This article is reproduced from the discontinued, but much loved Mainichi Waiwai column by Ryann Connell (Article below by Masuo Kamiyama). Read more about this at the bottom of this article.
If a man has money in his wallet and a gnawing need to get naked and have sex, where would be the most logical place for him to mount his search?
In Japan, the first place that would come to mind would doubtless be a dimly lit alley proximate to a neon-illuminated drinking district, usually within staggering distance of a major commuter rail station.
By contrast, the last place one would think of looking would be in a suburban residential area. But thanks to magazines like Jitsuwa Taiho (April), we have learned to expect the unexpected.
The magazine’s reporter was able to get wet and go wild, not in a bar or massage parlor, but in a bathing establishment where low-income earners go to get clean. Although as we shall soon see, in his case it was more like getting cleaned out — and in more ways than one.
The incident in question occurred at a “coin shower” in Tokyo’s Bunkyo-ku, an area with a high population of students who reside in cheap apartments and boarding houses.
These coin showers, which are often set up adjacent to coin-operated laundromats, are like self-service car washes for human bodies. Catering to people whose tiny, low-budget residences lack bathing facilities, they consist of a compact cubicle for disrobing and a shower stall — with timer-equipped hot water heater — that is activated by insertion of several hundred yen, permitting a 10- or 15-minute hot-water scrubdown.
Since, unlike the larger neighborhood public bathhouses, they are automated and unmanned, one can slip in for an inexpensive scrub any time of the day or night. Lurking outside one such place in Tokyo’s Bunkyo-ku, Jitsuwa Taiho’s reporter encounters a kinky 36-year-old housewife named Miyuki, who has discovered another use for the establishment — as a spot for turning tricks.
To make contact with her clients, Miyuki uses a prepaid cell phone that cannot be traced to her. Her old-style ‘mama-chari’ bicycle, a standby of Japanese housewives, makes her appear to her neighbors as if she’s headed out for a perfectly innocent shopping expedition. But having a two-wheeler also enables her to flee the scene quickly, should the need arise.
Greeting our reporter with a shy smile, Miyuki’s bearing was unmistakably that of a female on the prowl.
Miyuki tells the reporter she never paid much attention to the coin shower in her neighborhood, until one day she caught a glimpse of a happy young couple, wet hair glistening, making their exit together. This gave her the idea that she could utilize a coin shower stall for illicit purposes.
She also lets him in on her secret fetish.
“I’m a little shy about taking about my sexual preferences with a guy I’m meeting for the first time,” Miyuki giggles. “But when I was young, I played around a lot. If I wasn’t doing it with a guy someplace out of doors, I couldn’t get turned on.”
But obviously in close proximity to her own residence, Miyuki doesn’t dare indulge in such exhibitionist behavior. The relative privacy of a public coin shower, however, permits her to pursue her perverse penchant for promiscuous play.
While Miyuki’s enthusiastic but unrefined techniques suggest she’d never been employed in the sex industry, she did come well equipped. Folded into a bath towel our reporter saw a tube of skin lotion, bottle of throat gargle and several condoms.
“How did I get started in this? Well, my hubby’s salary is pretty low, and I wanted to have some extra spending money. We don’t have kids, and it’s kinda boring to stay home all day by myself.”
Miyuki’s usual charge for 30 minutes, which will included stripping to the skin, slipping inside the shower, soaping up and going all the way, is 20,000 yen. For half that figure, she’ll allocate the same time, but end the occasion with oral only. This time she agreed, for an additional consideration, to pose for nude photos, so the total cost to Jitsuwa Taiho came to 40,000 yen.
After the sudsy sex session ended, Miyuki’s kinky urges were still kindled, so for an additional 5,000 yen, she took the reporter back to her apartment building for a second serving. On the topmost floor on the outdoor fire escape, the two embraced. After slipping a latex muzzle on ol’ Fido, she leaned against the banister while he did her doggy style. Now that’s about as kinky as it gets.
〜★〜★〜★〜★〜★〜★〜★〜★〜
(The Mainichi Waiwai column ran online from April 19, 2001 – June 21, 2008. It was a much loved form of entertainment amongst foreigner in and outside of Japan. To any reader it was obviously not serious news, but it was a set of articles that portrayed quite well how the Japanese tabloids actually write about their own country. In 2008, a small number of Japanese people bought it to the attention of rival news groups that Mainichi was running an anti-Japan column on its website. With the bad publicity, Mainichi was forced to shut the page down, and take punitive measures against the journalists that were working on it, claiming that it was receiving opinions that were critical of the column, such as “its contents are too vulgar” and “the stories could cause Japanese people to be misunderstood abroad”. A perfect example of how Japanese consider what they write in their own script to be an acceptable secret code, that the rest of the world cant understand. When that same tabloid rubbish gets inconveniently translated to English to make light of some aspects of the Japanese people, it gets canned. Stippy.com finds this unacceptable, and will reproduce as much of the Waiwai content as possible in order to bring it once again to our computer screens for a good laugh. Of course we claim no credit for this content, and attribute it to it’s writers who were former Mainichi employees. Waiwai in its true and glorious form has been discontinued, but it’s legacy will live on at stippy.com for all to enjoy.)
Can anybody (in particular female readers) explain why this article is “much loved” and brings “a good laugh?”
This particular article may not be “much loved” (I like it, but this is a subjective matter isn’t it), but in general, the waiwai column was loved by many. I dont know anyone at all who read it as actual *news*. Rather, as the site here says, it was entertainment. Just like people killing other people on TV is entertainment. The Japanese tabloids a clearly 80% fiction, so what is wrong with them being translated into English, so more can enjoy? If you want to attack someone, attack the original papers who write the stuff. They wont do anything about your complaint though, because Japanese people BUY and READ them!
Tez,
Thank you for your comment.
But you didn’t answer my question.
Why is this article “much loved?” If this particular article may not be loved, but you like it, why?
Do female readers enjoy this kind of articles as much as male readers?
The article was totally untrue and highly inappropriate and you know that.
Unfortunately this is the exact reason and Japanese people are foreigner phobia. initially, Japanese people are willing to help you (or people like you) but you simply stab their back. Many people defined this incident caused by MDN as an act of cyber terrorism and you are helping that terrorist.
Foreigners blames Japanese people for hating foreign people but you should realize it is your action that it causing it.
Seiji, nowhere does it say the article was much loved…the column was.
1234……..your rant is a good example of the hypocrital blinkers that are a true Japanese art form.
So is translating Japanese to English a form of “stabbing in the back”?
Corporal Clegg,
Thank you for clearing it up. But isn’t this article a part of the column?
What makes this article so different from others, such as the following, which are listed right below this article?
WaiWai: Gals refresh body and soul by ‘recycling sex’ with old beaus
WaiWai: Marriages in the mire as housewives frolic further afield
I just cannot enjoy WaiWai articles and I don’t understand why people say they like them. I just want to know why they love WaiWai, or even state they love WaiWai.
I also would like to know what female readers think about WaiWai. Do they like the articles/the column as male readers do?
Seiji, I don’t like gay porn movies, but I have no problem with people making them (or even putting Japanese subtitles on them!). I don’t really care if others like gay porn, I don’t. But, I don’t ask people why they might like them, because it is their right to – it doesn’t need explanation. Do you like Natto seiji? Why? Why…? Why….? Get the point? Everyone has things things they like and dislike, and noone needs to explain them to anyone.
My wife likes Waiwai articles. I asked her (for your sake) why she liked it, and she said, “because it makes me laugh”. I asked her why did it make her laugh, and she said, because the stories are so blunt and out of her world. She said that she doesn’t care if they are real or not, and assumes they are not, but that doesn’t take away the fact that they make her laugh. Why is it that Japanese people love to laugh at sensational bullshit news from other countries, but when it comes to their own soft underbelly being projected, they can’t see the lighter side. Are you Japanese? If so, why? why?? why???
Tez,
Thank you very much for your reply.
Yes, I do like natto. Because it tastes good and it is good for your health.
I understand that you do not want to answer my question. I respect your decision. Nobody needs to answer my question. But I figured that answering my question requires one to experience some sort of embarrassment. I am sorry if my question intimidate you.
Thank you for asking my question to your imaginary wife. But her answer is too vague and unconvincing.
You asked “Why is it that Japanese people love to laugh at sensational bullshit news from other countries, but when it comes to their own soft underbelly being projected, they can’t see the lighter side,” so let me answer this question.
Does any of “sensational bullshit news from other countries” come from a quality newspaper? I do not think so. Mainichi Shimbun is one of the quality papers in Japan. It is the only newspaper whose reporter has won a Pulitzer Prize. It is not Mainich shimbun’s job to publish “sensational bullshit news.” Japanese supreme court states that “a newspaper company must take responsibility for its own articles even if they are citations from a credible news agency, much more from an incredible news source.”
Claim for Compensation, Case number:1995(O) No.1421
Moreover, as many English language newspapers have pointed out, many of WaiWai articles include intentional mistranslations. For example, one WaiWai article states that 55% of Japanese women have sex on the same day they meet a guy. But the original article says that among those who had sex the same day they met a guy, 55% of them had the intention to do that. The original articles of ‘WaiWai: The Cook, the Beast, the Vice and its Lover’ clearly states that the story is an ‘urban legend,’ but WaiWai left out the notice intentionally.
In your previous comment you stated, “I dont know anyone at all who read it as actual *news*.” I really hope you are right. However, the reality is the contrary.
The movie “Babel” is clearly influenced from the WaiWai article ‘WaiWai: Fast food sends schoolgirls into sexual feeding frenzy’.
This movie is not funny, but serious.
Princess Masako (Japan furious about new book: “Princess Masako – Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne”) written by an Australian writer Ben Hills has in accurate description of Japanese mother-son relationship, based on the WaiWai article, ‘More moms going down, to ensure grades go up’.
If you still don’t believe what I claim, look at the following link.
http://www9.atwiki.jp/mainichiwaiwai/pages/163.html
and this.
http://groups.google.co.jp/group/sci.lang.japan/msg/a96e854365f72b96
As you can see, there are many MDN readers who thought that the WaiWai stories are true.
These are only a small portion of damages what WaiWai has caused.
Stippy.com claims that the closure of WaiWai is “A perfect example of how Japanese consider what they write in their own script to be an acceptable secret code, that the rest of the world cant (sic.) understand.”
But I think it is English speaking writers and readers of WaiWai who have thought that they can write whatever they want to, since Japanese people cannot read English – their own secret code. I think WaiWai lovers want to justify themselves by attacking MDN attackers.
Thank you for archiving old WaiWai articles.
It’s good to know there’s a place to get them.
I wonder if someone will carry on the tradition of translating all this nonsense into English… Heh.
Seiji actually has a good point. Everyone knows there is sensationalist crap published in Japan as there is in every country. If it is published by a disreputable rag, nobody pays attention except for idiots. When it is published by a mainstream paper, the gullible accept it to be true. The New York Times engages in sloppy and biased reporting all of the time on it’s front page and publishes it’s retractions buried 13 pages deep to serve its liberal political convictions. The public is not served this way, and reputations are damaged.
I never liked Wai Wai for a simple reason. I am neither Japanese nor female, but Wai Wai painted Japanese females in a very unflattering light, and those who have never been to Japan assume at least some of what they read is true. Why would they not given its publication in a mainstream paper? I always felt that the reputation of my very normal and modest Japanese wife suffered every time someone whispered to me, “are they really like that?” after reading something like Wai Wai on the net. Japanese society has enough foibles to keep us all busy scratching our heads for eons. We don’t need to make stuff up for amusement.
Goodness, chill.
I can’t represent the entire population with my statements, but I am a Japanese female and I find this stuff hilarious. I don’t even care if it’s true or not.
And I might be assuming, but I’d guess that most people who read Mainichi and used to read WaiWai were interested in Japan, had respect for Japan, and were educated about Japan. It may have caused harm, hurt feelings, and/or offended people, but I would like any antis to inform me of a newspaper (or especially a tabloid!) that hasn’t done so.
Thank you :]
The Mainichi Waiwai column clearly would have been a much-loved feature because it printed titillating stories, translated into English, that had been published in the Japanese press as “news items”. Nothing like smutty stories printed for the titillation of readers to make a column or publication much loved by the reading public, in this case the English-language-newspaper-reading public of Japan and elsewhere.
It should be noted that the Japanese media, beginning with its press in the 1920s, has a long history of publishing titillating or lurid tales of a sexual or erotic nature. The Japanese term “eroguronansensu, or erotic, grotesque nonsense” coined by Japanese media mogul Matsutaro Shoriki for the content of his newspaper _Yomiuri Shimbun_ in the 1920s and 30s is an indication of the tradition of sensational eroticism of the Japanese press.