Japan Idol Gravure

Since nobody will ever read this blog, I will talk about whatever I feel like, I guess. My favorite two subjects in the world are things Asian (I am a Japan specialist) and music (I am a rock & roll specialist). For anyone who is any kind of fan of the Japanese modeling scene, you will recognize Idol Gravure.

Let me start with a list of my current favorite J-girls:

北村ひとみ　Hitomi Kitamura
夏目理緒　　Rio Natsume
如月エリー Eri Kisaragi
青木りん　　Rin Aoki
大原かおり　Kaori Ohara

If you know any of these girls, you've already figured out I am a complete SUCKER for big-breasted Asian girls, and well, ALL Asian girls for that matter. (Note that I will write Asian names in the native way, i.e., family name first, given name second. For some reason, Japanese names are usually inverted when rendered in English, while Chinese and Korean names are not. So I've stuck with this convention to minimize confusion.)

Rin Aoki has actually crossed over into what they call JAV = Japanese Adult Video, but I think she's awesome. Eri Kisaragi has only one video to my knowledge, and she gets nude in that one. Hitomi Kitamura and Rio Natsume do what is known as "giri giri" videos, which means "almost nude," more or less. Kaori Ohara first appeared on a Japanese late-night television show called "Mini Skirt Police," a variety of progamming unique to Japan which is just an excuse to showcase gorgeous girls. Kaori has the most dynamic look of any model I can think of; she looks different in every photograph. I have never seen a video of her, not even on Mini Skirt Police (she was on the show before I lived in Japan). I did see two TV commercials she appeared in on YouTube; she bounces her boobs like nobody's business. I feel funny just thinking about it.

"Gravure" comes from "photogravure," a type a printing process, and is Japanese pop-speak for sexy but more or less non-nude model photographs and videos. There is a great deal of debate out there amongst the Idol "otaku" (a charitable definition is "enthusiast," but it also means something like "nerd" or "weirdo".) as to whether giri giri or full nudity is better; I am firmly (Ha!) in the Full Nudity camp.

The non-Japanese Asian model girl scene has many awe-inspiring girls as well. Here are some of my favorites:

Linda Dinh (Vietnamese American)
Anissa Tong (Chinese American)
Arielle Lee (Chinese American)
Lee Serey (Cambodian American)
Kathy Liu (probably Thai, but I've never seen any definitive word on that.)

Kathy Liu (who is known by many names, depending on who she is modeling for), first came to prominence on an Asian nude model site called Asian4You.com, now gone from the web. She has done some AV (adult video) as well, but mostly explicit nude modeling. She may be retired now. Arielle Lee does my favorite style of modeling, which is full nude, but no "toys," no preposturous posing, just showcasing her awesome charisma. Interestingly, Arielle is more effective in still photography than in video, but that is probably due to the home-movie quality of her videos. Lee Serey is not well-known, mostly modeling for minor sites, but I love her. Anissa Tong has been M.I.A. for awhile. What I LOVE about her are her glorious full hips. Linda Dinh (a.k.a. Linda Thi Dinh) has also been more or less AWOL, but she maintains a site that is perpetually under construction. I'll wait, she's worth it. Linda and Anissa are well-known on the "race girl" scene, girls who stand next to cars at automobile shows and the like.

Hitomi Kitamura just released a new video on April 20, 2007. I am anxiously waiting for it to appear on the torrent sites; I have high hopes she gets even more giri giri than in her 2006 videos. Rio Natsume just released two videos in January 2007, and seems ready to make the transition to nude (Gosh I hope so). I dispair that Kaori Ohara will probably never do nude, but you never know in Japan ... some of the most unlikely celebrities have surprised everyone by suddenly releasing nude photobooks, another uniquely Japanese phenomenon. I especially like the books by the enka sing known as 紫艶, Shien. She shocked the heck out of the VERY conservative enka (traditional, post-World War II pop music) scene by releasing several delicious nude gravure photobooks in the early 2000s.

A final sort of unrelated note: Maybe somebody out there recognizes my name from my previous blog, Asianbabecam Observer. I quit the entire cam girl scene and deleted the blog.