TOKYO (TR) – Following the bankruptcy of publisher Inforest Publishing earlier this week, Koakuma Ageha, a glossy magazine that features hostess culture, will suspend publication, reports Sports Hochi (Apr. 17).
Inforest Publishing, which has an accumulated debt of three billion yen, announced on Wednesday that the company would seek to sell the company’s approximately 20 titles, which are mainly culture and fashion publications.
According to credit research company Teikoku Databank, Inforest Publishing was founded in 2002. The first issue of Koakuma Ageha was released in October of 2005 under the name Koakuma & Nuts.
Then edited by Hisako Nakajo, the monthly became known as “the Bible” of the gyaru scene, which typically includes women possessing an excessively glamorous appearance.
Many of the models in Koakuma Ageha are actual hostesses employed at clubs. Inside the pages of the magazine the women, who appear in highly stylized fashions, provide make-up and hairstyle tips and inside information on life in the night trade.
In 2009, the magazine boasted a circulation of over 300,000 copies. That same year, revenue for Inforest Publishing was 7.4 billion yen.
But by 2012 sales at the company had fallen to 4.4 billion yen due to drops in sales and advertising.
“It is unfortunate,” said Nakajo, who stepped down as editor in 2011. “There is the sense that making a magazine these days is difficult, but I want Koakuma Ageha to survive somehow.”