It's possible that my first sexual relationship began just like yours. I met someone cute and we started talking on instant messenger, where we exchanged an embarrassing number of kissy face emoticons. We held hands at the high school football game, followed by a fumbling attempt at making out underneath the bleachers. » 2/04/13 8:00pm 2/04/13 8:00pm

You thought the full body tights stopped at Totoro » 1/17/13 4:00am 1/17/13 4:00am? That's just the tip of the iceberg. There are more nightmares to be had. Many more.

Fire up a Japanese video game, and you'll see it—just look at the newly released Final Fantasy XIII-2, if you don't believe me. There it is: hair. The West has its bald Space Marine. Japan, where it's not cool to be bald, has hair wax and luscious locks. » 12/15/11 5:00pm 12/15/11 5:00pm

Seventeen-year-old Mana wasn't in school. Heck, she wasn't even in her school uniform. Wearing a white bikini, the student-by-day, idol-by-night took the stage earlier this month at the Sofmap in Tokyo's geek district, Akihabara. » 11/24/11 8:00pm 11/24/11 8:00pm

Another night. Mahni Aino (above) fired up her computer and flipped on her camera. The sexy posing would come later, but now she was just talking about what food she liked cooking. Comments streamed across the screen, like "You're so cute" and, even, "Do you use a Dell PC?" Then, she started doing yoga on a sofa,… » 11/11/11 5:00pm 11/11/11 5:00pm

Another weekend. Another photo session for 21-year-old Mai Fujiko, no stranger to string bikinis that are more string than bikini. She wasn't embarrassed in the least, proud of the figure DNA bestowed her. But photographers pressed close and snapped off pic after pic of her mug. She smiled. "I always feel like my… » 10/13/11 3:00pm 10/13/11 3:00pm

It began, as so many things do, with sweaty men in tight underpants. And they wore masks. Let's not forget the masks. Lucha Libre masks. Those masks might have started in Mexican professional wrestling, but they live on in Japan, whether that be in fashion, manga, pornos and, yes, video games. » 9/29/11 1:00pm 9/29/11 1:00pm

Like so many things do, it all started with a drunken tweet. This time, though, it ended up with girls licking doorknobs. » 9/08/11 3:00pm 9/08/11 3:00pm

The heat was unbearable. A group of kids scurried to find shade, but they did't find it under trees. » 8/25/11 12:00pm 8/25/11 12:00pm

Pure plastic love. It lives on desks. Its lives on shelves. But in Japan, it lives everywhere. Figures are more than collectibles. They're sculpted fantasy that reflect the artistic tradition of the country's past and its present. » 8/11/11 5:00pm 8/11/11 5:00pm

Games of leather and rubber. Not video games, but real games with impossible heels and spankings. Those might be the trappings of S&M, but in Japan, S&M isn't only about trappings or artifice. It's something deeper. » 7/28/11 3:00pm 7/28/11 3:00pm

There was supposed to be chaos. There was supposed to be confusion. There was supposed to be collapse. There's wasn't any, of course. » 7/21/11 3:00pm 7/21/11 3:00pm

Damn, they're cute. Not the girl—her ears. She is a catgirl—a female with cat ears. To underscore their feline traits, some have cat teeth,and even cat eyes. In Japan, the cat ears are called "nekomimi", and they're more than a simple personification of cats. » 7/14/11 3:00pm 7/14/11 3:00pm

Someone once told me, "Half-Japanese kids grow up to either be TV celebrities or porn stars." Flip on television, and there's half-British male model Joy selling Samurai Road 4 or singer Becky promoting her latest CD single. Turn on a dirty movie, and there's half-Brazilian actress and Yakuza star Rio getting naked. » 6/16/11 3:00pm 6/16/11 3:00pm

When reality star Angel Porrino stepped out in front of the cameras for a Memorial Day party she was hosting, the starlet stopped and smiled. She tucked in her chin and ran her tongue over her teeth. » 6/02/11 4:00pm 6/02/11 4:00pm

Lipstick. Long hair. Cute dresses. They're beautiful women, but they're not necessarily all women. In Japan, they're called "男の娘", or literally "male daughter". » 5/26/11 3:00pm 5/26/11 3:00pm