The Gravure Idol Jô FAQ

About the idols
1.

What does gravure mean?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:12:59

It comes from either photogravure or rotogravure, both of which are types of printing processes (the former being quite outdated). How this got mangled during the translation to Japanese is unknown, but pretty much par for the course of borrowed words in the Japanese language. In Japanese, gravure can actually refer to any type of glamour (not fashion) modelling - hence nude or non-nude can be considered gravure-style photography. However, the defacto standard is that gravure idols don't do nudity or porn.

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2.

Okay then, what does gravure idol mean?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:14:36

The closest thing it would translate to is bikini model, but even that is not totally accurate. I've gotten a bunch of different definitions from different people, but the main thing they seem to agree on is the gravure idols are attractive young women who do a lot of bikini modelling, as well as semi-nude pictures, but never actually show anything scandelous. Kinda like big teases if you ask me. However, in an increasing crowded niche industry, a lot of newer idols (like Kawase Yuna or Aoki Rin before she became just another AV idol) are pushing things more and more into the area of softcore porn to get noticed, although IMHO these are usually your B-grade idols who need a little something extra to get noticed.

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3.

While she's big, there is no way that Natsume Rio is a J-cup!

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:14:57

That's not a question, but I know what you're getting at. The main thing to remember is that bra-sizing systems are not universal, so what is an E in one country may be a J in another. And since the ladies are going by the Japanese sizing system, H, I or J-cups would be appropriate. Now whether the sizes are accurate or the result of some publicist's spin are up for debate.

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4.

So how do you convert Japanese bra sizes?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:15:21

This is not a complete question. Convert Japanese bra sizes to what? Gold? The philosopher's stone probably. If you're asking about size comparisons to other systems... well, it's something of a mystery. There is a totally incorrect, but commonly held, theory that holds that to convert Japanese cup sizes to North American, just reduce the letter by one. This is wildly inaccurate. From my experiences, the best way to get an approximation of the size is as follows: for each Japanese cup size above A (A is basically flat chested), there is a 2cm differential between the underbra and the fullest part of the breast. So Matsugane Yôko's H-cup would be a 14cm difference. Divide this figure by 2.54 (the number cm per inch). In Yoko's case, this would be ~5.5. Assuming you go through a straight progression of letter cup sizes and not get side tracked in random naming schemes which go into double or triple letters, Yoko-chan would be roughly a bigger than average E-cup in North American bra-sizes. Okay... I have invested way too much time in this....

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5.

Are they any topless or nude shots of the girls? I'm sure I've seen some.

Last updated 2007-05-10 21:17:59

In all of existence? Well, considering some of the risque shots that they do. I would be surprised if there weren't a few nipple slips out there, more likely in the hands of the original photographers, but everything on the net is fake. For example, there a fairly well known fake of Matsugane Yôko where some clever teenager has edited out the head of the original model (Lorna Morgan, a lovely woman in her own right) and replaced it with Yoko's smiling face. Well done, clever teenager. Well done. And despite Hanai Miri's seeming exposure in Sabra, she was wearing fake nipples. That's right... fake nipples. The exception to all that is Oda Arisa, who gets as close as you can to being topless as you can... without exception in her DVDs, she basically lets the twins hang out in at least one track.

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6.

Has Hanai Miri ever posed naked? I've seen pictures!!!

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:17:18

Read this question again. You should really read a little more carefully, junior.

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7.

Is it Harumi Nemoto or Nemoto Harumi?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:17:59

Well, in Japanese, family names are ordered before personal names, while in English the opposite is true. I suppose, since this site is in English, Harumi Nemoto (as well as Yoko Matsugane, Miri Hanai and Rio Natsume) would actually be more appropriate, but that just sounds so wrong to me (I've been in Japan too long, methinks), so I'm sticking with family name first.

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8.

What's MEGUMI's real name?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:18:08

Yamano Megumi.

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9.

Are they real? Their boobs, that is.

Last updated 2007-05-10 21:20:51

Although I'm not 100% sure, I would bet money that the wonderful women that this site is dedicated to have not have had any kind of breast augmentation, the lone exceptions being Harada Ôrei, who has, without a doubt, huge implants, and possibly Oda Arisa - in some her pictures, her breasts seem a little too round, and some of the movement I've seen on her DVDs is suspicious. Aside from their natural shape, not the ball shapes like the typical implant grants, if you ever watch any of their videos, their breasts move and bounce very naturally - implants tend to remain quite still. Finally, take a look at any shots of the women lying on their backs: their breasts fall naturally to the side. If a woman with implants lies on her back, the implants tend to stay on the top of her chest. On the very slim chance that some of the ladies have had implants, I'll say this: my hat's off to your surgeon. They did a great job!

All that being said, there only a few people who really know if they are natural or enhanced, so take anything you read with a grain of salt, especially a certain site which claims that all Japanese women over a certain size are enhanced. And yes, I am aware of the differences between various kinds of implants (subglandular, submuscular, etc.) and I still say they most of the idols featured here are natural.

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10.

Has MEGUMI retired?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:23:24

From the entertainment business? No... she's become a regular on many Japanese TV shows, such as Fountain of Trivia (Toribia no izumi) and had a small acting roll on a popular recent miniseries, Kyumeibyoto nijuyoji (Lifesaving Ward 24 Hours). However, from being a gravure idol? Compared to Matsugane Yôko, Natsume Rio, and Hanai Miri, MEGUMI's gravure idol related output (DVDs, photobooks, magazine appearances) has trickled down to next to nothing, so I suspect, while she may do the rare magazine appearance, she's pretty much finished with being a professional sex symbol.

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11.

Is Nemoto Harumi retiring?

Last updated 2007-07-23 07:23:12

Although she has definately taken an extended (over twoyears) break between the releases of her DVDs X-Body and Surf Girl, Harumi announced at a release event that she would like to continue modelling for as long as possible. The story is on the Nikkan Sports website in Japanese.

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12.

I love MEGUMI. Do you know where I can find torrents of her books or videos?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:23:54

Okay, you little pissant, listen very carefully: if you "love" MEGUMI so much, why the hell don't you actually support her and go and buy some of her stuff rather than pirating it? Do I know where you can find torrents of any of the idols? No, but I can guess and given the popularity of P2P stuff, it's not actually that hard to find. I'm not your damn search engine. Oh yeah, junior, some advice: act like an adult. Get a job, move out of your parents' basement and start paying for things.

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13.

Are any of the ladies married or in relationships?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:24:11

If you're asking because you think you've got a shot, give yourself a good, hard punch in the jaw. Anyways, the careers of idols are controlled rather tightly by their agencies and managers, especially their public appearances and reputations: it does no good if you're selling yourself as a sexy, desirable, fantasy woman but it's a known fact that you have a boyfriend or husband. Active idols personal lives are closely guarded, and even dating is often discouraged, so if any of them are in a relationship, it's a closely guarded secret. At this time, of the GIJo Goddesses, only MEGUMI is known to be involved with someone (from the J-Pop band Dragon Ash), but MEGU-chan has pretty much moved past being a gravure idol anyways, so she's a little more free to pursue things like a romantic relationship.

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14.

OMG! Has Yôko retired?!?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:24:30

Ah... this rumor. The Great Matsugane Yôko Retirement Panic began in late 2005 when her former agency, Backup Promotion, removed her profile from their talent pages and there were no upcoming DVD or book releases to be found from retailers. Japanese BBSes filled with stories of Yoko moving into AV. However, in the 2006.03.09 edition of Sabra, new Yoko pics were published, thus somewhat quashing the fear that Yoko had moved on from the world of modelling. A few months later, new DVDs were published, and if Yôko's blog is to be believed, there should be more new stuff on the way this year.

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15.

Does Yôko have a son?!? There's a picture of a baby in her blog!

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:24:38

Nope - that's not her son. It's her nephew.

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About the site
16.

What did you use to make the site?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:29:38

For the coding: jEdit. I absolutely hate WYSIWYG editors. For the graphics: Photoshop for editing, IfranView for image resizing and renaming purposes. For general debugging, there are two truly kick ass extensions for Firefox called Web Developer and Firebug which no designer should be without.

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17.

What does the jô mean in Gravure Idol Jô?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:30:06

The kanji basically means place (場), but can be pronounced either ba or jo, depending on the word. In any case, the site's title translates from Japanese as Bikini Model Place. Yes, I know - I'm bursting with creativity.

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18.

You should add [insert idol name] to the site!

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:30:29

The short, to-the-point response is: it's my site. I'll add or delete which ever idols I want. The slightly longer response: unlike a lot of people, I invest a fair amount of money in this hobby buying books, magazines and DVDs, so I'm not going to start adding idols to my collection who I don't perceive to be the best of the best.

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19.

Why can't I see any pictures on the site?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:31:00

Can't be sure without knowing a lot of info about your setup, but the most likely culprit is Norton Internet Security. This well-intentioned but ill-designed piece of software has a very bad habit of blocking legitimate content from sites with it's ad blocking feature. Just turn off the ad blocker while browsing GIJo and everything should be fine. No, son, don't worry... there's no malicious content here. None of them nasty malware or spyware things you hear about in the Big City. No outside banner ads either... no siree. It's a quiet little down, Gravure Idol Jô is... yup....

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20.

Will you email me that Matsugane Yôko MPEG you used to have on your site?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:15:56

No. You're getting tons of pictures already. Quit being a greedy bastard. Furthermore, I will not send you any pictures either. Now go away.

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21.

How come you don't have [insert specific picture] on your site?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:31:18

One possibility is that I've never seen the picture, which makes it kinda hard for me. Also, as mentioned on the top page, I'm going for quality over quantity - so, there are any number of reasons why it's not here. Unless the picture in question is utterly spectacular, I generally want at least 1024x768 or thereabouts, so a lot of smaller pics you're never going to find here. Others may be too grainy to clean up, so they're also disqualified. And not all photographs are of the same caliber - sometimes, the lighting is really bad, the make-up artist does a horrible job, or the photographer shoots from a bad angle, in which case they don't make the cut either.

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22.

WTF? Password?!?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:31:49

Oh calm down. The user id is ichi and the password is oppaiseijin. I will probably be changing this from time to time, so check back here if you can't see the pretty pictures.

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About me
23.

Who are you?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:32:09

Well, around various message boards, I'm known as Zatoichi, or a variation thereof (Zato Ichi, z4t01ch1, ichitheblind, Zato1, Zato no Ichi - of course, just because a user is called 'Zatoichi', it doesn't nescessarily mean it's me). I'm a Canadian who's been living in Japan for about six years as of this writing (early 2005). Aside from my gravure idol obsession, I'm a computer/gaming geek, into Japanese budo, and like to draw (Fine Arts major... an ever useful degree). I make my living doing web design, illustrations, and a little English teaching.

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24.

Why did you start this site?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:32:21

Well, back in November 2004, I fractured my right middle finger, and the doctor told me to cut the martial arts training for a while. Okay. Great. Too much free time on my hands. I could have done something useful, but oh no... I created this little tribute to Nemoto Harumi, MEGUMI, Hanai Miri, Matsugane Yôko, and Natsume Rio.

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25.

How annoyed is your girlfriend?

Last updated 2007-04-21 15:32:49

Not at all, actually - she's great and has been very supportive of my odd little hobby. She laughs at me, calls me gurabia aidoru otaku (gravure idol nerd) and sukebe (pervert), but actually has been pretty helpful: she points out when she sees advertisements for idols appearing in magazines and translates whenever Japanese I don't understand in interviews (which, given my pitiful Japanese, is almost everything). Thanks, A... love ya!

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26.

Why didn't you answer my email?

Last updated 2007-05-10 21:14:51

Well, there are four main possibilities. The first is that you totally ignored that blurb on the Contact page about me not answering questions already covered somewhere on the site and sent me something anyways. This is by far the most common reason, and, frankly, your mail deserves to be ignored. Secondly, I simply do not have time answer every single comment I get, so if you just sent me a complement or comment, it's appreciated, believe me, but that will probably not get a response either: I'm limiting myself to responding only to actual questions and the like due to time constraints. The third possibility is that you've provided an incorrect email address - not much I can do about this one, at least at the moment - once I become omniscient, we'll talk. Finally, I may have simply forgotten, in which case my bad. Sorry.

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