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.