Nana Seino may only be 21 years old but what an impact she has made on Japanese cinema already.
She starred in Tokyo Tribe when she was just 20, playing a feisty, ass-kicking lady who’s not afraid to get nude for her art.
There are some nice glimpses of her panties, plus plenty of shots of her petite bust.
We like the scene where a guy spunks all over her naked chest.
The film also stars Yui Ichikawa and Kokone Sasaki.
We know there are plenty of “sex chairs” out there with thrusting dildos to pleasure the woman as she sits on a throne of orgasms.
But what about a “wearable” version of this?
That’s the basic idea behind Nippori Gift’s Love Partner Piston Dildo Harness, a sex machine you wear around your legs. You or your partner then gets to control the fun with a remote.
It is powered by AC adapter, so while it isn’t mobile it is smoothly powered and with nine levels of oomph.
There are also two types of dildo so you can vary the length and girth of what is pleasuring you.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back out on the streets of Shibuya, another gaijin “pick-up artist” comes along promising to enlighten the world on his nampa technique
Julien Blanc was scared off his tour of Japan but now David Bond has become the target of angry netizens in Japan (both Japanese-born and Japanese-residing) who object to his attitudes towards Asian women and his tactics (and probably his successful pick-up rate too).
Bond is the author of the A Complete Idiot’s Guide To Getting Laid In Japan, which charges $67 for access to the secrets to unlocking your bedroom career.
Here’s how it sell itself:
Did you know there’s 2 things most girls in the west LOVE that Japanese girls HATE?
Did you know there’s 4 questions ALL Japanese girls ask foreigners, and if you answer them WRONG she will COMPLETELY stop responding to you?
Did you know there’s a way to invite a Japanese girl home where she will NEVER say NO, and a way she will NEVER say YES to?
In this guide, we go deep deep deep into the topics below
How to answer the “4 QUESTIONS” Japanese girls always ask foreigners
Understanding the “stereotype” of a foreigner
What cultural differences in east will DESTROY your chances of getting her interested if you don’t know them
How to invite a girl home in a way she CAN’T say no to
Did you know there’s 2 things most girls in the west LOVE that Japanese girls HATE?
Did you know there’s 4 questions ALL Japanese girls ask foreigners, and if you answer them WRONG she will COMPLETELY stop responding to you?
Did you know there’s a way to invite a Japanese girl home where she will NEVER say NO, and a way she will NEVER say YES to?
In this guide, we go deep deep deep into the topics below
How to answer the “4 QUESTIONS” Japanese girls always ask foreigners
Understanding the “stereotype” of a foreigner
What cultural differences in east will DESTROY your chances of getting her interested if you don’t know them
How to invite a girl home in a way she CAN’T say no to
See for yourself.
Of course, Bond is not just keen on Japanese girls. He also devotes his undoubtable energies to picking up Korean, Chinese and Hong Kong ladies too.
Well, for sure, Bond has a cool name and his marketing prowess is unquestionable.
The truth is that everyone gets angry about these western “pick-up artists”, who promote their handiwork and try to make money out of it. But aren’t they just like hundreds of foreigners in Japan?
There are already an incredibly large number of sleazy (mostly white) foreign guys out there, juggling multiple sex friends, hunting for one-night stands while their long-time girlfriend waits at home, flirting with whoever comes along…
For obvious reasons, we never get moralistic about this kind of thing — if we had Bond’s looks and confidence, we would probably do the same thing — but do we really need any more “artists” in this crowded boat?
Like most places, older politicians in Japan are no strangers to sex scandals: from gay prostitutes to forcing young sportsmen to kiss them or even putting bondage club visits on the expense books.
And it’s not just the politicos. The bureaucrats are at it too.
In 1998 seven senior civil servants in the Ministry of Finance were arrested and charged with corruption. They had received favors from figures in the finance world, such as trips to a “no-panties shabu shabu” establishment in Tokyo’s Kabukicho.
Japan’s anti-prostitution laws — paying for penetration is officially illegal — means you get a whole wave of inventive sex services and kinky types of sex club.
Similar to the no-pan kissa (“no panties coffee shop), this is the uniquely Japanese type of fuzoku where patrons enjoy a meal of shabu-shabu served by waitresses wearing no panties. The floor is often mirrored.
From their height of 200 no-pan kissa in Osaka and Tokyo in the 1980’s, they are now a rare thing.
The MOF scandal led to a wave of resignations and even suicides.
We were reminded of this recently because one of the former MOF bureaucrats who had to resign due to bribery, Yoshio Nakajima, was back in the news recently. Nakajima is often named as part of the shabu-shabu scandal but actual his own misdeeds were probably separate. He was dismissed in 1995 but the no-panties scandals emerged in 1997-8.
Of course, this is Japan. Top civil servants never face real consequences for their actions and Nakajima went straight into very well-paying corporate jobs (amanokudari, as it is known).
But he was recently dismissed as president of Sailor Pen Co. by an unanimous board decision for “failing to devote his efforts to work”. Perhaps he was paying visits to certain types of establishment?
Merry Christmas to all our readers.
Let’s celebrate with some Japanese Christmasy babes!
It’s that time of the year again: time to look back over the past twelve months and all the news we have covered.
The first thing is an internal one: we relaunched Tokyo Kinky in a new blog template. While the top page hasn’t changed much, we hope you like the improved functionality and look of our site.
Idols of the Year
Who were our top ladies of the year?
This slinky princess burst into our life and has been dominating Gravure over 2015.
Runners-up: Ayaka Noda, Ayuka Terada, Hitomi Yasueda, Anna Tamechika, Yuka Someya, the two Yanagi sisters (Iroha Yanagi, Yurina Yanagi), Ikumi Hisamatsu, Fumika Baba, Yuno Akuzawa
Coming of Age
Saaya stripped off for some ravishing shots of her naked body.
The actress Yui Ichikawa went nude for Anan last year and in 2015 did Weekly Playboy, nude scenes in a movie, and got married.
Morning Musume’s Koharu Kusumi did some stunning lingerie shots. Okay, this was in 2014 but we still love her!
Best Sex Scene
Not so many headline-grabbing Japanese ones but plenty of amazing Korean sex scenes this year.
Porn Event of the Year
This is an easy one: former SKE48 idol Momona Kito joined several of her past AKB and sister group colleagues in starting a porn career. She debuted as Yua Mikami. While only intended as a one-off, it was such a hit that Momona has now embarked on a full AV career. Good luck to her!
Celebrity Scoops and Scandals of the Year
The media is currently chattering about whether Jessica Michibata’s marriage to Jenson Button is already over, just a year after they tied the knot.
Otherwise, sexy MILF Risa Hirako announced she was getting divorced, and Kiko Mizuhara was snapped on a date with actor Shuhei Nomura following her break-up with G-Dragon.
The tabloid scoop of the year was probably this picture, though an esoteric one to foreign eyes.
46-year-old married jockey Yutaka Take was snapped on a date in Roppongi with 31-year-old TV presenter Ryoko Mima.
Sex Scandal of the Year
SKE48 idol Nozomi Tsuji was hit by a leaked sex photo scandal.
Fellow idol (this time Keyakizaka46) Mayu Harada was also caught kissing her former teacher — and promptly fired.
And it’s not just the idols. As always, the management is also up to no good. AKB48 manager Takashi Nodera was arrested for filming idols while they got changed.
Other Scandals
Drugs remain a massive taboo for Japan’s celebrities, despite being very common in the entertainment world (along with sleeping with people to get ahead, plastic surgery and Yakuza connections — but no one talks about this).
Gravure idol Ai Takabe was arrested for cocaine possession, spelling the end to her career.
Former idol-turned-stripper/porn star Minako Komukai also continued to have trouble with drugs.
Event of the Year
The Shunga exhibition in Tokyo broke censorship taboos, while Halloween was probably the biggest cosplay festa in central Tokyo ever. Oh, and a Japanese porn actor, Shimiken, opened a “poo curry” restaurant (and then announced it was closing too).
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Tenga also ran a massive campaign: a huge bonanza of events and promos.
Crime Story of the Year
The fetish or kinky crime of the year has to be the return of the storm drain pervert and the wincing yet cautionary tale of the man who got his penis cut off by an angry cuckold — and then flushed down the toilet!
Also, a former Yokohama school principal claimed to have had sex with 12,000 prostitutes over the course of 65 trips to Manila!
There has been a recent contender for the crime of the year, though, as a fairly well-known comedian, Kenichi Takahashi, has seen his 20-year career of stealing schoolgirls’ clothes exposed.
Sad news of the year:
In 2015 we mourned the loss of Naomi Kawashima.
We’ll continue to blog over the year-end holidays but, for now, thanks to all our readers for following our stories in 2015!
What do you do when you graduate from the porn world? Become a singer like Yuma Asami? Perhaps. Become a mangaka like Nayuka Mine? Perhaps. Or you can become an artist!
Japanese porn star turned photographer Saki Otsuka showcases her lensing work in Mitsubai Room, a monthly photography magazine.
Otsuka has been gradually building a post-porn career in photography that is sensibly informed by her expertise. Her work is sexually explicit but dark and jagged, more Daido Moriyama than Kishin Shinoyama or Yasumasa Yonehara.
This is taken from her Hotel B series (she wants models, by the way — apply if you are interested).
The models are named only as “Ayumi and Jun” (it’s not clear if they are really having sex), and the place just as “Tokyo”.
25-year-old Korean cutie Shin Se-kyung stripped down to show off her nice butt in the movie Tazza: The Hidden Card, last year’s sequel to the box-office hit Tazza: The High Rollers (which also featured a great scene with the ravishing, slightly older Kim Hye-soo, aka Kim Hye-su, and her awesome butt).
She strips off during a gambling session. Man, that’s a nice way to slide off your panties.
Back in the spring we blogged about the awesome Ryoujoku Stockings.
There is a whole subgenre of “shame” porn in Japan, many of which revolve around settings where a woman is held captive as a “public toilet” facility. Tied up, she is treated like a public latrine for a series of men to come along and dump their loads onto and into her body.
Koshu benjo — or “public lavatory” — is a slang Japanese word used to insult a woman. (Sometimes also called a niku benki, or meat/flesh toilet.)
The women’s bodies are also “decorated” in writing, especially on their legs, saying they are a “slut” and so on.
There are different words for this kind of shame porn but one is ryoujoku (or ryohjoku), which means to rape or insult.
Unfortunately, these are now sold out.
But that doesn’t mean your fantasies have to end. Tama Toys have created the Human Toilet Shame Ryoujoku Stockings, which is just as good — if not better!
Not only do you have Japanese graffiti on your legs saying what a slut and “human toilet” you are, there is also a handy hole in the crotch so you can be humiliated while also being penetrated. What more could a gal want in life?
While designed with girls in mind, there’s nothing to stop men wearing the stockings or even dolls.
Set for release on February 1st, 2016, “Climax x No.4″ is the third Japanese porn release by former SKE48 idol Momona Kito.
Originally she appeared in a one-off film, “Princess Peach”, by AV label Muteki in 2015 under the new name Yua Mikami, which became the most sensational debut of the year.
It was such a hit they managed to persuade her to do more.
Here are some of the first pictures.
A second film, “Kaikan” (Ecstasy), is released on New Year’s day.
It seems that Japanese AV actress Mei Matsumoto isn’t content with all the cocks she has during her day job. She also wants some in her private life.
Specifically, if a tweet is to be believed, she seems to want some interracial action.
She appears to be dating Philip Minoru Kimura, a K1 kickboxer born in 1993 in Brazil.
Judging by his name and looks, he has some Japanese blood in him. We wonder if it’s his physique or Latin charm that Mei digs. Hey, we can kick butt too!
Playboy has made a video offering a “rare glimpse” into what they call a “vintage love hotel”. Well, Hotel Fukui in the Kyobashi district of Osaka, a business district with a bevy of love hotels behind the station, is actually more like a themed love hotel than a vintage one (initially we were expecting something more like the Hotel Okura).
True “vintage” love hotels, as we know, are fairly basic affairs, with nice amenities but a straightforward decor. The gaudy or wacky themes came more recently in the 1970s.
Popular Japanese consensus says that by the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, these few remaining vintage love hotels will be leveled for modern conveniences associated for the Olympics and tourism. Hotels left behind will be given a contemporary overhaul to be indistinguishable from mainstream hotels. Playboy gets a rare look inside the beautifully seductive Hotel Fuki in Osaka before the mirrors on its ceiling are one day inevitably removed.
We’re not sure about the accuracy of that, since the Olympics are not located in areas where there are lots of love hotels (hell, the Hotel Fukui isn’t even in Tokyo but in Osaka) and famously the most crazily themed hotels are often in the countryside anyway.
Playboy also interview Rik Sanchez, an Osaka-based photographer who covers a lot of the fetish scene and love hotels. We remember him from our own days in Kansai. The awesome photo above is one of his.
Quibbles with wording aside, it’s a cool video. Enjoy.
Last year there was a lot of hype about The Treacherous (Ganshin or Gansin in Korean) before it came out, promising more historical nudity and costume-drama sex scenes.
Well, for once it lived up to the hype, joining other Korean historical erotic dramas like Lost Flower: Eo Woo Dong, Untold Scandal, A Frozen Flower, The Servant, and The Concubine in providing plenty of graphic sex scenes and hot ladies.
We have previously seen Lim Ji-yeon naked before in the sweaty Obsessed, as well as Lee Yoo-young in Late Spring.
Lee Yoo-young, Lim Ji-yeon and Cha Ji-yeon show a lot of flesh, including an acrobatic threesome scene between three ladies as well a second very graphic lesbian scene between Lee Yoo-Young and Lim Ji-Yeon (check out the cunnilingus shots, very nice).
Cha Ji-yeon gets screwed in almost every which way imaginable. Plus we get to see a calligraphy brush reinvented as a naked woman.
There is full-frontal nudity too, which is unusual. While Korean mainstream cinema has a lot more sex scenes and nudity than its Japanese counterpart — plus a healthy soft-core B-movie industry — it is rare to see bush. Genitals are often digitally blurred out. Actual porn, though, is illegal in South Korea and hard to access (online you get redirected to a government warning site if you try to visit certain websites or view certain images), and gay and lesbian websites are also censored. Similar to Japan, South Korea is a strange contradictory mess, though unlike Japan this is probably the influence of the Christian church and leftovers from the military dictatorship period.
If you want to see gifs, head over to Batty For Nudity. Video links are floating around online too.
It doesn’t matter how cold it is.
When there’s an opportunity for cosplay, the young girls in Shibuya don’t miss out.
And so Christmas 2015 was a fun one in Tokyo, with plenty of cute ladies skimpily dressed up in red and white costumes on the streets of Japan’s capital.
Christmas in Japan is defined by the biggest date night of the year on Christmas Eve (just try getting a love hotel room!) and then consuming strawberry cake and fried chicken on December 25th itself. The Christian holiday has also gradually become a festival of dressing up and hanging around the city looking hot.
As captured by KAI-YOU, here are some highlights of the girls. At least a couple of them were even offering free hugs in Hachiko for the willing. We imagine they had more than their share of takers.
This is a working list of idols from AKB48 or sister groups like SKE48 who have graduated onto second careers in nude modeling and/or AV.
There are rumored to be others but these are what we know of. Share if there are others!
Momona Kito
The most high-profile recent graduate into the porn industry, Momona Kito starred in an ostensibly one-off porn release by Muteki as Yua Mikami. It was such a hit, she has since decided to do more and make a whole career of it.
Rina Nakanishi
Rina Nakanishi was the pioneer, laying the ground for the other idols who have followed in her wake (or at least those who have made it public knowledge). She made her porn debut in 2010 as Riko (or Rico) Yamaguchi.
Risa Naruse
Risa Naruse was one of the early AKB48 idols to start a new career in porn and nude modeling. She chose the name Haruna Aisaka for her new life.
Eri Takamatsu
Like her predecessor Rina Nakanishi, former AKB48 idol Eri Takamatsu not only became a porn star but also spilled the beans to the tabloids about the truth of the idol and entertainment industry — that the idols may well be banned from having boyfriends but certainly do have sex (often against their will) with the older men who call the shots in the business. Takamatsu made her debut as Risa Tachibana in 2013.
Machiko Tezuka
Former SDN48 idol Machiko Tezuka has changed her name quite a few times but the important thing is that she has stripped down for some hair nude (full-frontal) shoots showing off her ravishing body.
Rumi Yonezawa
Former AKB48 idol Rumi Yonezawa has stripped nude since leaving her illustrious days in the group behind, and made her porn debut as Rika Shirota.
Minako Komukai (bonus entry)
Not an AKB48 idol but an interesting example of a post-Gravure career. The seriously busty Minako Komukai broke taboos by telling the world what the world of Gravure and music idols is really all about: sex. If you run the agencies, you can sleep with any hottie you pretty much want. She then started a new career as a stripper, and starred in soft-core porn (the third entry in the Flower and Snake series) and fully fledged AV (selling 200,000 DVDs of her first release).
And then she suddenly found herself in trouble with the police over drugs, which has resulted in jail time. Of course, we are sure it is only a coincidence that she got arrested after she became a whistleblower (sure, there are no drugs among the mainstream idols and entertainment stars, right?).
The Japan Times has published an interesting article about Pilcon, a safe sex organization started by a young Japanese woman.
“Asuka Someya discovered she was pregnant at the age of 20 when she was a university student.”
This proved the fuel for her later founding of Pilcon in 2013. Now every two months it holds workshops and talks to make up for the shortcomings of sex education (or lack there of) in Japanese schools and families.
It has also produced YouTube videos about safe sex, such as this one which has been viewed 1.5 million times since late 2012.
It contains the quite awesome Jinglish: “The Skill using a Skin saves Life.”
It is not so surprising that Japanese women are forced to lead the safe sex education push, since the guys just ain’t interested. Given the rate of shotgun weddings in Japan and among celebrities, it’s no secret just how foolish local men are when it comes to either contraception or pulling out in time.
Saying that, the Japan Times article does include the curious pithy statement that “sexuality is a Japanese cultural taboo”. Err… according to who? Have you ever looked at Japanese history?! The islands were created out of sex between (siblings) Izanagi and Izanami!
The article also highlights how condom-maker Okamoto also aired its first TV commercial in a decade in December with Yoshimi Tokui (you may remember him from being the host of the “handjob game show”).
In general, Japan’s condom-makers are a creative bunch when it comes to marketing and developing products in efforts to encourage the famously helmet-free men of Japan to reach for a sheath.
For example, this has led to a Durex horror movie-style TV ad, “condom day” in Japan, and a condom cookbook.
Sagami and Okamoto have even made the thinnest condoms in the world, at a mere 0.01mm! Is there any excuse for not wearing something so thin?!
In Japan, the birth control pill and morning-after pill are hard to get compared to other countries.
1 in 5 pregnancies in japan is aborted; 190,000 in 2013 alone. 80% of woman getting abortions are in their twenties or thirties.
Moreover, the lack of contraception usage has led to a spike in STDs, especially in syphilis cases among women. There were also nearly 12,000 men and over 13,000 women infected last year with chlamydia.
Can Asuka Someya and her colleagues change this?
Rena Masuyama (増山麗奈). Writer, artist, journalist, painter, film director, left-wing activist and all-round wacky woman.
She was part of Momoiro Guerrilla, a performance group that did a “torture talk show” at Fuchu Art Museum in 2004, where she had a vibrator stuck up her pussy while she talked about the tragedy of war.
Born in 1976, Masuyama performed body painting where she squirted milk from her lactating breasts over a live audience.
She made many examples of provocative “breast milk” art, often clad in the kind of gear that the Hooters girls wear to work.
And now she has been selected to stand as a candidate for the Social Democratic Party (the former socialist party) in the Upper House election in 2016
Needless to say, this has shocked some online commentators and people in the mainstream political arena, though we can’t imagine a woman we’d rather have standing for a seat representing Tokyo.
While Japanese politicians is so gray and corrupt, it sends most people to sleep, there are some delights among the younger woman entering the arena.
Sexy politico Mieko Tanaka also caused minor scandal for her adultery as well as her colorful previous career as an actress, during which she performed nude scenes.
At least two politicians are former gravure pin-ups.
The prominent Renho (who is also not Japanese-born, so doubly impressive) from the DPJ and Ayaka Shiomura, who was infamously jeered in the Tokyo Assembly by male colleagues.
Another example is Rie Saito, the deaf former hostess who turned politician.
And then there are lawmakers who turn to gravure to boost their careers.
Sayuri Uenishi was already making some waves as a politicians, not least for her looks and habit of falling out with her party leader.
But then she released a risque photo-book and practically turned herself into a pin-up model. One thing’s for sure, she certainly has the pout for it.
Asuka Tachikawa actually released a semi-nude photo-book, though she had the good sense to quit politics first.
The Hachinohe politician Yuri Fujikawa ironically shares a name with a porn star, and perhaps she took this as inspiration for her career when she released a soft-core DVD in 2008.
Still, at least these ladies didn’t pose naked on their election poster like one male candidate once did.
You got pleasure in your hands and a world of fantasy behind your eyes. But sometimes you need more.
Sure, the onahole may be awesome, complete with kinky moe illustration on the packaging.
Yet we crave stimulation of our other senses too, and sometimes just clicking on some porn won’t do it for you — especially because there may be a disconnect between what you watch and you hold.
So Japan’s adult toy makers have been developing sex toys that come with their own audio experience integrated into the design of the toy.
We’ve seen these types of releases for a couple of years now. Perhaps the first ones we spotted were the Pop Life series, which are masturbators with their own “voice kit” sound gadget.
There were others, such as Koe de Ochigoto Moe Voice Onahole, which included a sex voice CD with an onahole.
But there has been a flurry of late and it seems to be building into a real trend.
The Sei Yariman Gakuen Enkou Nikki Schoolgirl Onahole is based on the eponymous on Orcsoft doujin game and OAV anime, and includes a 73-minute “sex voice” CD.
This now seems be the format: a super erotic picture on the packaging and a set of onahole and CD (containing sex voices, often by a really good voice actress), often based on an eroge or doujin software/game, and with a themed lube as well. KT Factory and Outvision are leading the market.
This is the Aniki no yome-san nara Jukujo Onahole Sex CD Set.
Here is the JK Schoolgirl Osanpo Onahole. The osanpo in the title refers to the euphemism “walking date” that you can take with schoolgirls in areas like Akihabara, though the police have been cracking down on this as a form of prostitution.
More controversial is the Pregnant Sister JK Schoolgirl Onahole, joining the long line of pregnant-themed sex toys and porn in Japan.
More esoteric is the Hypnosis Masturbation Schoolgirl Voice Onahole, which is not based on a specific doujin or other eroge, but instead the idea of “hypnosis masturbation” (saimin onani).
This, says Kanojo Toys, “is a new type of masturbation in Japan, where you are hypnotized to imagine sexual fantasies while pleasuring yourself. On the CD, the schoolgirl will talk to you seductively in Japanese with her cute voice, relaxing you while you enjoy her hole.” Hmm…
Hypnosis is also a common trope in certain fetish porn.
More moaning and groaning about “sexless Japan” in the Japan Times, this time in a piece titled For many young Japanese, marriage — and sex — are low priorities.
It highlights an 18-year-old who “winces whenever he imagines himself dating a girl”.
Stats maketh the truth. The article has a nice survey to back up its theory of under-sexed youngsters: 74.3% of people in their twenties are not in a relationship, compared to 50% in 1996.
Another poll found that 40% of people in their twenties are “not looking for a relationship”. Meanwhile, yet another study by the Japan Family Planning Association says that men in their late twenties with “no interest in” sex or who even “despise” it has risen to 21.6% in 2014, up from 8.3% in 2008. What does this mean?
Apparently it doesn’t even matter if you are in a relationship or marriage, since a same JFPA survey found that 44.6% of married couples in Japan in 2014 are not having sex.
What’s to blame?
The Japan Times suggests it’s a lack of role models on TV and watching too much anime.
“In anime, everything is perfect… I wish my real life were like that,” says the student.
In those rare moments when his libido gets the better of him, Nakamura turns to his smartphone in search of an online porn video for quick masturbation.
“I’m not interested in real-life sex. Just watching those videos is enough.”
Under what rock did they find this “representative” teenager?
Take a trip to Shibuya or a student area like Waseda and you’ll find plenty of exceptions to the “Nakamura Rule”.
They also find, Akira, a wannabe musician waiting for some friends outside Shibuya Station. “I don’t think I would go out of my way to approach girls. I would just wait until the right girl shows up.” Hmm…. sounds pretty normal to us!
Imagine an app that could translate what you say accurately so you can communicate with hot girls from other countries?
Well, there are actually plenty of translation apps out there, not least Siri.
But wearable technology company LogBar claim their device ili is unique because it doesn’t require an online connection, yet can still translate between English, Chinese and Japanese just by speaking into it.
They boast:
ili is the world’s first wearable translator for travelers. Say goodbye to all language barriers.
And they marketed it by showing it in action with a gaijin (British, which makes it creepier) trying to pick up Japanese girls in a quite a cringeworthy promo video.
After announcing “I’m gonna try and kiss girls I’ve never met before using this translation device, ili,” our dauntless host sets off to look for prey in the concrete jungle of Tokyo, and things get creepy in fairly short order.
What is about foreigners in Japan trying to kiss random girls?
The people behind this app are actually Japanese (“LogBar creates global dialogue” — yes, quite) and they thought this video was a good way to show off the technology. Yes, we see all the girls lining up to download it now.
Well, he had some success, it seems, despite kissing in public in Tokyo being almost unheard of except among drunk people or gaijin-hunters.
Maybe he should have just got some tips from the successful pick-up artist David Bond instead? There’s a lot to be said for analogue sleaze too.
That being said, we suspect the street “encounters” are not genuine (the only one that looked real was the hottie in the short skirt hitting him with her handbag and storming off with a “Don’t touch me”) and the video is just a marketing stunt. Even the translations sound too accurate and we doubt he was just spontaneously saying English phrases.
Keep in mind LogBar is the same company behind the much-hyped flop, Ring, so after the fuss dies down this product may not living up to hopes of prospective kissers roaming the streets of Tokyo.
