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Japanese gravure idols
Gravure idols are bikini and leotard models whose photos are published in magazines and photo books. These books are aimed mainly, but not exclusively, at men. Idols are popular among men and women, with great interest shown in the idol's taste in food, movies, clothes, music, and celebrities.
In recent years, many gravure models have released dvds, some of which feature wrestling or martial arts. Some even feature sexually suggestive, though not pornographic, moves. Gravure idols also feature in tokusatsu (special effects) movies with superhero themes. Gravure models do not pose nude.
Gravure is a printing term which derives from rotogravure, the type of printing process used to produce glossy magazines.
Here's a selection of a few of our favorite Japanese idols:
Leah Dizon
Leah Dizon was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her mother is French-American, and her father is Chinese-Filipino. She is the fourth of six children. After graduating from high school, Dizon moved to Los Angeles, California. She became mother to her first child, Mila, on April 24, 2009 and is currently taking a break from the entertainment industry.
Leah Dizon
Ayumi Hamasaki
Emi Kobayashi
Hanai Miri
Hoshino Aki
Rio Natsume
Dizon's career began at the age of 19 when she was offered a contract by a Japanese talent agency. She landed a phone company ad and made appearances at events as a booth babe. A few pictorials for various magazines followed. Soon after, she moved to Tokyo.
In October 2006, she released her first photobook, titled Petite Amie (Girlfriend in French), which was ranked as the third best-selling photobook of 2006 and 2007.
Dizon is not only a gravure idol but a singer and gaijin tarento (gaijin meaning foreign, and tarento being a corruption of the English word talent
), whose role it is in Japanese media to entertain or make people laugh by conforming to familiar foreign stereotypes.
She has enjoyed a successful musical career. Her song, Under the Same Sky
will be used as the theme song for the Japanese drama Tokyo Prom Queen
. Dizon made a guest appearance on the show as Naomi, the prom queen from the previous year.
She has been sought widely for product endorsements. Dizon has promoted the Sony Cybershot, snack foods, and cosmetics. On television she has appeared in commercials for Recruit, Lotte, PlayStation 3, JVC, Coca-Cola, Fuji, and Kao Corporation.
If Leah Dizon wasn't a model, she'd still be doing something creative. She says: I was a film major in college. I'm not too sure about directing, but I want to somehow be involved in the creative process. I'm still figuring it out, but I know that's where my heart is. Also, anything involving design interests me. I seem to have a knack for it.
Ayumi Hamasaki
Ayumi Hamasaki was born on October 2cnd, 1978. She grew up in a single parent home with mother and grandmother. She was the highest earning entertainer in Japan in 2002. She has been modeling since the age of seven, and was the first artist to have four singles on the Japan top 10 charts simultaneously.
She won MTV Asia's Best Female Artist Award in 2002. Ayumi Hamasaki is a tiny 5 ft 1 inch singer, but is a huge star all over Asia. Apart from being a singer, Hamasaki is a fashion leader, an actress, a model, a spokeswoman for various causes, a composer and songwriter. She is a leading and respected fashion and music icon in Japan
She is known as the Empress of J-Pop and is considered the Asian equivalent of Madonna.
Ayumi Hamasaki's movies include: Twins Teacher (1993), Battle Spirits Ry ko no Ken (1993); Sumomo mo Momo (1995); Miseinen (1995); Ladys Ladys! Soucho Saigo no Hi (1995); Like Grains of Sand (1995); Gakko II (1996); Tsuki ni Shizumu (2002).
Emi Kobayashi
Emi Kobayashi was born January 1, 1983. She is from Tokyo and belongs to the show-business production outfit Suns Entertainment. She belonged to Yellow Cab before 2004.
Kobayashi graduated from Aoyama Gakuin Senior High School. As a freshman there, she was a member of the swimming club. She later studied hard despite the call of stardom and earned a degree in management at Aoyama Gakuin University. When she belonged to Yellow Cab, Kobayashi was a member of R.C.T. She was a defender for the futsal team Carezza, with uniform number was 3.
Kobayashi's photobooks are Satin Doll, Aqua House 2002; AI, Compass 2002; HAPPENING, Takeshobo 2003; umiemi, Ongakusenkasha 2005; Gekkan Emi Kobayashi, Shinchosha 2006.
Miri Hanai
Miri Hanai was born on October 15, 1984 in Tokyo, Japan, where she lives today.
Her vital statistics are 93cm-58cm-85cm or in inches, 37-23-34. She is 1.47 m or 4 ft 10 in. She is very well known for her large and vital assets, which appear even larger on her tiny frame. Her photographs make the most of this as she is often sending bending over or in poses accentuating her shapely boobs.
Hoshino Aki
Aki Hoshino was born on March 14, 1977. She has appeared in various men's magazines such as Sabra and on television shows.
She has featured on posters, trading cards, t-shirts and dozens of dvds, including Gokusen 3 (Gokusen is a manga series) in April 2008.
In Gokusen she plays Ayukawa Sakura, the school nurse. She has also starred in Sneaker Lover (March 2008); Star-revealed (February 2007); and Kensa Nyuin (February 2007)
Rio Natsume
Rio Natsume was born on February 20, 1985 in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. She has more than 20 dvds and seven photobooks to her name.
Her dvds date back to 2003 and include such titles as Missionary (2005), Cow Girl (2005), Erotica (2006), Love Affair (2007), and Naked (2008).
Natsume has appeared in several television shows in Japan. In 2005, she was featured in a video game called Gal of the Sparrow 2.
By Tiffers von Tien
More gravure images
The stuff of life
Love affairs: Love affairs are a massive drain on your financial and emotional resources.
What seemed fun and an escape for a while soon becomes a living hell as lies become more and more complicated, and your double life becomes impossible to manage.
We show you how to end your affair now in a way that is fair to your wife and family, to yourself, and to your mistress. Your mental torment will only end when the affair ends and you rebuild trust.
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