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

Sitting or taking a stand: Japanese men ponder pride in urination etiquette

Mr. Kaneko, a fictional name, who works for a printing company in Tokyo, recently noticed a posting, written in red, on the office wall: “Gentlemen, please sit on the toilet even when you are going to urinate. Women are fed up with the situation.”

Mr. Kaneko tells the tabloid that there is only one Western-style toilet in the office and office ladies have been assigned with its cleaning, which appears to have become a substantial task.

At a meeting called by Mr. Kaneko to discuss the toilet trouble, the situation escalated whereby women began bombarding the assembled with terse remarks: “Who is making this ‘pond’ of urine around the toilet seat?’ ‘Please think of those who have to clean it. I am sure this is largely due to the fact that you stand up to urinate.’

Since a boss-subordinate relationship was not being respected, Mr. Kaneko had to concede, and, since that day, male employees have been trained to sit when they urinate.

According to Shukan Post (June 18), this conflict represents a shift in bathroom protocol, one in which men are converting to “sitting style.” Read more

Risque management mandatory in maintaining a mistress

Men, it seems, are incapable of learning, especially when it comes to controlling their extra-marital affairs. In light of the revelations that a senior superintendent of Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police department was demoted this month for engaging in adulterous activities, Shukan Post (Apr. 2) reports that the real failure was in proper risque management.

Yasuo Nishizawa, 55, headed the MPD’s first criminal investigation division, which often deals with murder and high-degree theft. In spite of being on a “non-career” path, he had previously assumed such other lofty positions as the head of Seijo Police Department, located in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward, and the section for fingerprinting.

Yet it all came apart following news of a six-year extra-marital relationship with a former female detective. Nishizawa broke it off with the detective (referred to simply as “A-san”) at the end of last year. That’s when the trouble began. She then went over to the dormitory where he stayed, as he lived away from his wife and two daughters, all of whom reside in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward, and began causing a stir. Read more

The 5,000-yen mistress favorable to recession-hit fellas

In this era of deflation, reduced fees at fuzoku establishments, such as 4,800 yen for entering an ime kura (image club) or a soapland’s 10,000 yen “early bird” special, are tough to top. Yet Shukan Post (Jan. 14) believes there exists even better cost performance: a mistress for a mere 5,000 yen.

During the bubble era, the tabloid says, it was not unusual for allowances given to mistresses to be roughly 200,000 yen per encounter or 1 million yen a month.

A-san, a 42-year-old sales rep working at a major manufacturing company, has discovered a much more reasonable option. For a year, he has been seeing an executive secretary, 24, who he met at a club designed for singles.

The initial outlay for registration is 50,000 yen but after that expenses are minimal. “The only money I pay to her is 5,000 yen per meeting for car money,” he says. “The club has a policy that makes the male member pay his female date this transportation fee as a minimum. But this girl is telling me that ‘that’s the only allowance I seek.’” Read more

Little progress in ‘black widow’ case, fraud victim still uses matchmaking sites

Police are not making substantial inroads in bringing murder charges against suspected “black widow” Kanae Kijima, the 35-year-old arrested for fraud and linked to the suspicious deaths of six men, reports Shukan Post (Jan. 1).

Police are presently building cases for murder around two of the deaths. Thus far, Kijima has been arrested five times for defrauding over a dozen other men, in their 40s and 50s and residing in various prefectures across the Kanto region, after posing as a prospective marriage partner on Internet matchmaking sites. All told she is believed to have collected 100 million yen from her victims.

“The police are trying to make cases for the burn death in May in Chiba Prefecture and the guy in Tokyo who died in a car in August from carbon monoxide inhalation,” a writer specializing in the legal profession tells the tabloid. “However, it is hard to gather evidence against her since she herself has remained silent.” Read more

Maria Ozawa says couples getting physical need first get critical

The apparent rise in the number of carnivorous women (i.e. aggressive females) and their counterpart, herbivorous men, who are said to lead a passive existence ensconced in hobbies, has been frequently reported in the news media this year.

Society as a whole may have accepted this shift, but does that then mean that these newly invigorated ladies will happily welcome ambivalence on the part of men when it comes to bedroom activities? That does not appear to be the case, reports Shukan Post (Dec. 11), and porn starlet Maria Ozawa believes she can lend a hand, so to speak.

The tabloid explains that nowadays there is no shortage of unsatisfied women. In October, condom maker Durex made public survey results that indicated that only one in five married women in Japan were pleased with their love lives — a figure that is less than half that reported for China, the U.S. and France. “I am really bored because it is the same routine each time,” complains an office lady in her 20s. “My husband doesn’t say a word. So it is hard for me to understand if he is excited. It would be nice if he would say a few things when we do it.” Read more

‘Black widow’ strikes? Marriage fraud suspect Kanae Kijima linked to six deaths

Wearing white gloves, seven or eight plain-clothes cops stormed into an apartment building in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district one recent morning. Their destination was the 14th-floor residence of Kanae Kijima, a 34-year-old native of Hokkaido who has been arrested for marriage fraud and is under investigation for the deaths of six men, reports Shukan Post (Nov. 13).

“The officers stayed for a week, working 24 hours a day, and they took her wine-red Mercedes,” a resident of the building tells the tabloid.

News reports indicate that Kijima has conned numerous men, whom she met on Internet dating sites, out of sizable sums of money. The police are treating four of the subsequent deaths, which took place in Tokyo and Chiba and Saitama prefectures, as murder. Information on the other two deaths has not yet been released.

“Sometimes she was wearing a black one-piece dress with an open front to display cleavage,” says another tenant. “But usually she didn’t wear make-up and sported worn-out jeans and t-shirts. To be honest, it is hard to believe that kind of lady was able to deceive men.” Read more

Bargain-basement hymens from Hangchow bleed on demand

The ingredients, read the label on the wrapper, include “non-allergenic natural albumin, a medicated inflation agent, water-soluble base and sodium carboxymethyl.”

Er, miss — are you sure sticking one of these in your vagina seems like a good idea?

Because the above, reports Shukan Post (Nov. 6), is what synthetic hymens imported from China are made from.

Under the name jinko shojomaku, these sham cherries are being imported by individual entrepreneurs and marketed on the Web for around 2,300 yen a pop.

The manufacturer claims that upon insertion, the body temperature causes one to expand across the opening of the whatchamacallit — you know, where babies come out.

As a follow-up to the insertion of a throbbing male organ and the inevitable sound effects, who knows what dialog might actually ensue. Read more

Men’s 3-D undies trump trunks and beat briefs

Uniqlo may indeed be the star within today’s apparel industry, but also worth noting is manufacturer Gunze’s Body Wild men’s underwear, which has achieved a steady growth in sales for over a decade, reports Shukan Post (Aug. 21).

The key to the Gunze garment is a special sewing machine that weaves a pair of boxers out of synthetic fibers. The result is a comfortable, tight-fitting form between the abdomen and the groin — a state-of-art design that competitors cannot match.

The firm boasts that Japanese men are no longer confined to the routine that finds them sporting white briefs as a child and trunks upon reaching middle school.

Since its introduction in 1998, the product has achieved double-digit growth in sales.

Shukan Post’s writer, however, is skeptical, noting that these claims makes little sense given that he have been satisfied with his 100 percent cotton briefs, in either black or gray, which do not have any special design. Read more

Female carnivores use new DVD to bone up on sex techniques

This year “carnivorous” women are poring over books about enjoying sex. Shukan Post (July 31) reports such titles written by former top AV actress Honoka (age 26), as “Koakuma Sekkusu” (“Little devil sex,” published by Best Shinsho) and “Karada no Kairakuai no Katachi” (“The shape of corporeal love pleasure,” by Fusosha) are being snatched up in impressive numbers.

“The old view of sex leaned toward how men could pleasure women,” says Honoka on her Web blog. “But originally sex was meant for males and females to enjoy each other together. My book explains how women can take the initiative, but the result will be that the two parties share mutual feelings.”

Harnessing the market carved out by her books, Honoka has released a new DVD titled “LOVE 48,” which is already reported to have sold 10,000 copies.

The “48″ in the title derives from the famous shijuuhatte (48 hands or coupling positions) made famous in old erotic woodblock prints. Rather than convoluted anatomical postures, however, the DVD introduces variations on “tonguing techniques,” “fingering techniques,” “penetration methods” and so on in ways to demonstrate mutual affection. Read more

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