We still remember when we first laid eyes on the Tenga Flip Hole. “Wait, what? There’s no way my cock is going in that?”

This was the inevitable initial response, which then swiftly changed when penetration was tried and very much enjoyed — and such sex toys became a firm part of our lives thereafter.

So the lesson is that a slightly futuristic or utilitarian design is not to be feared or mocked, and that sometimes these toys are the very best on the market.

We recalled those early masturbation toys days recently when we were confronted by these Q-tai orb toys.

At first glance, they are as discreet as they are obscure. You might be forgiven for imagining they were more like cleaning devices than toys for stimulating your johnson.

But so they are — and very good at it are they, too.

Rendered in memorably Jinglish on the cover as a “quantum – tempt artistic item,” there are two models/versions of the vibrating orb that might evoke that lightsaber training globe in the original Star Wars movie.

The mauve/pink Q-tai Dance is the softer of the two, offering gentler clusters of spikes inside to tickle and stroke your member. The toy is a powered masturbator, so everything buzzes as enjoy your one-on-one dance.

The Q-tai Scrum seems to take its name from rugby, and you will feel like you are engaged in a kind of grip with the tougher, darker inner spikes.

Both versions feature 10 vibration patterns and three types of movement, and employ the same removable twin caps design.

In many ways, what is most impressive about these toys is how simple yet futuristic they are at the same time.

The two Q-tai toys, which are powered by USB, are available now globally from our friends at Kanojo Toys, the top destination for Japanese adult items.

It’s election season, which always brings out the weirdos all competing to be the next governor of Tokyo. On the same day, there are also by-elections in two of Tokyo’s special wards and two other districts to select Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly representatives to make up for assembly members who are standing down for some reason.

So far we have seen one candidate dressed in anime cosplay to promote his campaign. The same candidate, Teruki Goto, once had a poster that featured his half-naked body.

The much-maligned Abenomasks — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s personally launched initiative that was meant to reassure the public during the coronavirus pandemic but has done nothing of the sort — can also function as panties, as alluringly demonstrated by one model.

But how about a bra? Yes, it’s also possible, as gratefully shown by the comely Kana Shindo (しんどうかな, or 新藤加菜).

Who’s she? Well, therein lies the rub. Because the 27-year-old Shindo is standing for election this month, aiming to win a seat in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly to represent Kita ward. She clearly wanted a poster that would ensure she stands her stand out among a crowded field — the by-election in the constituency is being contested by five female candidates — and puts her best assets front and center. Hence the image of her in the poster that fully displays her inventive use of Abenomasks (two masks, to be precise). Basically, that’s the whole poster: Shindo in a DIY bra, showing off plenty of bust.

And her campaign pledge? If she wins, she promises to take off her Abenomask bra!

Beat that for popularism, Governor Koike.

Remarkably, this provocative poster and pledge is legitimate and approved by the body — no pun intended — that oversees elections. This may or may not be because she is using her Abenomasks to express a political message about government competence.

Shindo, a former live streamer known as Princess Yuzuka (ゆづか姫), is endorsed by the new party launched by one-time entrepreneur and now professional gadfly (and occasional political candidate) Takafumi Horie (ake Horiemon). Her main campaign slogan is “Smash coronavirus self-restraint.”

Incidentally, standing alongside the headline-grabbing Kana Shindo is another candidate we have met before: the deaf, former hostess, and single mom Rie Saito.

The people go to the polls this weekend, on July 5. Will Kana still be wearing that bra on July 6?

Female politicians in Japan are much more interesting their male counterparts, especially their pre-politics careers. There is a quite a precedent for gravure models to become politicians, not least Renho. One particularly extreme example was the breast milk performance artist Rena Masuyama, who ultimately failed in her bid to be elected to the House of Councillors in 2016.

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 beauty’s breasts look truly stunning in these shots. Motherhood has accentuated her body and breasts in the way that only hormones can. Unfortunately, there is no bush, so the jury is still out on whether this photo book will be a full “hair nude” one.

Here are the other pictures we have seen so far, which we already shared last week.

Not to be confused with the comedy-action movie starring Bruce Willis, Red, known as Shape of Red in English, came out earlier this year in Japan.

The R15-rated film stars Satoshi Tsumabuki and Kaho. Based on a novel by the award-winning writer Rio Shimamoto, Shape of Red is an erotic story with several appropriately sensual scenes involving the leads. We particularly like the toe-licking scene.

For a film about adultery and whose female director said is showing what women really want, the depiction of the affair is suitably focused on Kaho and not filtered through the male gaze that films with erotic themes typically labor under.

Sorry for the small and poor-quality nature of the images. We hope to get better screen grabs at a later date and do an update here or in a fresh post.

In the meantime, here is the film trailer.

Infections continue to rise in Tokyo as we enter the second wave of the coronavirus in Japan, though numbers remain very modest compared to other countries.

Much of the blame and media attention has focused on hostess and host clubs. We have followed this as part of our monitoring of how the COVID-19 is affecting the adult industry in Japan, where sex workers, gravure idols, strippers, and hostesses are facing a sudden and serious decline in income.

There has also been some name-calling between Ginza and Kabukicho, as the hostess clubs in each district try to claim that they are not the ones responsible for the clusters that are appearing.

In fact, host clubs are proving just as risky as hostess clubs, if not more so. Of the 28 new COVID-19 cases in Yokohama on June 30, 26 infections were traced back to the same host club. Host clubs may actually be riskier because hosts sometimes live together in dorms and their customers are frequently hostesses: a vicious circle of corona.

So, what to do? Just let the industry fade away? There is clearly still demand and, whatever the mainstream media and politicians like to say in public, hostess and host clubs are a part of Japanese culture and society.

Some hostesses have responded by going online or wearing special masks.

Host clubs, too, are trying to engage proactively with the challenge of operating during the new normal of these COVID-19 times. Despite their unsavory reputation, the clubs are working with the Shinjuku government to conduct testing.

This involved the mayor of Shinjuku, Kenichi Yoshizumi, reaching out to a famous host club manager, Maki Tezuka, who met the politician and told him that people in the scene want to cooperate but a deep-rooted distrust of government prevents this.

Everyone was worried that their personal and business names would be made public if they cooperated with the official testing. The last thing they wanted was more demonization. After the mayor assured him that their privacy would be protected, Tezuka was able to persuade many other club managers to take part in the discussions.

“From the very beginning our thoughts aligned on infection prevention. I felt that if we could get rid of that sense of distrust, we could make all kinds of progress.”

A hotline was set up and testing among hosts rose, resulting in an inevitable jump in the numbers of identified virus infections, but the hope is to bring the infections under control rather than shame clubs.

Tezuka and Yoshizumi have now formed a coronavirus prevention liaison committee across Kabukicho, including hostess and hostess clubs, cabaret clubs, bars, and other businesses (presumably sex clubs), to expand testing and protect the industry. It is surely a sign of the strange times we are living through when such unlikely alliances are formed.

“There is now less distance between the government and Kabukicho, and this could become an opportunity to build a new relationship,” say Tezuka.

These digital pages have hosted a previous showcase of a toy inspired by the hentai doujinshi series Mesu Dachi by Z-Ton. Now along comes another.

From the Maga Kore line of manga-related toys by KMP and its Maji Hada (“wow skin”) series of ultra-realistically textured toys, the Maga Kore Maji Hada Mesu Dachi Big Booty Ass Hole is for all you discerning ass guys out there.

This is a seriously hefty pair of buttocks that demand to be squeezed, spanked, and screwed. Needless to say, your hands will have plenty to grab, while her double holes offer both vaginal and anal delights to penetrate.

It’s a flatbed-style hips masturbator toy, so place it down on your bed, table, or other surface and really ram it hard and fast.

KMP are so generous, they even threw in a pair of panties with the toy so you can act out those fantasies of undressing a gorgeous butt or recreate having sex while her panties are still on.

The Maga Kore Maji Hada Mesu Dachi Big Booty Ass Hole is available now globally from our friends at Kanojo Toys. Check out more high-quality images of this luxury onahole of their website.

At a point when the sex industry in Japan is under economic and social pressure — demonized by politicians and the media for spreading the coronavirus, deserted by customers — comes a timely reminder of the “healing” and affective nature of sex work, and its curious status in society.

Recently reviewed in the Japan Times, Gabriele Koch’s book Healing Labor: Japanese Sex Work in the Gendered Economy (2020, Stanford University Press) argues that Japanese sex workers regard their work as necessary to the social and economic well-being of society.

The book is the result of nearly two years of ethnographic fieldwork among sex workers in Japan. “One surprise was how the sex industry is more or less accepted as socially necessary in Japan — and there is a long history to this,” the author told the Japan Times. “But despite this acceptance, sex workers still face a lot of stigma.”

Before he was prime minister, Shinzo Abe once told a TV audience that, “There are people in [the sex] industry who take pride in what they do, and the industry also includes ‘traditional’ Japanese occupations.”

The industry in Japan comprises some 22,000 legal businesses — and of course, many illicit ones, too.

Street solicitation has been criminalized since the early 2000s, and so the industry has shifted to a delivery, escort-based model, in addition to “soapland” sex parlors and other mainstays established after the Prostitution Prevention Law in 1956. One of the currently most popular offerings is deribari herusu (which literally translates to “delivery health”), where a sex worker is dispatched via a website to a private home or hotel.

Perhaps the most striking — and controversial — part of the book is to learn that sex workers connect their jobs to feminine care and male healing (iyashi), which they believe reduce sex crimes and serve to benefit the economy. Based on a pragmatist view of men’s sexual needs and a work culture known to push workers to utter exhaustion, sexual release supposedly helps to replenish male productivity. “Now I’m ready to face anything again,” many customers are quoted as saying.

Koch’s book suggests that the female sex workers are forced into the industry by the lack of other attractive economic choices in a sexist society. In other words, sex work, and its ambivalent toleration by society, is a consequence of Japan’s culture and economy that frequently puts women at a disadvantage.

However, she also argues against an interpretation of the women as only victims, since her interviewees’ own take on their circumstances was more proactive. They are, in a way, making the most of the lucrative opportunities offered by the industry.

While we tend to concern ourselves chiefly on these digital pages with the goings-on of the Japanese female, we are not blind to the charms and amusements of her male counterpart.

Indeed, we take delight in a real gem like this.

Recently discovered and shared in a series of photos on Twitter by Joshua Hunt, the now-defunct street fashion magazine Relax did a spread on “men who love their underwear” inside an issue in 1997.

The article title translates roughly as: “Street Corner Underwear Attack in Harajuku: Guys So Proud of Their Underwear That They Can Show People.”

Ah, the cheeky 1990s. Back when posing in your underwear in the middle of Harajuku was a perfectly acceptable practice.

As Hunt wrote when he posted the images, this “captures a very particular fashion trend with a mixture of joy and seriousness that I’ve rarely encountered elsewhere.”

The profiled Japanese gentlemen are shown with their brightly colored boxers on full display — sometimes jeans pulled down to their knees — and smiling in glee as the camera snaps away at their bizarre appearance. And all in public, folks.

Well, at least they weren’t wearing their briefs on their faces like another Japanese man we know.

We may have to include this as an entry or footnote in our brief history of public streaking in Japan.

Hostess clubs are really suffering in the new normal that is living with the coronavirus.

People are understandably wary of spending prolonged periods inside small bars and clubs running up a hefty drinks tab — even when the company of beautiful women is included. Given the proximity required for the experience, face masks — even ones specifically designed for hostesses — are not likely to reassure moneyed clients.

Host clubs have particularly faced media scrutiny as the cause of several coronavirus infection clusters, though are now working with the Shinjuku government to increase testing.

With hostess clubs, especially the most prestigious and high-end ones in the district of Ginza, there is a small matter of pride to overcome. These women see themselves as modern-day geisha but income at the clubs has completely collapsed while their eye-watering rents still have to be paid if they want to remain in business. The hostesses are basically self-employed rather than not salaried employees. There’s no furlough system for them; the women have zero income if the club is closed or patrons stop visiting.

A “save Ginza” crowdfunding scheme to sell advance tickets to Ginza restaurants has failed to catch on. The campaign was launched by a team that includes Aki Shirasaka, a famous hostess club mama. When sharing information on the project on Twitter, Mulboyne insightfully noted that:

Very little about the Ginza hostess club business plan makes sense in a COVID-19 world. Clubs have a variety of clientele, depending on the mamasan’s network of contacts. Some cater a lot to celebrities. Shirasaka seems to have had a large number of businessmen.

Perhaps one reason Ginza noticed old regulars weren’t showing new customers the ropes is that business practices have changed. Expense accounts pay a lot of bills in Ginza, and not all companies are happy to foot the bills any more.

Also, in many walks of life now, customers have to declare the value of gifts or entertainment. This is to guard against solicitation or bribery. Executives soon lose the habit of going to clubs when their clients can’t go any more, and they can’t get the company to pay.

With coronoavirus limiting business contacts, corporate entertainment has all but ground to a halt. Even when it does restart, you wonder whether firms will want their executives hitting the hostess clubs to the same extent, if at all.

In the same thread, Mulboyne introduced the example of Nanae Karasawa, who has pushed for glitzier type of hostess club that is aimed at self-made men who want a lavish and accessible place to drink, rather than the more discreet club favored by regular business executives on expense accounts.

Karasawa’s club, called simply Nanae, has posted a video showing the sterilization procedure it has undergone ahead of reopening. Apparently the sterilizer on the walls is good for a whole year.

Again, Mulboyne’s observation is sharp: “She says the coating is guaranteed for a year, so I suppose you can lick the wall whenever you fancy. Shame if there’s an infected person talking in your face”

So you have watched Eimi Fukada in action in her many porn releases.

You have had sex with her using her clone pocket pussy toys (not once but twice). Those were awesome, but you proceeded to the next level of quality with her onahole toy based on her vagina just before it orgasms. Her onacup toy and love juices lubricant were suitably impressive, too.

Next you wanted to try her beauty breasts for some paizuri titjob action — and then took things to the max with her deluxe full-body onahole made from 3D scans of her torso.

The prospect of Eimi sucking you off is too great a temptation, so you didn’t hesitate about getting her blowjob mouth clone toy.

But what if you are an ass guy? Now with the Horny JAV Actress Eimi Fukada Ass Onahole, you can enjoy the heavenly delight that is her butt. And by that we mean you can grip her plump butt cheeks while you penetrate her anally or vaginally, thanks to this realistically hefty masturbator toy.

Eimi is a generous gal and gives you a choice with her winding holes, which are superbly recreated in all their textured and tight appeals.

The Horny JAV Actress Eimi Fukada Ass Onahole is available now globally from our friends at Kanojo Toys.

It is fun to watch these industry trends unfold. Eimi Fukada seems to be one of the most popular adult video performers right now in terms of tie-in adult toys. In addition to the “cloned” toys, she also has a whole line of vibrators that she endorses.

Tokyo is experiencing a second wave of coronavirus infections, with upwards of 200+ infections announced per day. Almost all of these, so far, are younger people able to cope with symptoms and the pressure of the city’s health facilities is currently minimal. Let’s hope that this situation does not worsen.

As we have continued to write on these pages, much of the blame for clusters has focused — we think, overly and unfairly so — on the mizu shobai “water trade” world of nighttime entertainment, particularly host and hostess clubs, which have been almost demonized by the mainstream media and government officials.

Some have taken practical approaches, such as coming up with special face veils or even working with Shinjuku officials to increase testing.

And now comes news that the Tokyo government is actually paying host and hostess clubs to close during the pandemic in order to help reduce the risk of infection among patrons and employees.

Since the government cannot legally force closures, it has come up novel means of achieving its goals: social pressure (i.e., naming and shaming pachiko parlors that did not close during the state of emergency in May) or financial incentives.

Initially, the idea of paying mizu shobai businesses subsidiary funds was out of the question, but since 80% of infections announced on Thursday were among people in their twenties and thirties, the government has expanded its support to include nightlife establishments.

Of course, it should be noted that such districts in Shinjuku and Ikebukuro are receiving the bulk of the testing, which inevitably means more young people and visitors to those areas will be identified. It is not the same as proving that only people under 40 have and are spreading the infection.

And we should also keep in mind that hostess clubs, in particular, traditionally attract older, moneyed clients, so the correlation of young people with mizu shobai, rather than just with bars and karaoke places in general, is not fully logical. (For some perspective, baseball and soccer matches are now allowing the public in to watch games, bringing thousands of fans into close proximity each time — as long as they don’t cheer or sing.)

Regardless of the rationale, the result is cash for clubs.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is paying ¥500,000 ($4,670) to nightclubs and similar establishments if they agree to close for 10 days or more.

Individual hosts and hostesses identified as carriers of the coronavirus are receiving ¥100,000 ($934) to stay off work.

Again, this is fostering a vicious circle, of sorts, because hosts and hostesses are now struggling for work, even if their clubs are open, so they are probably quite pleased to come forward for testing and be identified as infected. It is far from the same as meaning that hosts and hostesses are the sole army of secret carriers in Tokyo.

All in all, this is a curious situation and we are intrigued to see if a new relationship between the authorities with mizu shobai, one of the country’s most entrenched and successful, yet somewhat illicit, industries, will emerge after the crisis is over.

A doctor at a Tokyo hospital has been founding guilty of indecent assault by the Tokyo High Court. He is convicted of licking the breast of a female surgery immediately after she had undergone surgery in 2016.

The case is complicated, though, since the 44-year-old doctor was originally found innocent in February 2019. The Tokyo High Court overturned that verdict and handed down a two-year prison sentence instead.

The case hinged on whether or not a patient who had just received general anesthetic could reliably recount incidents straight after surgery. What she saw as the doctor licking her body could, it was argued by the defense, had been a visual hallucination caused by the anesthetic.

Though the DNA of the doctor was found on the woman’s chest, it was asserted that it could not be accurately trusted in this case because of the possibility that spit or sweat had transferred to the woman’s body during the inspection. Certain records of the DNA data were also lost; only the amount of detected DNA, scribbled on a note, was kept.

The thirtysomething female patient was having surgery to remove a tumor in her right breast. She told a friend via LINE that she thought the doctor had assaulted her, and that friend was actually the person who alerted police.

However, her reliability as a witness was called into question during the 2019 trial because she could not recall various other incidents that happened after her surgery. In her testimony, she also said that the doctor licked and sucked her breast for under five minutes. The room where the incident allegedly took place, though, had three other patients in it at the time and the door was open. According to her testimony, the same doctor returned about half an hour later to look at her breasts while masturbating.

Two amazing pairs of buttocks. A Japanese sento bathhouse. Swimwear.

That’s all there is to it, but what a combination they make.

Gravure idol Yumi Asahina is beloved by fans for her large ass and slinky figure — and quite rightly so, as we have long argued on this blog.

She recently posted a tweet sharing an stunning selfie where she posed with fellow gradol Negi Kujo — whose name is a pun but whose hot body is no joke at all — both with their backs to the camera, putting their large hips and buttocks firmly and proudly on display. The swimsuits and coquettish smiles only heighten the effect.

We presume (and hope) this is a behind-the-scenes image from a shoot that will appear in one of the weekly magazines before long. Oh, to have been the intern who got to hang around on this shoot!

We can’t wait to see the glossy results when they duly appear…

What’s the best way to provide sex education for youngsters? At school? Through parents? From their peers? By encouraging them to do research online?

It’s pretty well known that sex ed in schools in Japan is somewhat lacking, and you certainly won’t learn about contraception or consent from Japanese porn or TV shows.

Well, a nonprofit has come up with a solution, of sorts: toilet paper!

The Sowledge (yes, “sow knowledge”) project seeks to teach kids about sex, sexual consent, abuse, and male and female anatomy by printing messages on toilet paper.

So when these young Japanese people are riding the porcelain bus, they will hopefully examine the paper and read the manga-style messages it carries. And presumably there will be nothing figurative about the fact that they then use the same paper to wipe their ass and flush it down the lavatory.

No precise information is given on recommended ages, but the website states that the information and themes aim to replicate the sex education that begins in elementary school in Japan.

In a further sign that hosts and hostesses are skillfully trying to reframe the media narrative that has demonized their trade as hotspots for spreading coronavirus infections in Tokyo, the city’s metropolitan government has released educational videos on COVID-19 that see two hosts and a hostess ask doctors questions.

After host clubs began cooperating with the Shinjuku government to initiate testing for employees and stem the spread in Kabukicho (and the demonization in the media), and the government started handing out cash payments to clubs that agree to close and to individual hosts and hostesses who test positive, now the industry is partnering with the TMG itself for these educational videos.

Infections are now on the rise among the young in Tokyo, and inevitably the clusters are not as simplistic as the government and media originally portrayed. Of course, they are not all just coming from host and hostess clubs, but from a range of scenarios.

These three Q&A-style videos, which are about seven or eight minutes long (and in which both participants appear masked throughout), not only offer basic and practical information for Tokyoites but are also a necessary corrective that hosts and hostesses are (solely) to blame for COVID-19 in Japan.

Unfortunately for most international readers, there are no English subtitles on the videos, though Japanese closed captions are available.

Stunning even with her mask on, the hostess in one of the videos is Hibiki Ichijo (一条響), the director of top Kabukicho club Fourty Five (sic), and a minor celebrity who sometimes appears on television.

Forget the Fantastic Beasts series. Our favorite supernatural franchise of late is the Amazing Beasts series of sex toys.

The Amazing Beasts series is a lineup of dildos inspired by animals and creature characters. If you want to be fucked or to fuck a partner with what looks like a monster’s cock, then this is the series for you.

And we just spotted one of the recent entries that is now available for international delivery.

Made by Daimaoh, a Japanese adult retailer that occasionally ventures into creating its own toys, usually with outlandish results (a dolphin sex doll, anyone?), this Garm Wolf Penis Ejaculating Dildo is as surreal, far-out, and totally awesome as its name suggests.

Not only can you penetrate and stimulate a partner or your own body with this wolf penis, it also comes inside — or outside, if you prefer a bukkake ending. To prepare the effect, you simply connect the dildo to a syringe (not included) full of your choice of liquid (something warm, delicious, and suitably colored is recommended!), and push the plunger at the right moment.

The dildo itself, which is designed in a fearsome red with a black base, is as textured and awesome as you’d expect from a wolf cock.

So get ready to howl with pleasure as it thrusts in and out.

It also has a suction cup, allowing you to attach the toy to a bath or other surface, and there is a choice of three degrees of hardness.

The Garm Wolf Penis Ejaculating Dildo is available now from our friends at Kanojo Toys.

ASMR is one of those things that some people just don’t get. It is, let’s be honest, for a certain type of person or mindset.

But there is ASMR and then there’s ASMR. And then there’s Japanese ASMR.

Which means at times intersecting with some very strange fetishes. But how about an audio-sensory frisson from flatulence?

A dojinshi circle, Inoshikachokan (いのしかちょう館), has released an hour-long audio file of a voice actress farting.

Created by Uribou (うりぼう) and with illustrations by Yamato (Daikon), the seiyu Kotori Hino’s (日乃ことり) novel contribution to the world of auto sensory meridian response is titled “I Want to Listen to the Real Farts of a Dojin Voice Actress!” (同人声優のリアルなオナラを聞いてみたい!).

For your yen, you get five “chapters” (as per another blogger’s neat translation): A Toot to Get Things Started; A Clenched Fart; Farting Inside a Sack; Farting in the Bathtub; and Resisting the Urge to Fart While Masturbating.

We think they missed a trick here. What about those farts that can sneak out while having sex, particularly rigorous doggy-style sex? We have all heard (and maybe even smelled) those ones at some point, right? It’s an occupational hazard.

To achieve the right audio results, Kotori Hino apparently ate a bunch of potatoes before the recording, which was released on July 15.

The audio file is currently available for download from Japanese adult retailer DL Site, priced ¥1,320.

Could the always-reliable Tama Toys step in and make this available for the mass market? And how about capturing the flatulent fragrance of Hino’s farts and releasing it as a smell lubricant or spray?

And that’s before we even start thinking about the ASMR potential for porn stars, whose farts already enjoy a serious following among fans.

Oh, to be single again. But one expert has recently warned of the perils of dating and even kissing in the age of the coronavirus.

While a lot of the attention has focused somewhat disproportionately on hostess and hostess clubs, the coronavirus pandemic has also massively impacted nightclubs, bars, and live music venues. With the nightlife industry on the verge of collapse, this is not just a loss in terms of cool places to go and hang out — it also affects how people date and woo a partner.

If you can’t go to a karaoke booth with your date, where can you get some smooching done in private? If you can’t drink and dance to break down those initial inhibitions, how will you ever get beyond chatting?

Shinya Iwamuro, a urologist and public health advocate, spoke at a press conference this month where he said that even sharing food and plates — a fundamental aspect of any date, especially in Asia — is not recommended while the virus continues to rage. Heck, he proposed that couples speak at right angles to avoid droplet contamination! How’s that for romance?

“As much as possible, kiss only with your partner, and avoid deep kissing,” Dr Iwamuro told the news conference. He described these guidelines as “kiss etiquette.”

So no French kissing, folks, because those tongues might mean you get infected. Oh, and make sure you drink something before you kiss to decrease the other fluids that might be lurking in your mouth.

If you have a partner, you should stick to him or her, and searching and courting a new partner inevitably entails risks not only in terms of close contact with that person, but also in the kinds of places where couples frequent when dating.

Hmm… With risks like this mooted by the experts, who can blame young people if they prefer not to date and kiss, let alone have sex?

We won’t know this for a long time, but could the coronavirus pandemic lead to a fresh surge in virtual dating apps and services? And of course, the requisite mainstream media articles about sexless Japan…

Call us morbid, but we have a strange fascination with the afterlives of gravure idols.

This is a competitive, cruel industry, one where young women are discarded after two or three years. From gracing the covers of the weekly tabloids like Spa! and, if you’re lucky, releasing digital or print photo books, you might descend quickly into obscurity when the editors and people behind the scenes decide to make someone else a star for another brief run.

Given the open secret of the casting couch, it is hardly a giant leap of logic to see why some, if not many, gradols go on to second (or, let’s be honest, have parallel) careers as hostesses, call girls, and even porn stars.

Most notably, there is the case of Shoko Takahashi/Takasaki, whose own ventures into amateur prostitution to supplement her meagre income led to her termination from her agency and, ironically, a bold and successful career in adult video.

But Shoko is the exception that proves the rule, having become more famous and popular after leaving regular gravure. Most do not go on to such illustrious and lucrative further careers.

Most gravure idols do not make much money. Only a handful who have big photo book releases from the major publishers can expect decent salaries from their agencies, and even that may not last long. Instead, they need to start acting or appearing on TV as general tarento to complement their work while they are still young. It’s another open secret that many idols and models are available at sugar daddy and dating clubs, if you have the means to pay for their company.

Or they need to have a plan for another career after they quit or are forced to retire when their agency does not renew their contract. We have detailed a few examples over the years on this blog.

Here’s another one to add to the growing list.

Yuri Shibuya (渋谷ゆり, sometimes 渋谷由里) was once an up-and-coming gradol, having joined the industry in 2012. She suddenly retired in 2015 and vanished for a while.

Where is she now? She has spent those intervening years honing both her language skills (she speaks Japanese, Chinese, and English) and her body. She’s today NESTA-PFT-certified fitness trainer.

Naturally, she’s also a very attractive fitness trainer, a status that she smartly exploits for all its marketing potential through social media: she has over a million followers on Instagram, and a glance at her feed explains why.

Aged 30, she is impressively ripped and, let’s be frank, smokin’ hot.

She demonstrates her workout routine in various YouTube videos on her official channel. Just imagine what that body could do in the sack.

Apparently she’s friends with top gravure star Nanoka (who is the same age) and they go on smoothie dates together. Jesus, fancy seeing this fine lady riding a bike around the streets of Tokyo! That rack is almost criminal.

This is what she looked like back in the days of her gravure career. Quite the upgrade.

Of course, muscular and sporty gradols are nothing new per se, and someone like Reika Saiki already got to this muscles schtick down. Likewise, models and tarento like Aya Asahina and Anne Nakamura are well known for their sporty bodies. Kazusa Okuyama and Yume Hayashi are two more prominent examples of late, spending as much time in the gym as in front of the camera.

Others, like the very flexible Risa Izumi and such athletes, went the opposite direction: a career in sport before tipping into graure.

Perhaps such gradols as baseball talents Ami Inamura and Sario Okada (pictured below) will follow in Yuri Shibuya’s footsteps.

It’s the battle of the universities! Waseda versus Keio: which student is hotter?

We previously wrote about the porn debut of a Waseda University student.

That same student, Mao Watanabe (渡辺まお), has now teamed up with Saiko Yatsuhashi (八ツ橋さい子), a graduated of Keio, for a nude photo shoot that is a clever take on the traditional rivalry between the two colleges, the top private universities in Tokyo. Not only is this a full-frontal “hair nude,” it also has some serious lesbian tones.

Saiko Yatsuhashi is 27 years old and already an experienced JAV performer with multiple credits to her name.

If it’s true that Watanabe is still actually attending Waseda University (or Sodai for short), we would love to know what her fellow students and teachers think — because we are sure she can’t have kept her “part-time job” a secret from the campus. It could make for some awkward preclass corridor banter…