Known for her perfect body and gorgeous G-cup bust, Shoko Takasaki was until late last year one of the top rising gravure idols in Japan and a potential star in the general entertainment industry.

But the gravure world is a fickle one and idols are sometimes more desperate for money than you might think, plus quickly learn that their looks and bodies are their top advantage in a ruthless industry where management expects to sleep with new talent.

In September, images surfaced that seemed to show her engaging in enjo kosai (a euphemism for prostitution), causing her to quit the grand prix of Nippon Television’s Nittelegenic contest, the annual event showcasing up-and-coming gravure talent.

She quit (or was fired from) her agency in January and then reports surfaced that seemed almost too good to be true.

Rumors first broke in March that 22-year-old Takasaki was about to make her AV debut. Pictures, apparently from a porn film, seemed to show the idol. But these were then shown to be just images of a porn star called Keiko Shimazaki, who looks uncannily similar to the idol. What was the reality behind all this tabloid and online chatter?

Now Tokyo Sports says it has seen “proof” that Takasaki is set to release a porn DVD in May, using the new name of Shoko Takahashi.

It comes as little surprise that Takasaki will apparently make her first porn via the Muteki label, which is the studio of choice for people switching from the entertainment or regular idol industry to AV. Past veterans of Muteki include Momona Kito, Chiharu Komatsu (despite initially denying the reports of her porn debut), and Risa Naruse.

Muteki has not yet officially announced the release, though its commercial prospects are all but assured. Tokyo Sports claims to have seen the cover but there are no images yet to prove the story categorically.

If it is true — and we really hope it is! — we are very much looking forward to seeing Shoko’s beautiful butt in all its glory.

As we know, the gravure and entertainment industry maintains several open secrets: idols and stars have plastic surgery; drugs are rampant; women have to sleep with management to get ahead; there are ingrained connections with the Yakuza; and many idols engage in prostitution before, during or after their careers in the limelight. It’s the same for porn, including many notable “graduations” from idol and gravure to porn, though there are countless others that slip under the radar because the star was not so famous. And for a recent alleged case of an idol moonlighting in the porn world, see the example of Emi Niita just this week.

What are the dark secrets of the entertainment industry in Japan? Here is our subjective list.

1: Sex

Despite the control exerted by talent agencies over idols’ private lives (who they can and cannot date, or in the case of some groups, not letting them date or have sex at all), the truth is that there is plenty of sex happening — it’s just not all that pleasant or consensual. Makura eigyo (sleeping with people to get ahead, like the casting couch) is rampant at many levels of the gravure and idol industry, with female models and entertainers frequently having sex with older male managers in order to further or not to damage their careers. Former gravure idol Minako Komukai went public with this, along with former AKB48 idol Eri Takamatsu. Needless to say, this is a worldwide phenomenon, and is also ingrained in Korea, as the suicide of Jang Ja-yeon exposed.

2: Abuse

Famously alleged by a weekly tabloid magazine and the subject of a court case, it is widely suspected but never mentioned that Johnny Kitagawa — the boss of the most powerful agency in Japan — has a history of abusing young boys at his agency. Never proven categorically, it is just the most famous “secret” from a whole litany of other abuse rumors.

3: Yakuza

Like many other aspects of mainstream Japanese society (politics, construction and real estate), the talent agencies are heavily involved with the Yakuza crime world, as the cases of AKB48’s Kotaro Shiba and Shinsuke Shimada have shown.

4: Plastic Surgery

While rarely admitted, plastic surgery is rife among idols (though not as endemic as in South Korea). One notable and unapologetic example is Yuuri Morishita.

5: Drugs

Recreational drug usage is common among idols, entertainers and managers, though this is only revealed when there is a scandal and it is then swiftly made to appear like it is an isolated case. See the examples of Noriko Sakai, Ai Takabe and Minako Komukai.

6: Prostitution

Idols and entertainers often engage in “compensated dating” or other forms of prostitution, either before, during or after their careers. A notable recent example is Shoko Takasaki.

Following a sex scandal (alleged prostitution!), the gravure idol Shoko Takasaki has made her porn debut on the Muteki AV label, which specializes in porn featuring former idols and actors.

Ahead of her debut as “Shoko Takahashi” (changing her names for legal reasons after she left her previous agency), our voluptuous lady posed semi-nude for some ravishing shots…

Though there was some confusion over the rumors of Takasaki’s switch from gravure to porn, the naysayers have been proved wrong and these images reveal what a delight the results appear to be…

Behold some initial grabs from “Gravure Four Heavenly Kings Shoko Takahashi” (yes, that is the literal translation of the title — trust Japan to throw in a Buddhist reference in a porn flick!). Check out that immaculate G-cup bust of hers get exploited to the full by her lucky male partner (apparently the busy performer Shimiken — who was also Yua Mikami/Momona Kito’s other half in her bestselling debut), while her innocent, girl-next-door face melts our hearts all while another part of the anatomy rises.

Not content with launching a porn career on the Muteki label as Momona Kito and already doing one “hair nude” (full frontal) photo shoot, Momona Kito is back with another very nice set of images to tickle our Golden Week vibe.

Formerly of the AKB48 spin-off group SKE48, Momona Kito is just one of many ex-idols who have “graduated” to porn careers.

The Muteki label has snagged some of these and also recently managed to get the porn debut of gravure idol Shoko Takasaki.

The alluring gravure idol and actress Haruna Yabuki (formerly known as Mari Abe) has gone fully nude in a “hair nude” shoot for Golden Week in a weekly tabloid magazine, shot by the famed photographer Kishin Shinoyama.

Though she has done semi-nude shoots before, this is a new step for the 1984-born Yabuki, who has officially now become a jukujo like Manami Hashimoto or Mitsu Dan.

The truth is, Yabuki’s career is at a bit of an ebb. She broke up with her idiot celebrity boyfriend after she caught him in bed with a hostess. It’s been years since she was releasing photobooks and gracing the weeklies. This may be her last major commercial gig.

These weekly tabloid spreads are often promos for a photo book, and this is no exception. The new Yabuki-Shinoyama book is scheduled for the end of May. We look forward to seeing Haruna’s hair.

A “hair nude” is a full-frontal shoot. Since the actual depiction of genitalia is legally “obscene”, showing a hairy bush was a way to be bold and bust taboos. The vogue over twenty years ago for hair nudes caused problems for bookstores and publishers, who were potentially breaking the law, but by positioning the photo books as art they could steer around the issue.

When weekly tabloids feature hair nude shoots they often seal the offending pages or even censor the actual genitals, which is kind of against the point but anyway…

Kishin Shinoyama, now in his horny seventies, was the pioneer of the genre.

However, the hair nude is now out of fashion and has become a choice for porn stars or actresses who appear in soft-core films, such as Yuki Mamiya, Yoko Kamon, Risa Goto, Kokone Sasaki, Mayu Mitsui or Mitsu Dan. The only regular models and idols who do it are people who are getting older and their careers are waning.

In the past, though, it was the opposite: mainstream, young (possibly even underage, like Rie Miyazawa) stars did it to launch their careers up a further notch, such as Miyazawa or Miho Kanno did triumphantly.

There have been very few such high-profile hair nudes in recent years, though the Gekkan series of monthly photo books attempted to revive the genre. A great example was Eimi Kuroda.

Mitsu Dan is no stranger when it comes to nudity and showing us pretty much everything she’s got.

Even as she gets older (she’s now a ripe 35) and goes more mainstream, she still seems unafraid to shed her clothing.

While he days of appearing in soft-core bondage movies are likely behind her, a recent spread in a weekly magazine featured deliciously nude shots of Mitsu Dan taken over the course of the last 12 months. Her honeypot body is as curvy as ever.

Can to spend a year in her company?

Former SKE48 idol Momona Kito, who made a sensational porn debut last year under the name Yua Mikami, has picked up prize at the DMM.R18 Adult Awards 2016.

Kito went from being a minor music idol in the AKB48 spin-off group to an AV star in just one release. Muteki — a porn studio that specializes in idols, actors and celebrities making the switch from mainstream entertainment to AV — then persuaded her to launch a full career in the adult industry and she quickly followed up with further releases.

Adored for her immaculate bust, Kito/Mikami picked up the award for best newcomer at the prizes run by the adult online retailer.

Best actress was Hibiki Otsuki. Perhaps one day Momona will be up there on the podium collecting the top award. If the buzz that greeted the start of her career is anything to go by, she has a bright future ahead of her in the industry.

We predict next year’s best newcomer will be gravure idol Shoko Takasaki for her stunning recent debut… that is, unless some other idol doesn’t make an explosive switch to porn!

In 2015, Nippon Television landed in hot water when it rescinded a job offer for a college graduate after it found out she had experience as a Ginza hostess. Rina Sasazaki took the broadcaster to court and won a settlement as well as her original job offer back again.

Here’s a similar cautionary tale.

Kayo Matsumoto is a freelance TV presenter (called “announcers” in Japan). She was forced to leave TV Aichi in September 2014 after her dabbling in porn was exposed. As we know, the AV industry is absolutely huge and every year an army of women debut in porn. Most have short careers and an even larger number appear as uncredited “amateurs” in various titles. While their name remains unknown, their faces (and rest of their bodies) are certainly not.

As the case of voice actress Emi Niita recently shows, later these little side jobs that some women do — especially if they are already hostessing or working in related industries — can come back to bite them after they turn mainstream.

The 26-year-old Matsumoto has made a comeback and now presents a show on TBS. She appeared in an “amateur nanpa” porn film in 2010 when she was still a student. In 2013, she joined TV Aichi.

To be fair to Matsumoto, this time it really isn’t the same as similar scandals like Niita’s. She appeared in an AV in 2010 but “just licking” a cock-shaped popsicle, and wasn’t aware how the footage would be used nor did she give permission… or so her official story goes. She claims that she didn’t know what she was shooting until it was too late.

Even so, the revelation resulted in Matsumoto having to leave her post at TV Aichi and going freelance. All’s well that ends well: she’s back on TV doing what she does best.

Ironically, she now says she’s inundated with offers to appear in porn, but instead wants to stay mainstream. We can but dream…

Like big boobs? Check.

Like things being wrapped around big boobs? Check.

Yes, this photo book by Yuji Susaki may have it all.

Wrap the Boobs is a new photo book about Japanese girls with giant breasts (not quite bakunyu but getting there) and how wrapping their perfect jugs in things can heighten the visual feast.

The photographer is previously known for his work with cosplayers like idol group Dempagumi.inc..

Models in the new photo book — out now from Ichijinsha — include Hikaru Aoyama, Mizuki Katase, Jun Amaki (formerly of the masked idol gropu Kamen Joshi), and the amazing Miyako Akane.

If you like Miyako Akane, check out her breasts and ass from a DVD she released in January last year. She’s not a shy lady…

This is a growing trend: Japanese women’s past dabbling in porn unexpectedly exposed, jeopardizing their new-found careers.

Already this year we have seen voice actress Emi Niita’s previous AV moonlighting come to light, while we recently blogged about a TV presenter who lost her job due to a porn appearance.

It’s certainly much easier today to search and find images of obscure and even anonymous porn stars, though the sheer volume of porn produced in Japan annually also makes this no mean feat. If you appeared in something, the chances are someone has put the DVD online and your past may come back to haunt you. Even an anonymous male performer’s porn appearance with Yui Hatano found out when he went on to stalk and attack a music idol.

According to Shukan Gendai’s June 11th edition, a woman was accepted for a position at Goldman Sachs but it was withdrawn after the firm found out she had previously appeared in porn under the name Shizuka Minamoto.

DMM currently lists 10 titles with a “Shizuka Minamoto”. She was apparently working in the industry in around 2011 when she was a freshman and sophomore college student.

Her porn career was partly based on her purported high IQ and English levels as well as her alleged virginity.

Goldman Sachs was allegedly informed about the young woman’s secret by an anonymous phone call (we can only speculate but perhaps an aggrieved ex-boyfriend). The firm then withdrew its job offer on the grounds that her private life did not conform with company policy, though they did not directly cite her porn appearances as the reason.

Shukan Gendai contacted Goldman Sachs to confirm the story but they would not give a comment.

Well, we would actually argue that it’s more disreputable to work for Goldman Sachs than it is to work in the adult industry, but I guess we are in the happy minority.

We’ve always been a fan of the older idols. We find the photo shoots sexier and the woman more alluring.

From Chiharu Komatsu to Naomi Kawashima and Azumi Kawashima, our glory days are the 1990s and early 2000s, especially when the so-called “hair nude” shoots were still at their peak.

Kanako Kojima is one such beauty. Born in 1975, her career height was from around 1997 for a few years as an actress and tarento. Towards the end — in 2006 — she released a great hair nude photo book. She also showed off her naked pregnant body.

These days she is in her forties and out of the limelight as she raises her new family.

But her legendary hair nude shoot continues to resonant across the years. So much so that a weekly tabloid recently republished some the images from the now out of print photo book and claimed some had never been shown before.

10 years on, the new photos show off the G-cup idol’s charms and ravishing body to the max. Kanako, we salute you!

For reference, here is Kanako today with her child.

The AV industry in Japan is not all take, take, take. It likes to give back, too.

The “boob aid” annual event is one of the best examples of this, in which porn stars let their breasts be groped by ordinary members of the public in order to raise money for AIDS charities.

Now Soft on Demand and Japanese porn stars have come together (no pun) to help save the planet.

The Do Eco website looks like a porn video streaming site, but don’t be fooled. While it’s not fully safe for work, there’s no sex or nudity. And it’s all for a good cause.

It features nine AV performers, including the ubiquitous Mana Sakura getting horny as she cuts some greens.

The other ladies taking part in the charity project are Iori Kogawa, China Matsuoka, Marina Shirashi, Haruna Aisaka (formerly known as Risa Naruse of AKB48), Manaka Minami, Masami Ichikawa, Misa Suzumi and Yuri Asada. All the videos are shot by a professional porn director.

This Masami Ichikawa’s video.

As you tell, all the videos are very tongue in cheek as they teach us to save energy and the planet with a certain amount of innuendo.

Iori Kogawa has some fun ironing a Tenga t-shirt.

At a later date, SOD will be collecting charity donations via the site. Right now they are trying to create buzz for the project. Our advice: add some actual nudity and see charitable attention soar!

The recent interest in Japanese AV performers’ labor and human rights continues to develop. It’s one of the big stories of the year so far.

Following the arrest mere days ago of a porn performer agency for forcing its roster of women to appear in porn and other recent developments like a damning report and seminar on the issue of exploitation and trafficking, now comes news that former AV star Mariko Kawana has launched a new orgnization to help.

There are already groups like Lighthouse: Center for Human Trafficking Victims (formerly Polaris Project Japan) and Human Rights Now (HRN) as well as People Against Pornography and Sexual Violence (PAPS).

Kawana’s new group, Protection for Actress Rights, is specifically focussed on female performers’ rights and is set to launch in July.

Kawana is now in her late forties. She appeared in something like 400 AV titles over the course of her career, before retiring in 2004. She also appeared in pink films.

She married porn director Goro Tameike — known for his jukujo films — and also famously made a nude photo book covering the stages of her pregnancy in 2004. As we know, this is something of a fetish in Japan.

However, at the above-mentioned seminar, Kawana and her husband defended the industry against the HRN report.

Far from it being the directors who were exploiting women, “it was more like I was the one who yelled, screamed and made the director grovel on the ground whenever there was something screwy on the set,” Kawana said at the time.

“Porn actresses come to act, not to have sex,” she asserted. “Neither I nor anyone around me has ever experienced the kinds of things depicted in the HRN report. Maybe it’s because I’m a strong woman and strong people tend to draw other strong people.”

The Japan Times’ coverage of the seminar highlighted how Kawana set out to dismantle the HRN report’s claims.

Kawana stressed that the actresses are private contractors so they have a right to speak up. Later she tweeted: “If porn actresses are employed with labor contracts, they will enter into highly exploitative relationships, vulnerable to all manner of harassment from their employers, long work hours, lower take-home pay (since they will get benefits), and may even enter the ranks of the working poor.” Her Twitter feed read like a negative campaign being waged to stop actresses signing labor contracts.

The Japan Times also criticized Kawana for being self-serving in her analysis of the industry.

The breach-of-contract penalty that many gyōmu itaku (outsourcing) contracts contain is also illegal in a labor contract (under Article 16 of the Labor Standards Law). Kawana tweeted: “I think choosing protection of actors under labor law is a bad move. Porn actresses under the current outsourcing contracts have the right to accept or refuse to act in any particular film, and the production company cannot give orders. So coercion is unlikely. But with an employment contract (koyō keiyaku), the production company can give work orders, so the actress cannot refuse to act in a film.”

….

Kawana is disseminating online will mislead many porn actresses into thinking that labor law would deprive them of their liberty.

But why is a porn heavyweight like Kawana spending precious waking hours at the keyboard blasting away at labor law? Because although she was an actress, today she is management.

To this extent, it’s not clear how much Kawana’s organization is in alignment with the work of existing rights groups — or whether it is in fact more like a counter-group set up to challenge the others.

Ami Tomite becomes the latest former AKB48 idol to strip off and show us her nude body.

Granted, the pictures are “censored” for weekly tabloid publication but these are essentially verging on hair nude territory.

Tomite joined AKB48 in 2009 but left while still a “research student” to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. Since then she has become a minor gravure idol, though now can capitalize on the notoriety of being yet another ex-AKB girl who has stripped off.

Other than briefly joining another music group, Ami’s career has mostly been playing bit parts in a bunch of movies. But, hey, she’s only 22. The world is her oyster!

Maybe it’s just us, but Ami’s pout reminds us a little of the lovely Mugi Kadowaki. What do you think?

Ahead of the release in July of her new photo book, a preview image of Minami Minegishi has come out showing the slinky idol doing the classic semi-nude “hand bra” (tebura) pose.

While pretty tame considering what some AKB48 graduates get up to, this kind of photo shoot has become something of a rite of passage for AKB48 idols.

Haruna Kojima did it, covering her gorgeous pale flesh with her tiny hands. Likewise, Atsuko Maeda has done a tebura and so did Yuko Oshima in a Mika Ninagawa shoot.

Most notoriously, Tomomi Kasai’s tebura was so controversial it led Kodansha to cancel the release of her photo book.

Though once most famous for having sex and shaving her head in penitence, the 23-year-old Minami Minegishi has recently generated headlines for her overweight-to-muscular advertising campaign.

One thing seems sure: though Rino Sashihara may have won the AKB48 “election” this weekend for the second time running, the AKB paymasters are determined to push Minegishi as the new big idol.

Remember Yasumasa Yonehara? Big a few years ago, he’s the bald Japanese photographer with the habit of taking slutty pictures of slutty girls in hotel rooms.

He’s one of those people who just proves that if you are cocky enough and say you are a photographer, you can get almost any woman to pose for you.

Perhaps that’s why half the male foreigners we seem to meet in Japan claim to be photographers (the other half claim to be DJs).

Yonehara has now turned his attention to swimwear. After all, it is summer.

We have no idea what purpose this new project is meant to serve, but we like the boobies and butts on display.

He “directed” this video of gravure idol Airi Shimizu running on a treadmill with inevitably bouncy results.

Other “running girls” to come apparently include Mai Tsukamoto, Yuki Osaki, Una, Hanami Natsume.

In the past he has also shot gravure idols Anna Konno and Mai Sasaki, which makes him one hell of a lucky man indeed.

To the victor, the spoils!

The Japanese cosplay world was in shock on June 29th when one of the most up-and-coming cosplayers, Nekomu Otogi, announced her surprise marriage at the age of just 20.

Not only that, her new husband is a mangaka. And 31 years her senior! Yes, Kosuke Fujishima is one lucky, lucky guy.

Oh, and she’s pregnant. Yes, this is the classic dekichatta kekkon, or shotgun wedding. Don’t worry, Nekomu, you are in fine company — everyone from Meisa Kuroki to Eriko Satoh.

But seriously, is this even legal? Apparently Fujishima, best known as the creator of Oh My Goddess!, took notice of Otogi two years ago… and made his move. How’s that for a squirm-inducing thought?

Talk about throwing away your career just as it is getting started?! Can she continue to be a scantily clad cosplayer after she’s become a mother? And can a relationship even last with such an age gap. There are so many questions about this development. Well, one thing’s for sure. Nekomu Otogi and her J-cup breasts are about to get bigger.

What’s better than one gravure idol? Fifty gravure idols!

In June, Weekly Playboy brought together fifty of Japan’s top scantily clad bikini models for what must surely be the photo shoot of the year.

How many do you recognise? Many of the hottest gravure ladies are present and correct, including Yuka Kuramochi, Nanoka, Saya Kataoka, Saki Suzuki, Hikaru Aoyama, Hitomi Yasueda, Miko Terada, Aya Hazuki, Rin Tachibana, Yuka Someya, Iroha Yanagi, Ayuka Terada, Ikumi Hisamatsu, Rina Toeda, Fumina Suzuki, and more.

We’ve included a sampling of the resulting shoot. You can really see the range of bodies there, from the slinky to the voluptuous, the busty and big-butted to the slender and cute.

Watch the behind-the-scenes footage, and spot how early on the ladies give Yuka Kuramochi’s butt a nice slap.

Among notable absences, there was no Ren Ishikawa, but she’s a lady increasingly in demand these days.

The choice of number isn’t random. It’s a celebration of fifty years of the magazine’s life in Japan.

Sometimes it can be hard to hold back. You see a hot girl in close proximity and you may have to force yourself not to try to grope her. Being under the influence of alcohol doesn’t help either.

What if this was a sultry gravure model?!

But it it’s okay if it’s a professional, right? This “bust booster” expert has helped 30,000 women increase their bust size by massage techniques. She demonstrated this on Japanese television with gravure model Anna Konno, whose breasts are already more than impressive.

In other words, Anna Konno had her F-cup breasts groped on TV for the benefit of the viewing nation.

We love the fact that the expert is this old woman, who gets to travel the country putting her hands on women’s breasts.

Here’s a before and after: can you tell the difference? Has Anna Konno’s not inconsiderable bust improved?

Personally we prefer breast groping on Japanese TV when it’s done for charity and with already men and porn stars.

Japanese porn star Nozomi Aso has been arrested on drug charges, according to the July 21st Shukan Jitsuwa weekly tabloid that went on sale today.

The 27-year-old AV star is a graduate of Senshu University and made her debut in 2012. She left Soft on Demand in 2014 and then joined MAXING. Since then she has switched again to chacha promotion. She appeared in many releases in 2015 and 2016. One of her films from December last year was aptly called “Fucking Machine Sex Nozomi Aso”. As well as enjoying commercial success in Japan, the slender actress with a G-cup is also popular in China. She appeared in the Hong Kong film Naked Ambition 2, released in 2014.

According to the Shukan Jitsuwa, she was arrested when drugs were confiscated from her apartment last month. Why police searched her apartment is currently unknown. Perhaps they got a tip-off, but then who had Nozomi Aso annoyed to justify such a targeting?

On her official Twitter feed, the last post is from June 19th.

As we know, drugs are rife in both the mainstream entertainment world, as the recent arrest of Noboru Takachi showed, as well as the gravure and music idol scene. Needless to say, hostesses and AV stars are also often users of recreational drugs, not surprisingly given that their lifestyles are so closely linked to organized crime.

Previously Minako Komukai was arrested on drug charges, and then became a stripper and porn star. However, we cannot think of a recent porn star of Nozomi Aso’s fame who was ever arrested for drugs, making this a not inconsiderable scandal. The mainstream porn world is bound by the rules of the market and is controlled by several large companies and studios like Soft on Demand, much like the regular entertainment agencies. While there is a lot of dubious activities that go on behind the scenes, including coercion and trafficking, on the surface the industry operates like any other respectable one.