Japanese capsule toys are a cornucopia of choice and variety. There seems to be no end to the objects that pop out from the thousands of vending machines found at stores, train stations, and tourist destinations.
What's still often surprising, though, are the eyebrow-raising subject matters of certain toys.
Last year, for instance, we reported on the miniature vibrator capsule toys.
Slightly less risqué but just as awesome are these love hotel-inspired capsule toys. For a mere ¥300, you can get your own love hotel room key.
We have yet to spot these in the wild -- might we find the ...
Back in May, we reported on the arrests of the head of Japanese secondhand book store chain Mandarake and four of its employees over the sale of sexually explicit old photo books, which the chain apparently sold online and at two of its stores.
Though "hair nude" photo books with full-frontal nudity have been produced and sold by mainstream publishers for decades, the books in question here were so-called "vinyl books," which are older and more obscure -- and less regulated. They constitute a kind of gray zone in terms of adult publications in Japan: hair nude books are "celebrity books" or ...
Readers, we have failed you. After reporting on Mariya Nagao's latest photo book in December 2021, we failed to follow up when it was released earlier this year.
We should have, because it was actually (as rumored) Mariya Nagao's first nude photo book. Her fourth print book Yabai! Mariya. came out in January and follows Mariyagi as she visits an old hot spring resort with its run-down love hotels and snack bars.
The Showa-themed shoot features a naked Mariya in vintage clothes that she takes off for a bath and then enjoys the water. Her nude butt is visible in several shots. After years of ...
Maki Makie (マキエマキ) has been working since the early 1990s as a freelance commercial photographer.
Now aged 56, she gained a whole new following when she began taking self-portraits in 2015 and repositioning herself as a "selfie jukujo" (自撮り熟女) model.
This fame has had some unexpected consequences, as she revealed in a long interview with Bunshun.
Her self-portraits revel in a Showa-era atmosphere. Often shot in sketchy or remote locations (like old, rundown resorts or empty shopping streets), they mix humor with the erotic. She is currently exhibiting her work in ...
People have arrested the CEO of famous Japanese secondhand book store chain Mandarake as well as four employees in connection with the sale of obscene material.
Best known for manga but also offering collectibles, doujinshi, and anime toys, Mandarake was selling so-called "vinyl books," a term referring to pornographic photo books from the 1970s and 1980s that showed genitalia. (The "vinyl" part means the plastic that was used to cover the books.)
As regular readers will know, Japan's strange obscenity laws mean it is nominally illegal to show actual genitalia, hence adult video is ...
They say that everything is small in Japan. Small cars. Small homes. Small food portions. Small people. Only kidding about that last one.
Sometimes it seems that there really are capsule toys and model kits for everything.
In the latest evidence of this, renowned plastic model kit maker Hasegawa is set to release another miniature "retro vending machine" this July. And the fifth iteration (FA13) of the series of kits, following versions for ramen and udon noodles, is a porn vending machine.
It's not explicitly stated as such, but the weirdly anonymous-looking design and the conspicuous, ...
It's that time of year: December and January are packed with hot women releasing photo books.
One such lady is Mariya Nagao (永尾まりや), the former AKB48 idol who is now a model and actor, and a long-time favorite of this blog. She's releasing her fourth photo book, "Yabai! Mariya." (very roughly, "OMG Mariya" or "Risky Mariya"), on January 20, 2022, and she was apparently the main person behind the concept and planning.
The photo book recreates a Showa-Japan look, from the 1960s cars and buildings to the clothes and hairstyles.
It was shot in the hot spring resort of Togura ...
Old love hotels in Japan have long enjoyed a special brand of fandom, either for their garish visuals or their increasingly haikyo-style "abandoned" status.
But a new sort of love hotel otaku is emerging. And they are young women who visit the establishments by themselves.
We previously mentioned the 20-year-old student whose YouTube channel was obsessed with introducing love hotels (along with net cafes and other such places). A few weeks ago, she showcased the cheapest love hotel in Tokyo.
An even more prolific profiler of love hotels is Yunana, who shares her fascinating trips to ...
It's probably Tokyo's most famous and futuristic pieces of architecture: the Nakagin Capsule Tower.
Despite its repute, it's an endangered species: demolition of the Metabolist landmark has been scheduled for a long time.
People have continued to reside in the pod-like pied-à-terre living units or use them as office spaces. Or for other uses, it seems.
We had never heard of this before but it seems that certain capsule rooms in Nakagin were used by prostitutes to service customers.
In Tokyo, a brothel-style fuzoku service typically has its own little place with basic facilities. ...
Japan is often praised for its minimalist design aesthetic. This is then thrown to the wind (or rather, the dogs!) when you go to a love hotel and encounter garishness that makes Gaudí architecture look positively tame in comparison.
Similarly for web design, where Rakuten rules supreme despite its utter UX clusterfuck. If Amazon is like shopping in a modern supermarket, Rakuten is like walking unprepared into a medieval souk!
But this chaotic, garish design has its own kind of aesthetic, a craftsmanship that deserves respect and generates a certain culture. Now Rakuten and love hotels are ...
