In Japan, politicos have an average age of circa 82. There are few woman and the few that exist tend to be scarily "driven" types. It's rare you get the full charms of Japan's gentle sex walking the corridors of power.
But last February, Asuka Tachikawa stood as an independent in the Niiza City council elections in Saitama, and got elected at the sprightly age of 27.
This hottie soon gained the reputation as being "too beautiful" to be a councillor.
The knives were out, fueled no doubt by the green-eyed monster. She was then accused of not having lived long enough in the city and ...
AKB48's Asuka Kuramochi has grown up. She will release her first solo photo book on September 11th called "Mimi-tabu", which means "earlobe".
We're not sure if this has some sort of coded meaning or whether the photos will showcase Asuka's lovely ears. Saying that, Asuka is known as an "ear sommelier" and apparently has a liking for liking other girls' ears...
The release will coincide with her 24th birthday, though we think the present is more for us than her!
The shoot was done in Asuka's local town, Yokohama, and handled by photographer Tatsuo Watanabe.
While ...
These ladies look pretty hot, right?
Well, actually these are otoko no ko (男の娘), crossdressing males, photographed by Naoko Tachibana.
They feature nine crossdressers from the cafe and bar New Type, which opened in Akihabara in May 2009. Tachibana has put these together as a photo book, "Yuri Danshi", 10,000 copies of which have been printed -- that's quite a demand!
We think you'll agree that these ladies look lovely.
Otoko no ko culture -- a mixture of cosplay and crossdressing -- is huge in Japan, with its own magazines, shopping sites ...
Photographer Yuji Susaki has got together with Akihabara idol unit Dempagumi.inc to create a photo book with 100 cosplay models.
The "Dempa Models x 100 Cosplay" collection goes on sale August 8th.
We only just blogged about another Susaki cosplay photography project and it seems he is very much in the news these days.
The Dempagumi.inc girls (who include Moga Mogami and Nemu Yumemi) are featured in student uniforms, nurse uniforms and more. The publishers hope to sell 5,000 copies in the first run.
While Dempagumi.inc may not have the profile of the ubiquitous AKB48, it has ...
Eriko Sato, the actress who was once also known for very provocative photo shoots
Now 31, Sato's career isn't so stellar any more and she is still unmarried. So sensibly she has turned back to her roots and released another photo book of sexy shots for her male fans.
With an F-cup bust and so-called "perfect body", the tall Eriko did the shoot in Hawaii -- her first such Gravure-style one in nine years. This is the only image available right now.
"I've heard my bikini shots are very popular with middle-aged men. Maybe it’s because I hit the age where they can imagine me as ...
Black Tights Girl is a new photo book by photographer Masaki Okado focusing on yet another fetish, sexy black stockings worn by Japanese girls.
We have recently seen a lot of these kinds of books, from twin tail ponytail girls to ones with panties on their faces. It seems the market is boundless.
Yes, the sad thing about the winter finally starting to end is that in a month or so's time, we will be seeing less and less of these kinds of stockings!
Masaki Okado has also done previous photo series on Japanese schoolgirls in summer uniforms and also girls with small ...
Police are now apparently investigating Kodansha and the producers of the controversial (or just ridiculous) Tomomi Kasai pseudo-child porn photo where a foreign kid stands behind her, peeking over her naked body while holding her breasts.
Well, nothing's sacred for long -- and certainly not when Japan's Netizens get their clutches on something.
Tomomi Kasai's "hand bra" picture might well have been banned from a magazine ad and from her debut soon-to-be-re-released photo book, but you can now enjoy the sight of her rather generous bust being cupped... Only not by the odd foreign ...
Continuing on from the maelstrom that engulfed Tomomi Kasai's much-hyped photo book release, publisher Kodansha has made a formal apology for the controversial image of a young foreign boy clasping the naked bust of a smiling Tomomi.
"The cause was our checking system for publishing did not get to it," they explained.
Perhaps the big yen signs in front of their eyes, branded there by the AKB management, prevented them from seeing the incredible bizarreness of the image.
Kodansha also publishes Young Magazine, which was set to print a big ad for the photo book with the provocative ...
After a brouhaha that erupted in the last days, including Young Magazine's latest issue being shunted to the next week, the controversy over the Tomomi Kasai photo book continues.
Now Kodansha, who also publish Young Magazine, has announced that the photo book won't be going on sale as planned on February 4th.
Presumably they will pulp the copies and re-print it without the problematic photo.
The provocative image featured Tomomi with her luscious bust bare, with the nipples cupped and covered from behind by a seemingly naked foreign infant.
Certainly people seemed pretty ...
Kodansha, which had planned to put the latest issue of Young Magazine on sale tomorrow (January 12), has been forced to postpone the publishing date to January 21st.
Why? Because it suddenly realised that an ad page announcing a new photo book for Tomomi Kasai, soon to leave AKB48 formally and concentrate on her solo career, was "inappropriate".
Yes, Tomomi and her "hand bra" poses are too sexy for Kodansha (admittedly, the "hands" are not Tomomi's but those of a young boy). The issue would have featured Kasai heavily, including on the cover.
Instead, the next issue will appear ...
