Take our user survey and make your voice heard.
For the past couple of years, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces have been put under the spotlight as politicians debate approving a re-interpretation of the country’s constitution, allowing the JSDF more freedom to take action should the need arise. The motion eventually passed last month, followed by a spectacle of chaos and outrage that became worldwide news.
But lately people have started talking about something else surprising: an official Self-Defense Force magazine catering to military enthusiasts and featuring gravure model spreads.
The magazine in question is called, MAMOR (read as “mamoru”, meaning “to protect” in Japanese). The official magazine of Japan’s Self-Defense Force, it includes gravure idols posing in authentic military uniforms on the cover and for spreads included inside.
Printed by FUSOSHA Publishing Inc, this month marks MAMOR’s 105th issue, although it was only considered a relatively minor publication until the magazine recently caught the public’s eye. Unlike most magazines featuring gravure, instead of shots of idols in suggestive poses wearing skimpy bikinis, the idols featured in MAMOR wear real military uniforms and are photographed on-location saluting and making other appropriate poses.
Idols and idol groups that have graced past issues of MAMOR include Atsuko Maeda, Idoling!!!, Hinako Sano, Mitsu Dan, Nonoka Ono, Manami Hashimoto, Risa Yoshiki, and Rika Adachi.
As it stands, the gravure industry is already a controversial subject for its depiction of young women, often minors, but the fact that this might be the only magazine featuring pin-up models with ties to a government entity has only fueled the debate. Of course, the predominantly male consumer base that purchases the magazine is hardly complaining, and given the classy nature in which the gravure idols are shown, it seems hard to hate on a magazine that could possibly encourage more gender diversification and interest in Japan’s Self-Defense Force.
Source: Naver Matome
Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- Japan Self-Defense Forces get a fan club, for some reason -- JSDF recuiter uses lines from ‘Love Live!’, baffles Internet -- Japan Self-Defense Forces show off their feminine side with 2014 calendar
© Japan Today
23 Comments
Login to comment
crustpunker
Le sigh...........
savethegaijin
Er, I mean... I guess? I just... oh screw it, I second the Le sigh.
gokai_wo_maneku
Are young boys so naive? They will be sent off to die in a foreign US military-industrial complex caused war.
Aizo Yurei
(or ones caused by Japanese politicians?)
The rest of the world is not shaking in their boots about Japanese lil toy solders
Pukey2
Jesus, this really is scraping the barrel. I can also see free tickets to AKB concerts tucked inside. Anything to entice anyone.
I hope these new recruits realize it's a dangerous world out there. The Dutch and other countries' armies won't need to babysit them anymore, right Abe?
SimondB
I do so like a woman in uniform.
Scrote
One thing you won't ever see in uniform in Japan: the son of a politician.
Kabukilover
This is a sign of desperation. People are leaving the SDF in record numbers. People are also not signing up. Collective self-defense does not mean much until there is a prospect of dying in a foreign war.
I hope you realize pretty girls are not awaiting you when you join the SDF.
shonanbb
Hey America does the same thing. They put hot chicks and handsome guys on and in their pamphlets, and some people are turned on by uniforms anyway. Should work well in Japan...if you have ever been to a love hotel you will understand.
Wc626
This is true. Heh, perhaps the SDF should set up recruiting offices in the heart of Akihabara. With "idols" in green fatigues standing next to "maids". (What a circus that would be)
Heck, whatever works. SDF recruitment is beginning to resemble a downward spiral, similar to Japan's population decline.
Yubaru
You are either a female or have never been "young" to ask this question. Generations of young" men have been attracted to pin-up models in magazines for just about as long as magazines have been publishing them.
These are hardly risque in comparison to what US publishers put out back in the day.
Thunderbird2
I've bought a few of those magazines... nice info on SDF equipment... but I also liked the models posing around in uniform. Adds a nice counterpoint... big Type 89 and a pretty young lady posing in the driver's or commander's hatch in a big helmet. Can't help but smile
ThonTaddeo
With Abe in power, it's not hard at all.
Wakarimasen
Only another form of Prince Pickles and Parsley-chan. There is nothing in Japan that doesn't benefit from a bit of sexing up.
wtfjapan
she can give me orders anyday!
harvey pekar
Honestly, I don't care about using gravure or pop idols. The readership is probably mostly men, the women aren't doing gratuitous crotch shots like they would make most young girls do in other magazines or even in the sports section of a newspaper.
What's the big deal? They want people to enlist, and not just to fight but to also defend, and they're using cute women to do it. The models are okay with it, they're getting paid, and the JDSF is getting what they want.
pantherpg
Where are the male idols posing in uniform to encourage female recruits?
Are there also shots of actual JSDF members training or performing rescue missions? 'Cause you could stick my favorite idol of either gender into a uniform and if I don't think I'd like to do the work, it's not going to sway me.
Maybe you could have the idols interview members of the JSDF talking about the work they do. If people see that their idols respect actual people doing the work I think it would have the biggest impact out of all of these marketing scenarios.
nath
It's probably a cost-benefit thing. Some money put into cute chicks in uniform may bring in some guys, but the number of girls brought in with the reverse would probably be minimal and not worth the cost.
zurcronium
Maybe before the law changed to allow Japan to actually fight, but now that Abe could send troops to the Middle East you are so right. It will be the poor that become cannon fodder for Abe's dreams to return to the Japan of the 1930s. And that really did not end well for this country.
turbotsat
http://www.japantrends.com/japanese-women-recruit-husbands-marry-self-defense-forces-soldiers-mamor-magazine/
AlexNoaburg
japanese propaganda machine gearing up
sensei258
What a narrow-minded view of the world. With China and North Korea in their back yard, don't you think Japan should have a defensive military force of their own?
Wc626
Yes. Keep enlistment up to capacity. Allow SDF to play a more assertive/pro-active role in the region too.