... and that's a wrap

Much like Tanaka Hitomi's jump from gravure to AV, here comes another announcement so obvious that you could see it coming from a mile away - GIJo will be closing its virtual doors in the near future - by the latest in early December. Over half a year without updates - what else did you expect?

If you're curious as to why, the two biggest reasons are lack of time and, in some ways, lack of interest. Lack of time should be obvious - happens to the best of us. Lack of interst? Well, let's take a look at the idols I've dedicated the site to:

• Hanai Miri - inactive for two years; only recently released a new, and quite excellent I might add, DVD (In Secret) but shows no signs of releasing any more materials in the near future.
• Harada Ôrei - retired.
• Kitamura Hitomi - vastly slowing down her output, no new pictorials and only one new gravure DVD in the last six months, and that one was co-starring another idol.
• Matsugane Yôko - active, but I've lost interest. Yōko - quit doing the damned pseudo-porn and we'll talk. Still absolutely gorgeous, though.
• MEGUMI - retired, married and pregnant.
• Nemoto Harumi - inactive.
• Natsume Rio - active.
• Oda Arisa - retired, now an AV idol by the name of Kayana Mika.
• Takeuchi Nozomi - active, I think.
• Takizawa Nonami - active.

So that's basically four of my girls gone, two who seem to be on their way out shortly and one who appears to be headed for AV. That's right - in my opinion, Yōko appears to be taking the Aoki Rin/Tanaka Hitomi route, albeit at a much slower pace. That leaves only Rio, Nonami and Nozomi (possibly). With such a small focus for the site, I'm not sure if there would be any interest in it.

Also, the galleries have been superfluous for some time now - it seems people want quantity over quality. It seems like I must be one of the only collectors who actually filters for quality- no I don't care whether this file was originally some obscurely named code from this particular set on that date - if it's a badly taken picture, it gets dumped from my archives. Plus, with so many alternate and easier sources to grab images from, why bother?

In anycase, my cynical, holier-than-thou attitude aside, I'd like to give a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to write with a thoughtful comment or criticism or a bit of news, even if I'm a total asshat when it comes to replying in a timely manner, if at all.

I'm sure, JustMeMike will be continuing his excellent DVD reviews and articles over at Also On Video - he just posted a slew of new idol DVD reviews over a long absence as well. As soon as he's set up in his new home, I'll be updating the links. If you haven't had the opportunity to go check out his blog, do so ASAP!

Finally, you can still reach me for the time being through the contact form. I'll also be over at Asiansthetic.com for the foreseeable future - just do a user search for "Zatôichi".

Again, thanks to everyone who stopped by. I'd like to think that I put together not only a fan site of some quality, but also offered something a little different and more interesting than the norm for these kind of things. Who knows - if there's enough interest, I might be back, although I'd definitely drop the galleries in their current form.

Ladies and gentlemen, Gravure Idol Jo has left the building.

Welcome to GIJô 3.0 (Beta)

Okay, so after an almost two month hiatus, GIJô is, I hope, back in action. There are a few reviews and some images missing, but everything has basically survived intact. Changed URLs aside (sigh... so much for my status on Google), everything should work pretty much as it did before, with a few exceptions:

• All new images added to the galleries will be posted from the front pages, not the back.
• Removed a lot of the duplicates from the galleries.
• The update mailing list is dead, for various reasons (not the least of which is these slack-jawed troglodytes who can't distinguish between a mailing list and a membership form (i.e. didn't read the FAQ)). If you want to keep track of updates, I have set up an RSS feed which you can subscribe to.
• The Update Archives are gone, replaced by the News section. Aside from site announcements, I'll also be adding little news tidbits and interesting stories I read about the idols.
• Shiny, new coat of paint. Mmm. Rounded corners.

There is one more section which I am debating adding, which would be a Japanese-style Image BBS (think along the lines of Forest of Breast). I haven't decided whether it would be more trouble than it's worth, so this one is still up in the air at the moment.

In any case, as with any major recoding, there are bound to be problems, so if you notice a major problem, drop me a line. Also, there are certain things I am not completely happy with (the most blatant is the new password system with the galleries), so expect aspects of the site to change in the near future.

Goodbye Erina, hello Arisa

Okay, I can admit when I was wrong: although Yamaguchi Erina has the looks and the body to be one of the great big bust idols, for one reason or another she just didn't cut it. Her first DVD, Amazing, was a solid entry into the idol scene, but the follow up, Great J, was one of the worst idol DVDs I have ever seen. She never really seemed that enthusiastic about being in front of the camera or had the overt charisma which would have taken her to the next level. So much potential, but then, nothing.

So, exit Erina from the GIJô pantheon, enter Oda Arisa. I've been a fan of hers for a while, she's been around for a few years now and has a bunch of quite good releases behind her. If you've never her before, you'll notice two things about her:

• She's a little smaller in the chest department than I usually like, and
• she's a lot more risque than any of the other idols here....

Arisa reminds me a lot of Nozomi: she just radiates sex in her DVDs and has a very powerful screen presence. Plus, being drop dead gorgeous helps. One final look at Erina before she goes....