Deuce - We Are One

Gunma gourmands unveil the serendipity sandwich: Natto, coffee jelly and cream
Mainichi Japan
November 30, 2007

Sometimes, the smallest slip-up can give birth to a major hit, as foodstuffs manufacturer Gunma Sando has discovered with its natto (fermented soybean) and coffee jelly sandwiches, according to Spa! (11/27).

Natto are a popular dish in the Kanto region, but the fecal-looking -- and smelling -- soybeans are hardly the most enticing sandwich filler, particularly when mixed with fresh cream and coffee jelly.

But Gunma Sando ground the natto into the smallest viable chunks and countered its awful odor by adding the jelly and cream to create a dish that has tickled the taste buds of consumers across Japan. Fermented soybean, coffee jelly and fresh cream sandwiches are now the biggest selling items at some of the sandwich company's outlets.

The sandwiches contain one part natto, three parts coffee jelly and 10 parts fresh cream, all stuffed between slices of bread strictly cut at a thickness of 1.15 centimeters, a combination Gunma Sando's owner Koji Suzumura tells Spa! gives the sandwich its golden touch.

"We developed the sandwich after the old owner of the company accidentally dropped some fermented soybeans into a bowl of cream one day, decided to have a taste of the concoction and liked what it did for him," Suzumura says. "When we first sold the sandwiches, we had twice as much natto in them as we do now, and they smelled so bad they were almost impossible to eat."

Coming up with the perfect blend took some time.

"Cutting down too much on the natto weakens the positive impact they have on the taste, and thinning the bread by even a single millimeter makes the sandwich into a real mess. Increasing the amount of fresh cream we use wipes out the natto flavor," Suzumura tells Spa! "It took us three years of trial and error before we finally came up with the ideal sandwich. You can't imagine the relief we felt when we finally had the perfect recipe for fermented soybean-coffee jelly-fresh cream sandwiches." (By Ryann Connell)

（Mainichi Japan） November 30, 2007

Latest Akihabara geek fetish? One-eyed virginal maid mummies
Mainichi Daily News
August 23, 2007

Japan's otaku geeks have turned their attention away from eyeglasses and maids to focus on kegadoru -- literally translated as "injured idols," who are scantily clad pretty women wrapped in bandages and wearing eye patches, according to Weekly Playboy (9/3).

"The otaku industry is now focusing on kegadoru rather than the old staples of girls wearing glasses or surgical masks," Takabo, who calls himself an otaku idol researcher, tells Weekly Playboy.

Nonoko, who works at a popular maid cafe in Tokyo's geek sanctuary Akihabara, agrees.

"Girls who get decked out in Amaloli (cute, pink or white frilly 'Lolita'-style outfits) have started covering themselves in bandages and wearing eye patches," she says. "Many of the men who come to Akihabara often compliment us on how good our bandages look, or how cute they are. For girls hanging out in Akihabara, bandages and eye patches have become a must-have fashion item."

A female cosplayer the weekly describes only as S explains the appeal of swathing herself in bindings.

"When you're covered in bandages, everybody pays attention to you and worries about you. They also provide a chance to start talking to guys, who'll ask you how you hurt yourself, so the bandages are really, really good," she tells Weekly Playboy. "One guy into the injured woman look told me that the reason he likes it is because he loves the idea of seeing a thin woman's body wrapped in bandages because it looked kind of like bondage and made him want to protect her from harm. I think those wearing the bandages get on well with the guys who want to look after them because they don't want them to get hurt."

Psychologist Yu Yuki says the new fetish for women who look like mummies probably has something to do with fans and their mommies.

"There is a common trait among the Akihabara otaku fetishes, with the poor eyesight of the girls wearing glasses, the humility of the maids who refer to every man they deal with as 'master' and now the women feigning injury but still swathed in bandages and eye patches: all these women look as though they're weak. This makes the men want to protect the women," the pshrink says. "In our age of gender equality, the number of strong-willed women has increased. Men still want to protect and look after women, though, so they seek out those who seem to be in need of help."

Porn novelist Rei Domoto has an additional interpretation.

"The white bandages wrapped around the women's bodies have a lot of therapeutic power in terms of colors. White is a symbol of chastity and virginity," Domoto tells Weekly Playboy. "These bandages are, I think, a way for women to say that they want to defend their virginity under their own power." (By Ryann Connell)

X-25: Ladies, I am always here to help and make you beautiful.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Two minute tug on the rug can help you lose weight, look more beautiful
Mainichi Daily News
May 11, 2007

Women can lose weight and look more beautiful simply by tugging on their pubic hair, according to Shukan Josei (5/22).

Clutching at the map of Tasmania stimulates the sex hormones, gets blood flowing toward the genitals and releases pheromones.

It's the release of pheromones that is said to give women in love their "glow" and what is being attributed for making women who try the trick appear to be more beautiful.

Women are advised to tug their pubes while they're still dry and then move the clump of hair around in a circular motion. They're also told to run their fingers through their pubic hair the same way they would do when fondling their regular hair.

Women are told not to worry about pubic hairs that fall out and to continue yanking away for about 1 to 2 minutes.

That's the theory, but does it really work? A little bit, according to physician Hideo Yamanaka.

"If the erogenous zones near the genitals are aroused, it leads to an increased emission of the female hormone estrogen, which certainly makes the skin look better," Dr. Yamanaka tells Shukan Josei. "It could also help alleviate the ill effects of menopause and irregular periods."

Dr. Yamanaka continues: "One of the effects of female hormones is to make it easier for fat to build up under the skin, which gives women a more feminine look."

So, there may be something in the claims that pulling on pubes makes women beautiful. But the doctor is more skeptical when it comes to any dietary benefits.

"I really don't know about this being any good in terms of a diet. Normally, dieting tends to limit the amount of female hormones emitted," Dr. Yamanaka tells Shukan Josei. "But if women did this while they were also on a diet, I guess there is a possibility that it could make them look both beautiful and thinner." (By Ryann Connell)

Baby, take off your dress, but you can leave your facemask on!
Mainichi Daily News
April 25, 2007

Face masks like those used by surgeons have followed eyeglasses to become the latest popular sex fetish in Japan, according to Cyzo (May).

Spring -- thanks to the hayfever it brings with it -- is surgical mask season in Japan, and this year has also seen the release of "Masuku Musume" (Mask Daughter), a DVD dedicated to those with a fetish for face coverings.

"Masuku Musume" features racy shots of 64 young women striking sexy poses while wearing surgical masks. The models keep the masks on even while they're only posing in skimpy little outfits like swimsuits or French maid outfits.

Buying the dirty DVD are people who pride themselves their facemask fetish.

"A woman wearing a surgical mask automatically becomes 30 percent cuter," Jun Ishikawa, the producer of "Masuku Musume" and a self-professed facemask fetishist, tells Cyzo.

Women posing for the facemask freaks have few qualms about doing so, according to the monthly.

"When I first started modeling for them, I had no idea what they saw in the masks," face mask fetish model Kaoru Matsui says. "After we'd done the photo shoot, though, I began to take more notice of girls wearing surgical masks and I kinda started to understand what some of these guys see in them."

Matsui says she's polishing her surgical mask posing abilities.

"I really like the small, dangling surgical masks," she tells Cyzo, adding that she deliberately tries to coordinate her fashion with the type of cover she has over her mouth.

Matsui's wholehearted approach to posing for the facemask fetishists and her understanding of the appeal doesn't mean that she's gone into that world all the way.

"Hmmm," she says to Cyzo. "It'd be a bit complicated if my boyfriend was into this kind of stuff." (By Ryann Connell)

Japan Cherry Boys Club vows to end innocence by drawing lines, practicing judo
Mainichi Daily News.com
February 1, 2007

Japan's male virgins have given up on the idea of being unwillingly celibate for life and will do their bit to curb the dramatically declining national birthrate, the head of the Japan Cherry Boys Association tells Shukan Josei (2/13).

"We can't depend on the government for everything. We virgins have got to stand up once again and do our bit for the country by tackling the birthrate problem," Nobuyoshi Watanabe, president and founder of the male virgins' club, tells Shukan Josei.

Watanabe, who proudly boasts of never having dated a woman in his entire life, also fills his resume by bragging about being one of the 10 percent of Japanese men aged 40 to 45 who remain virgins.

He formed the virgins' association eight years ago after being rejected by the woman he had fallen in love with. He used the Internet to look for like-minded friends with similar backgrounds and experiences. The association now claims a nationwide membership of 260, all of who have the stated aim of losing their virginity as quickly as possible. But what are they doing about achieving their goal?

"First and foremost, we study. To make sure we have an anatomical background of women, we all draw pictures of female genitalia and critique them," Watanabe tells the women's weekly. "We had one guy who just drew a straight line and said, 'I'm finished.' That's how little we all know. It's really pathetic."

Watanabe says other male virgins practice judo throws so they can hurl their favorite gal to the ground, and a group of 50 club members went on a tour of Tokyo's trendy Shibuya district in the hope of picking up somebody off the streets - a fruitless search, as it turned out.

At least these guys had turned their attention toward the opposite sex. The association is divided into various factions, with the most hard-line virgins believing that love is only something for the world of anime and computer games. One hard-line member, whose fame comes from his claim to have once masturbated 136 times in a single day, elaborates.

"Love today is all something manufactured by the capitalist society. You've got 'clothes for the popular guy' and 'stores for the popular guy' everywhere, but for guys like me who hate spending money, the capitalist society labels us as 'guys who can't get love,'" the left-winger in the left field tells Shukan Josei. "There's no way I'm gonna get suckered into that lifestyle."

Another member of the association said they were sick of feeling sexually frustrated, so bought some female hormones online and now reports on his budding new breasts.

Kumagaya, a man who helps the association but says his experiences render him ineligible for membership, may assist the virgins, but that doesn't necessarily mean he sympathizes with them.

"They're basically all selfish," Kumagaya tells Shukan Josei. "They've got no idea of what others feel like and they have incredibly high ideals. They detest the idea of being rejected by a woman, so they set their sights on unreachable women and then get on their high horse about relationships. 'I'd say very few of them have anything to offer." (By Ryann Connell)

Stripper's blazing performance makes fans shout 'fire' in a crowded theater
Mainichi Daily News
February 3, 2007

"From the time I was a little girl, I thought about doing something that would make people notice me, and enable me to tour the country," says the woman, who is identified throughout only by her professional moniker "Honoo no Yoko" (Flaming Yoko).

Well, she certainly got her wish. Even wrote a book. And now her story appears as one of four articles in a special section of Shincho 45 (February) entitled "Onna-tachi no sekkusu batoru" (Women's sexual battles).

As the curtain went up and the bump-and-grind music begins, Yoko would artfully peel her garments and proceed to a series of eight routines. All involved use of the highly developed muscles in her reproductive apparatus. While not necessarily in the following order, she would make use of her vaginal sphincter to toot notes from a toy trumpet; click a toy clacker; twist the screw-off cap from a bottle of Oronamin C vitamin tonic; snap a wooden pencil in half; bend a metal spoon from a curry restaurant; inhale smoke from a cigarette and blow rings; and make like a blowgun, shooting darts to pop toy balloons.

Then came the climax of her stage performance, the routine from she got the stage name "Flaming Yoko": She would inject a quantity of alcohol into her vagina, part her thighs and spurt the liquid towards a waiting flame.

As a safety measure to spare those in the first row of seats from singed eyebrows and possible first-degree burns, Yoko would request customers to lean back away from the stage. "This is being done in complete defiance of fire regulations," she would warn them in a verbal disclaimer.

The great ball of fire at the climax of her performance was the source of considerable anticipation, and excited male fans often got into the act, counting down "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" and then, in unison shouting "Fire!" as she let fly, causing an impressively large fireball to burst forth in mid-air.

Yoko hailed from Kochi in Shikoku, where her father ran a brothel. He had married three times, fathering six children. Yoko was the youngest.

"My mother ran a small bar, and dad owned the brothel but didn't do any work, except pimping for my mother sometimes," she recalls. "So I was born and raised in the red-light district, but since there were other kids in the same situation I didn't think anything of it at the time. It was just the way things were."

She was bright, Shincho 45 reports, and wanted to attend university, but times were hard and such was not to be. Her search for a high-paying job led her to burlesque. Standing an above-average 163cm tall, she was endowed with a figure resembling a Westerner and therefore appeared larger than life on stage.

Back in those days, Japan's strip clubs often attracted customers with underground shows called "Hanadensha" (flower trolley) offering live male-female sex on stage and other exotic acts. It was at this time that Yoko became aware of her unusually powerful vaginal muscles.

If there were an Olympic event for this sort of thing, Japan would surely be in the running for a gold medal. A dart propelled from her nether blowgun was once measured at 180km per hour --- as fast as one thrown by hand.

In autumn 2006, Yoko returned to her hometown in Kochi on her way back from a gig at the Dogo Onsen resort in neighboring Ehime Prefecture. A sister had told her that her father, who was also once her pimp, didn't have much longer to live.

She went to see him one last time. He was sleeping in a large room in a special hospice ward.

"Father," she said to him. "It's me, Yoko. Do you know who I am?"

"No ... my head hurts."

Her father flitted between sleep and an awakened state, but his senility was too advanced to even recognize his daughter.

Flaming Yoko is now 39. Her career has clearly taken a toll on her body and spirit. But there's no welfare or retirement pension for those in this profession, and she continues to earn her livelihood touring rural snack joints and strip theaters, where her dwindling audiences still count down before she "fires." (By Masuo Kamiyama, People's Pick contributor)

Horny housewives heading off to Bangkok to grab a slice of the Thai life
Mainichi Daily News
January 23, 2007

Herds of horny Japanese women are flocking to Thailand to make sure its capital city lives up to its name, according to Shukan Shincho (1/25).

Bangkok and its myriad netherworld charms have apparently been drawing Japanese women by the planeload over the past few years.

"Go-go boys started off working at gay bars by servicing mostly German and Australian women. Women of Japanese businessmen stationed in Thailand started going off to buy them while their husbands were otherwise occupied. Those women would go home and tell their friends about what they'd done and then they'd all come back to Bangkok again together. Bangkok earned itself a reputation and women started coming here in small groups," a former trade company employee once stationed in the Thai capital tells Shukan Shincho.

Japanese women are providing plenty of patronage for the gay bars where the go-go boys work along Bangkok's Soy Twilight. Many of the bars feature the boys dancing naked on stage. Women buy them drinks costing from 20 to 30 Baht (about 700 to 1,000 yen).

"They really love it when you give them a drink. They sit beside you, give you kisses, put their arms around you or massage your shoulders from behind," an "Office Lady" from Saitama Prefecture, who frequently travels on tours to Bangkok's boy bars, tells Shukan Shincho. "We talk in broken English and broken Japanese. But it's not about the conversation. It's all about the teasing and feeling good. After drinking for a while they'll ask you to go outside with them. Normally, they have to deal with these doddering old Europeans who want them to touch or kiss their willies, which isn't much fun for the go-go boys."

Many of the go-go boys have families of their own and sell their bodies to support them. It costs the women a 500 Baht (about 1,700 yen) bar fine to get the boys to go out with them, while the market rate is another 2,000 Baht (about 7,000 yen) if she wants to take him back to her hotel room. Many hotels also charge an additional 1,000 Baht if they bring somebody back.

"Japanese women tend to be smart. They travel in pairs and hire out a twin room. One will bring a boy home during the day while the other goes shopping," a worker from a Bangkok hotel says, adding that it makes it impossible for the hotels to apply surcharges if the go-go boys are escorted into rooms during broad daylight.

The lure of go-go boys is often all it takes to get many Japanese women to Bangkok. A Japanese journalist working in the Thai capital elaborates.

"There's a 28-year-old OL I know who first came to Bangkok on a holiday 18 months ago and loved the go-go boys so much she has been coming back to Bangkok twice a month ever since," the journalist says. "She stays at five-star hotels costing 20,000 yen a night and keeps the boys with her for a week ... When she gets sick of one guy, she simply calls up another one. She says she feels like a princess. Thai men are really kind and make a big fuss over her."

Another Japanese woman, this one a 30-year-old OL from Kanagawa Prefecture, was also delighted by the go-go boys from Bangkok. She went out dancing with a group of three boys, including one who called himself "Takeshi."

"Takeshi asked me if I'd like to go home with him. We got into a taxi and went to his house, which was a fancy place. We have a few beers, then Takeshi asked me if I'd like to see his bedroom on the second floor. I knew what was going to happen and my heart started pounding. I told him he had to wear a condom and he took one out of his pocket and waved it in front of my eyes. We had a laugh and fell down on his bed. He was hung even bigger than he'd looked like while on stage. It was huge. I was a bit worried about whether it would fit, but it was wonderful," the OL gushes to Shukan Shincho, adding that one of the other go-go-boys soon came along and wanted to join in. "Takeshi asked me what I wanted to do. I said it was all right as long as he used protection. That guy brought a condom out of his pocket and showed me, too. It looked like they'd done this kind of thing before. It was the first time I'd ever had a three-in-a-bed romp. One would pleasure me with their mouth while the other used other parts. I guess because they were used to working the gay scene, they tried to go through the back door, too, but I told them not to do that. At about 6 o'clock in the morning, Takeshi called me a tuk-tuk and took me back to my hotel. It was an unbelievably wonderful experience."

Japan's mouth-watering way to denude workplace of sexual harassment
Mainichi Daily News
January 19, 2007

Hot among Tokyo's salarymen at the moment is OL Shabu Shabu Shomuni, a restaurant where waitresses dress as regular "office ladies" who'll strip down and change before customers' eyes, according to Shukan Post (1/26).

The restaurant is a Strip Shabu Shabu, where waitresses start decked out like typical OLs and then remove their garments before dressing in a new outfit.

It's the latest in a long line of gimmicks involved in the serving of shabu shabu, a delicacy where meat strips are dragged through boiling water and dipped in a sauce before being eaten.

Most notable among the shabu shabu trends were the "no-pan shabu shabu," establishments where bottomless waitresses served clients made famous in the late '90s because they were the places corrupt Ministry of Finance bureaucrats liked to be taken by devious bankers looking for underhand breaks.

Now, the no-pan (no-pants) shabu shabu have largely gone, but as the Tokyo restaurant suggests, so have all the clothes, too, even if only momentarily.

OL Shabu Shabu Shomuni's waitresses feed customers by hand. Once diners have received a mouthful, they can then cop an eyeful by requesting the waiting staff slowly change clothes. All the dressing and undressing takes place in front of diners.

Meals cost 5,000 yen for 60 minutes, which entitles the diner to eat and drink as much as they can, as well as request garment changes from any of the waiting staff available. Normally, there are about 10 women (with an average age of 21, the weekly says).

The restaurant also supplies customers with hand mirrors and binoculars for those who'd like a closer look at the waiting staff, even if it means they will leer up dresses.

Waiting staff are apparently more than happy to be on display.

"We'd like salarymen who can't normally be dirty with the OLs in their office to come down and enjoy a meal with us," one of the waitresses tells Shukan Post.

X-25: That's it. I am moving to Shiga.
....with my camera of course.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Shiga Prefecture's schoolgirls boast of skimpiest skirts in Japan
Mainichi Daily News
January 18, 2007

Schoolgirl uniforms in Shiga are so short, they're less hem than ahem, according to Weekly Playboy (1/29).

The Japanese language Internet is awash with rumors that schoolgirls in the central Japan prefecture wear the skimpiest uniforms of anywhere in the country.

Local schoolboys seem to agree, saying one school in particular is known for its micromini uniforms.

"When the girls from the school all get off the train together in the mornings, it's a real sight to see," the schoolboy tells Weekly Playboy, adding that many people deliberately go to look. "We call it the Schoolgirl Rush Hour in these parts."

Shiga schoolgirls don't deny their reputation either.

"Shiga's the sticks, right? Well, long dresses might be popular in the cities, but it takes ages before the trend gets picked up around here. Besides, Shiga girls always wear minis," one schoolgirl from the prefecture says. "We look good in miniskirts. What's wrong with that?"

A downside to the propensity for flashing the flesh is that Shiga Prefecture apparently attracts a disproportionate number of perverts who travel from outside the prefecture to track down the short skirts said to be on display.

It's a trend noticeable in the statistics, where 10 arrests for upskirt photo shots were made of non-Shiga residents last year compared to just three in 2004. Police admit the short schoolgirl skirts are creating problems.

"We don't know whether the rumor on the Internet ahs anything to do with it, but there has been an increase in concealed camera-related arrests and it's a bother," Shigeru Morita, deputy chief of the Shiga Prefectural Police's Railroad Police Division, tells Weekly Playboy. "We've had cases where people have deliberately come all the way from other prefectures just to take secret snapshots in Shiga."

Shiga education officials are also aware that there are problems.

"We know there was a write-up on the Net about Shiga having the shortest schoolgirl skirts in Japan, but the prefecture hasn't done a survey on anything of that nature. We are fully aware that some of our students have very short skirts," a spokesman for the Shiga Prefectural Board of Education says. "We are teaching our students to be aware that there is a danger that people will film up their skirts if they keep the hems so short."

Shiga's schoolgirls, however, say that nothing's going to deprive them of their microminis.

"There's nothing wrong with wearing a short skirt," an irate Shiga schoolgirl tells Weekly Playboy. "What's wrong are those perverts who deliberately look at our panties. Why should we have to change our fashion just because of a bunch of perverted old men?"

Millions eager to star in Japan's filthiest home videos
Mainichi Daily News
January 12, 2007

About one in three Japanese women are interested in having their sex captured on camera, says Spa! (1/16), which notes that about the same ratio of men have actually been laid for the lens.

"Mobile phones now have built-in video functions, so lots of guys who use them to film their sex are probably doing it for a bit of fun," a 33-year-old securities worker and practitioner of hamedori -- filming or photographing sex -- tells Spa! "If you whipped out a single-lens reflex camera the woman would probably get a bit antsy, but because it's a mobile phone, she'll often go along with it."

The bulk of Japan's hamedori fans say they engage in the practice for sexual stimulation.

"It's sort of an extension of dirty talk. You can tease women by pointing the camera at them and watching her blush. That alone is fun," a 29-year-old construction worker says. "You've got to make sure you dump the footage after you've taken it, though."

Not everybody does get rid of movies of them having sex, though. Many, especially men, keep the footage because it gives them the feeling of having appeared in an adult movie.

Of those who do retain the film, one-quarter do so because they want to watch it together with their girlfriend at a later date. Still more want to use it as inspiration for later liaisons, while still others use it when they want to (or have to) pleasure themselves.

"I want to use it to objectively analyze my sexual technique," was one of the answers given to Spa!'s poll on why people want to keep hamedori shots, but the men's weekly notes that it was definitely a view held by a minority.

Only about 5 percent of people actually saved their hamedori footage on a CD, with 46 percent disposing of the files and 34 percent simply leaving it on their mobile phones or PC hard disks.

"It's only something I do for a bit of sexual stimulation," a 31-year-old editor tells Spa!, referring to his hamedori habit. "That's all. After that, you get a bit sick of it."