, her first in 10 years. Aisansan (roughly, Bright Encounter) comes out at the end of December, with preview shots already published in the weekly magazine Friday. Now aged 36 and firmly entering jukujo (MILF) territory, Mao Miyaji is something of an industry veteran. After a string of major roles on TV in the 2000s, her career has been quieter for several years. She married a man seven years her senior in 2017. She has done semi-nude photo shoots before (like below), where she showed off her slender body and butt, though her ...

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The gravure idol Hikaru Aoyama (青山ひかる) is busty even by the standards of her busty cohorts in the industry: she apparently has an I cup. Now the 27-year-old is releasing her first photo book -- surprisingly she has not made one before, despite being one of the best-known gradols and a regular in the weeklies over the course of her seven-year career -- and has generously rewarded fans yearning to see more of her flesh with a series of semi-nude shots that really show off as much of her body as possible without actually revealing nipples or bush. Tactfully placed hands and even ...

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Former AKB48 idol Mariya Suzuki (鈴木まりや) has stripped off for a semi-nude photo book. The 29-year-old joined AKB48 in 2009 and transferred to Shanghai-based sister group SNH48 in 2012. She graduated in June 2017. She has since worked as an actress and maintained a following tens of thousands-strong on social media. "Merenda" (presumably derived from the Italian word meaning "nuncheon") is her debut photo book and is released on Monday. To promote it, Suzuki is appearing in gravure shoots in Flash, Entame, and Asagei Secret magazines. The project represents her first attempt at a ...

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The former AKB48 idol Kira Takahashi (高橋希来) has stripped naked for her first photo book, Twinkle, which comes out locally on September 10. That said, it is not, strictly speaking, a nude photo book, since the naked Takahashi still just about manages to protect her modesty. She is wearing panties and her breasts are tucked up, squeezed yet hidden by her knees. We get plenty of side book, though. It's now September and, while humid, Tokyo is arriving at typhoon season. Nonetheless, the photo book brings a splash of late summer, complete with shots of the 19-year-old poolside in wet ...

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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 ...

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Last week we got a bit overly excited over the prospects of model Angelica Michibata (sister of Jessica) making a comeback (after a nasty scandal involving her husband) with a nude photo book. Sure, she had done semi-nude shoots before but this promised to be a full nude: nipples, breasts, and maybe even bush. The proof lies in the pudding, and so far the indications are good. We have found some more preview images from Michibata's photo book, Angelica, that comes out in early August from Futabasha. The photographer is Hajime Sawatari, a veteran of such nude shoots. The 35-year-old biracial ...

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We love a comeback, hence our interest in the apparently nude photo book by Angelica Michibata scheduled for release in August. We also love a jukujo, hence our interest in the comebacks by single mom Hiroko Sato and former Morning Musume Asuka Fukuda. So now there's Asami Kumakiri, whose summer-themed photo book "Bare Self" more or less lives up to the name. It's the first time in 16 years that the 40-year-old idol, a former member of the group Checkicco and (we understand) still unmarried, has released a photo book. It's not nude, and barely qualifies as semi-nude, but Asami does give us ...

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