... 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.