Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

Film

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Japanese justice?

Last week saw a married couple from Fukui Prefecture in western Japan detained for public indecency; their saucy website falling foul of the censors as it contained footage of 38-year-old Fumio Hisano and his 32-year-old wife Reiko indulging in rather rigorous marital relations.

Called Aya’s Room, the enterprise was certainly more than a mere hobby, as due to membership fees the pair had netted over 200 million yen (840,000 pound) since the site’s inception over 7 years ago. Yet in the land where practically every family focused video shop has a lot more to offer than Disney and Doraemon.

Japanese video shop

As well as vending machines that contain stuff a little stronger than cigarettes and 7 Up.

Japanese DVD vending machine

The Japanese censorship system could well be seen as somewhat sanctimonious.

And then some.

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Pants performance

Thousands of Japanese swimsuit aficionados have dipped their hands into their pockets this week due to the release of Asuka Ruike’s new DVD — a tastefully shot enterprise showing the 21-year-old donning beachwear from around the globe.

an asuka ruike DVD

Yet the decidedly less than lardy young lady is apparently a member of the ‘tarudoru’ faction of female flesh flaunters, an expression used to describe those purported to have a rather plumper figure than the norm.

asuka ruike

A term that despite her success, Ruike-san now appears keen to shed — as she is said to be on a diet. A regime that regrettably could lead to some unwelcome results, with the currently shapely star rather alarmingly claiming, “I want to get thin enough to lose all the pounds in my pants.”

asuka ruike

To regularly follow Ruike emptying her undergarments, clicking here will take you directly to her blog.

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Star style

With only the countless re-issues of the completed Star Wars series to occupy him these days, George Lucas has taken the decidedly unorthodox step of opening a chain of Japanese barber shops.

Each outlet is said to offer a specialist ‘star style’, with this particular one tempting bearded businessman with the ‘Lucas look’.

jedi shop

(click image for enhanced edition)

*Huge thanks to Richard for the photo.

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Monkey (not so) magic

“The biggest reason it failed was because of a lack of promotion. That, and it was a bit grotesque, with scenes featuring humans being devoured by dinosaurs and giant bugs.”

Movie critic Mutsuo Sato attempting to explain why King Kong hasn’t been an especially big hit in Japan.

Considering that the country is home to the likes of Godzilla and tentacle porn, Sato-san’s latter point is perhaps a little suspect. However as far as promotion — or indeed the lack of it — goes, he appears to be spot on.

‘Low-key’ and ‘on the cheap’ being polite criticism for some of the advertising efforts on show.

king kong japan

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Maid in Japan

Whilst the latest Harry Potter movie is currently pulling in millions at the box office, the biggest sleeper hit of the winter could well be ‘Popular Maids’.

maid japan

It’s a heart-warming tale set in a small Tokyo cafe, and with a heady mix of tea and titillation, it will surely go down well with film lovers all over the world.

Perhaps.