Pikachu, an icon of Japanese culture, is violated at the 2007 Pokémon Festa as fans pull and penetrate at his (or should I say her) entrance flaps playing peek-a-boo into an inflatable Pikachu. If you have ever wondered where Pikachu babies come from, wonder no more.

Trained gynaecologists performing a screening test for cervical cancer?

Please welcome popular j-blogger, haikyoist, adventurer, photographer and linguist, gakuranman, who guest writes the following article where he explores Japan’s love doll industry and the social stigma surrounding it.

Love Dolls, Sex Dolls, Blow-up Dolls. These are all commonly-used terms to refer to what are essentially mannequins, albeit extremely lifelike and realistic. They tend to be used for primarily sexual purposes, and as such have been stigmatised as ‘masturbation tools’ for people who are socially inept or as ‘unnatural and unhealthy’. But is that the whole picture? For some, it would seem that love dolls are the only way of providing companionship. In this guest post for loneleeplanet, I’ll be taking a closer look at love dolls, their owners and challenging the social stigma surrounding them.

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