Miss Magazine 2008, Part 3

Here’s a recap of the 2008 Miss Magazine gravure / idol search contest. The 5 contestants who made it to the final will have considerable leverage for their future in Japanese showbiz.

* Miss Magazine 2008 Winner (ミスマガジン2008グランプリ) - Nanami Sakuraba (桜庭ななみ)

It’s hard to believe the grand prize of the prestigious award this year went to a girl with a pure face who’s only 15 from Kagoshima Prefecture in southern Japan. Nanami has just moved up to Tokyo to pursue her showbiz career in April. She doesn’t like to lose and will keep trying whenever she doesn’t succeed at something.

* Miss Shukan Shonen Magazine Award (ミス週刊少年マガジン) - Sakura Sato (佐藤さくら)

This 17 year old sexy cutie from Okinawa found out her good fortune when she was watching TV with her mom. Sakura is a huge fan of Teppei Koike, super popular Japanese actor, singer, heartthrob and member of the j-pop duo WaT. I want to see more of this sexy kitten in bikini!

* Miss Young Magazine Award (ミスヤングマガジン) - Miki Nakagawa (中川美樹)

Finally, here’s a Japanese teen you can legally “touch”! 19 year old Miki possesses a warm smile and a nice set of knockers. The Nagano native made the move to Tokyo because her high school was very strict about its students being involved in showbiz.

* Reader’s Choice Award (読者特別賞) - Shizuka Umemoto (梅本静香)

The lolita faced Tokyo native is every “younger sister” fanboys’ fantasy! Shizuka first received the auspicious news when she had just woken up from a nap so her reaction at first was comically non-existent. The 15 year old has had to learn to speak honorific (ultra polite form) Japanese along with other showbiz protocols and rules on the job, literally…while going to different location for photo shoot.

* Judge’s Special Award (審査員特別賞) - Mio Otani (大谷澪)

This 16 year old from Osaka sports girl next door charm and a shapely, slender body. Mio says since she was in grade school she’s always looked up to idols and she wanted to join Japanese super idol group Morning Musume. Her favorite male talent (a Japanese catch-all word for entertainer) is Shun Oguri.

Miss Magazine 2008, Part 2

Who doesn’t like young Japanese cuties? I’ve dug up some more photos from last month’s annual “Miss Magazine” (ミスマガジン美少女コンテスト) gravure / idol search contest held at Sunshine City in the trendy Ikebukuro district of Tokyo.

Once again, from left to right: Mio Otani, Miki Nakagawa, 2008 contest winner Nanami Sakuraba, Sakura Sato and Shizuka Umemoto

The girls were cheered on by last year’s 5 finalists. Posing behind the girls on stage were (L to R): 2007 Miss Magazine winner Yayoi Shikatani (鹿谷弥生), Airi Nakajima (中島愛里), Aika (あいか), Mihato Ise (伊勢みはと) and Saki Yamaguchi (山口沙紀).

Don’t you wish you can get pretty young Japanese teens to squeeze together their tits to show you the cleavage and bend over for you like this all the time?

Miss Magazine 2008

Here are some bonus pictures from the final around of this year’s Miss Magazine gravure idol contest (ミスマガジン美少女コンテスト). Once again the event took place at the Sunshine City fountain plaza (サンシャイン噴水広場) in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district. The grand prize went to 15 year old Nanami Sakuraba (桜庭ななみ) from Kagoshima Precture, but basically everyone walked away a winner, as making it to the final will help the girls greatly in Japanese showbiz further on down the road.

From L to R: Mio Otani, Miki Nakagawa, Nanami Sakuraba, Sakura Sato and Shizuka Umemoto in white bikini waving to the crowd at Sunshine City

Sakura Sato, Miki Nakagawa and Shizuka Umemoto in the front row showing off their girl next door smile. This is why I always regard Japan as the world’s No.1 producer of cute girls and everything cute!

Nanami Sakuraba

Nanami Sakuraba (桜庭ななみ), left, Miss Magazine 2008 winner poses with 2007 winner Yayoi Shikatani who came on stage to congratulate her

This past Sunday the final round selection for the winner of Miss Magazine (ミスマガジン) 2008 gravure idol was held at Sunshine City (サンシャインシティ) shopping mall in Ikebukuro district of downtown Tokyo. And 15 year old Nanami Sakuraba (桜庭ななみ) from Kagoshima Prefecture at the southern tip of Japan was crowned as the winner! It seems like idols in Japan are getting younger every year yet they’re fully embraced by the society. Hey, who am I to complain!

An U-15 (under 15) idol has won Miss Magazine gravure contest this year!

Miss Magazine 2008 gravure contest finalists (from L to R): Mio Otani, Miki Nakagawa, Nanami Sakuraba, Sakura Sato and Shizuka Umemoto

Winning the coveted Miss Magazine gravure idol title is a huge deal, as it is seen as a sure-thing stepping stone for the Japanese teen to enter into some other opportunities in showbiz. Running since 1982, past Miss Magazine winners have been Hollywood actress Youki Saito (斉藤由貴) and OG Japanese idol later turned actress Yoko Minamino (南野陽子). More recent winner / entrant include super popular gravure idol Misako Yasuda (安田美沙子), Kii Kitano (北乃きい) and everyone’s favorite cutie pie otaku Shoko Nakagawa (中川翔子) aka “Shokotan”! As a matter of fact, the gravure idol contest received about 17,000 entries this year.

After being announced as the winner, the baby faced Nanami Sakuraba said, “I still can’t believe I’ve won. I will work hard with lots of smile and courage!” Nanami belongs to the same entertainment production agency “Sweet Power” (スウィートパワー) as the red hot U-19 Japanese teen idol Kii Kitano. Nanami has set her sight on catching up to the beautiful Kii because “she’s got really good acting skills”.