Shanghai surprise: Japanese Expo gals banned from evening escapades

The Japan pavilion has been a popular attraction at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, now at its midway point, but frustrations are mounting among female staffers who have been banned from mingling with men from other countries, reports Shukan Post (Aug. 20-27).

Officially known as “attendants,” these companion ladies have been told by their superiors that partaking in group gatherings, termed gokon, with males from other Expo nations is out of the question.

“A male director who supervises us said during our morning briefing that international meetings in the evening, such as wining, dining and partying with VIPs and staff members of other pavilions, are prohibited,” one Japan pavilion gal tells the tabloid. “One girl argued the point, asking for an explanation, but it was simply explained that working with professionalism at all times is the priority.”

The Japan pavilion has 148 companions, who were selected from a pool of 1,500 applicants. Aged in their 20s and 30s, they work as receptionists, tour guides or attendants to VIPs and are lodged in 55 apartment rooms. Read more

Tour of Asakusa

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo can be crudely described as a metropolis of soaring and undulating concrete collectively illuminated by a glow of garish neon. Yet bordering the Sumida River in the east is the Asakusa district, which adheres to many of those characteristics but also retains certain cultural elements of life back in the Edo Period (1615 – 1868).

Tourists and locals will often flock to the area’s temples and shrines, which create a lively atmosphere around the New Year’s holidays, a prelude to the various festivals and carnivals held throughout the year.

It was once Japan’s version of Vaudeville, with one district having offered many performance theaters, a legacy that still lingers today.

Ladies in kimono shuffling through Asakusa’s narrow alleys is not an unusual site as it is one of Tokyo’s six remaining hanamachi, literally “flower town,” a reference to the locales in which customers can be entertained by a geisha.
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Couple wiggles and giggles in car during a summer washout

“The other day my boyfriend bought a new car, and we promptly headed for a drive through the mountains to admire the scenery. The skies had been fair, but clouds began forming and we ran into an unexpected rainstorm. Before long it was coming down in buckets.”

Thus begins an excerpt by an anonymous contributor to the September issue of women’s soft porn magazine Renai Tengoku, as introduced on the pages of Shukan Bunshun (Aug. 26).

“Anyway, rain was falling so hard even with the wipers going full blast we had practically no visibility, so we pulled off the road at the first parking area we came to.

“He grinned at me and said, ‘Hey, you wanna do it here?’ He yanked the handle so that my seat went horizontal and began kissing and groping me. Read more

Entertainment world to follow sumo in baseball betting clampdown

As the world of sumo continues to grapple with revelations that wrestlers routinely gambled on baseball games, weekly tabloid Shukan Jitsuwa (Sep. 2) reports that police authorities are now targeting entertainers for the same illegal activity.

A former member of a gangster organization is at the center of a police investigation.

“The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department seems to know which entertainers are involved in baseball betting,” says a person related to the investigation. “And in tracking them down, it all is going back to the same former gangster. So he is the key guy in the betting scheme.”

Among those suspected to be partaking are a famous idol and an enka singer.

“The idol is a huge fan of the Yomiuri Giants,” explains a production manager at a big firm. “He’ll wager around 20 or 30,000 yen on Giants games. Even though the amounts are small, that is still betting. The enka singer owns his own team, and he loves betting. He’ll put down one million yen a week. He’s even been getting enka composers involved.” Read more

Pairity for charity: Tokyo porn channel raises funds for AIDS

TOKYO (TR) – Very few company presidents could sit in a conference room and casually explain why he will later this month allow the general public to enter his corporate headquarters and fondle the breasts of a selection of the female staff for a modest donation to charity. Yet Tsuyoshi Shiba, chief of provocative porn channel Paradise TV, is indeed one of them.

“By simply broadcasting our programs, that is one way to interact with society,” says the soft-spoken 60-year-old from beneath a billowing mane of dark hair. “But we wanted a more direct interaction with our viewers so that we can better distinguish ourselves.”

The use of “direct” might be the understatement of the year.

Over the last weekend of August, viewers are invited to the Shinjuku studio of Paradise TV, which will be broadcasting live on its satellite provider Sky PerfecTV!, to grasp the exposed chests of five of the female staffers who anchor the channel’s naked news programs — and yes, the segments are exactly as revealing as the name implies — for a suggested donation of 1,000 yen that goes to the prevention of AIDS, a condition that continues to be a worsening problem in Japan. Read more

Right-wing groups protest anti-Yasukuni Shrine march in Tokyo

(Photo by Tokyo Reporter, August 15, 2010) Read more

Playful prankster’s uninhibited prancing provokes prudish front-desk staffer

In her latest weekly installment in Nikkan Gendai (Aug. 12) the pseudonymous Shoko Harano, a divorcee who has spent three years working at the front desk of a Tokyo love hotel, relates a wacky incident in which she was involved.

Such hotels do not have restaurants on their premises; but as sexual activity tends to give some people a ravenous appetite, it’s common for customers to phone out for food. So as part of her duties, Harano is required to deliver snacks or meals. (Payment for food is added onto the room bill and usually made at checkout. The hotel then settles with the restaurant when their delivery staff comes to collect the dishes.) Read more

Cooler goes kaput, gal plugs in for the duration

“The wheezy old air conditioner in my apartment finally gave up the ghost, but my cheapskate landlord was dragging his heels on getting it fixed, and in this unbearable heat, I got desperate for new digs. Fortunately this guy at the place where I work part-time had a spare futon and invited me to come over to his place and cool off.”

Thus begins a steamy selection from the September issue of the women’s soft porn magazine Renai Tengoku, as introduced in Shukan Bunshun (Aug. 12-19).

“On the way, we dropped into a convenience store to pick up some booze,” she continues, “and after relaxing over a few drinks we found we both had the hots for each other. Read more

Right-wing groups protest over disputed Kuril Islands in Tokyo

(Photo by Tokyo Reporter, August 9, 2010) Read more

Summertime, and the hookin’ is easy, Johns are jumpin’ and the gals are high

A young girl plying the trade known as enjo kosai, or compensated dating, is hardly new. Yet, observes Shukan Jitsuwa (Aug. 19), the glut of school gals on summer break and the harsh economy are combining to make present conditions in Tokyo anything but a seller’s market.

The tabloid cites the entertainment areas of Shinjuku, Ikebukuro and Shibuya as common hot spots. Many young females migrate from the countryside and must offer sharp discounts, or gekiyasu enko, as slashed bonuses for salaried workers have become the norm.

Seated on a street corner is a 19-year-old from Niigata Prefecture. “I came to Tokyo to earn money for one week,” says the brown-haired girl. “I have only have a few hundred yen. Tonight I can’t find anyone. If someone will pay 5,000 yen and the hotel fee that’s acceptable…”

In Shibuya, the writer finds a deeply tanned female in a miniskirt. She does not offer sex, only hand-jobs, and handles five customers a day. Referred to as tekoki enko, the service costs 3,000 yen a pull. Read more

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