Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

Film

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Goodbye Godzilla?

With sumo dominated by Mongolians and Sony already fielding a foreigner in the fold, the giant of all Japanese giants, Godzilla, also seems to have finally succumb to the force of foreign infiltration.

His current disinclination to destroy Tokyo may well have something to do with it, but either way, the monster has at least temporarily been muscled out by that legendary loner the Loch Ness Monster — the secretive Scot currently making uncharacteristically bold appearances in Tokyo Bay.

nessie in Tokyo

Albeit due to the success of a sizeable water screen.

And, perhaps predictably, in the pursuit of promotional purposes.

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Japanese justice?

Last week saw a married couple from Fukui Prefecture in western Japan detained for public indecency; their saucy website falling foul of the censors as it contained footage of 38-year-old Fumio Hisano and his 32-year-old wife Reiko indulging in rather rigorous marital relations.

Called Aya’s Room, the enterprise was certainly more than a mere hobby, as due to membership fees the pair had netted over 200 million yen (840,000 pound) since the site’s inception over 7 years ago. Yet in the land where practically every family focused video shop has a lot more to offer than Disney and Doraemon.

Japanese video shop

As well as vending machines that contain stuff a little stronger than cigarettes and 7 Up.

Japanese DVD vending machine

The Japanese censorship system could well be seen as somewhat sanctimonious.

And then some.

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Pants performance

Thousands of Japanese swimsuit aficionados have dipped their hands into their pockets this week due to the release of Asuka Ruike’s new DVD — a tastefully shot enterprise showing the 21-year-old donning beachwear from around the globe.

an asuka ruike DVD

Yet the decidedly less than lardy young lady is apparently a member of the ‘tarudoru’ faction of female flesh flaunters, an expression used to describe those purported to have a rather plumper figure than the norm.

asuka ruike

A term that despite her success, Ruike-san now appears keen to shed — as she is said to be on a diet. A regime that regrettably could lead to some unwelcome results, with the currently shapely star rather alarmingly claiming, “I want to get thin enough to lose all the pounds in my pants.”

asuka ruike

To regularly follow Ruike emptying her undergarments, clicking here will take you directly to her blog.

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Star style

With only the countless re-issues of the completed Star Wars series to occupy him these days, George Lucas has taken the decidedly unorthodox step of opening a chain of Japanese barber shops.

Each outlet is said to offer a specialist ‘star style’, with this particular one tempting bearded businessman with the ‘Lucas look’.

jedi shop

(click image for enhanced edition)

*Huge thanks to Richard for the photo.