Category: JapaneseIdols

After the idol DVD release experience where I only had one minute to take pictures the next step was a full idol photo session I went this weekend. Once again, Danny easily convinced me to go, this time the name of the girl was Miri Hanai (花井美理). I didn’t know her, but it seems she is pretty famous in the idol world. It’s been only four years since she started her career but she has already been in more than 20 DVDs, she was the model for Metal Gear Solid 3 posters and she appeared in a Nike CM.

Danny likes Miri Hanai, so he spent lots of time taking zillions of pictures from different perspectives. I preferred the other girl who was also in the same photo session, you will have to wait to see her pictures until next week. Let’s see what I managed to take using my new Nikon D40:

This time we had plenty of time, the mood was relaxed, there were many photography otakus and I had time to learn photography techniques. For example, I learned the importance of white balance, you need to setup it correctly if you want the skin color to look natural.

If you like Miri you can continue with: video 1, video 2, video 3 and her blog.

Maya Koizumi posing for me ^^. Original resolution version.

Yes!, I took that picture ^^. Dannychoo(The Darth Vader guy) invited me to go with him to an Idol DVD release event. I had no idea where I was going, well… yes I did know I could take Japanese idol pictures like the ones I’m used to see at Danny’s Japanese Idol section, I was expecting to be able to take something like this.

It was my first time, it was a really weird/interesting/otaku/freak experience. Can you imagine a room filled with 100 Japanese guys (in their forties) with huge cameras and with a wide smile taking pictures to a 18 years old girl dressed with a bikini in the center of Tokyo? That’s it! I felt like… well, no comment.

Original resolution version

In order to be able to take pictures you had to buy the lastest DVD from Maya Koizumi (小泉麻耶). A 18 years old gravure model, her blood type is A and is not yet very famous but seems to have potential (88cm 😉 ). If you want to know more about her, or become his fan she has a blog.

These are all Maya Koizumi DVDs. It’s her last DVD recorded in Guam island.

We bought the DVD, and got a random number that would determine our position in the room. I got number 24, not bad. But Danny got number 10, he had better views than me. Once we enter the room and sit down in our places we can’t take pictures, we just listen to Maya Koizumi talking about what food she likes, what is she going to do this summer, which mobile phone does she have and so on. After 30 mins of blahblahblah she changes her dress and comes back in bikini. Then is when we can start taking pictures… but wait! there are some rules, we are in Japan where everything is controlled by rules, rules and more rules. The rules are: groups of 10 people and each group has 60 seconds to take photos. The pictures you can see in this entry are the best ones I managed to take in 60 seconds. Danny Choo had 60 more seconds, check Danny’s perspective, and how Maya Koizumi looks like taken with a digital reflex camera.

Here are some more pictures I took.

After our glorious 60 seconds we got a handshake with her and a signed DVD cover. This is my signed DVD:

If you liked her you can continue watching this video I found at Otakuvids:

Related links:

• Maya Koizumi’s pictured taken by Danny
• Maya Koizumi’s blog
• Japanese idols

Yoko Matsugane (松金 洋子, Matsugane Yōko) is one of my favorite Japanese gravure idols. She was born in 1982, she is only 164cm tall but her breast size is 95cm. If you put that breast size together with a really cute face then you have can become a famous idol in Japan.

And here some nice Yoko Matsugane’s videos.

Yoko’s melon power.

Some gravure idol videos are just weird, but fun!

And this last one is a fan remix.