Chinatsu Wakatsuki has made a surprise gravure comeback with a cover shoot for the current issue of Weekly Young Jump.
Chinatsu Wakatsuki was one of the biggest female celebrities of the 2000s, known for her cute butt that she frequently showed off.
She is now 40 and married with two children, having had a shotgun wedding in 2012. She remains a fairly common face on TV.
Wakatsuki has rewarded her fans with this return to gravure, apparently her first such shoot for a gravure magazine in 19 years. (It might be mere coincidence that she left her management agency of 23 years back in August.) She started off in gravure in the early 2000s but quickly transitioned into fashion modeling and general tarento-dom.
This very unexpected return recalls the trend in 2023 and 2024 for gravure comebacks and older female celebrities reminding us how attractive they are. Past examples include 37-year-old Rei Toda, Rina Aizawa’s first photo book in 12 years, Rina Koike, Kyoko Fukada, and perhaps most prominently, two of the biggest actresses in Japan (both in their late thirties), Aya Ueto and Haruka Ayase.
But like the Ueto and Ayase shoots, Wakatsuki’s comeback seems quite tame (and to be honest, based on the previews we have seen so far, a bit of a letdown). As 39-year-old Maki Goto is currently showing with her new nude photo book, you can still do really provocative shoots even after you are past what the media and gravure industry deems your prime.
Which other 1990s or 2000s celebrities and gravure idols would you like to see make a comeback?
