Tomoe Yamanaka 山中知恵

Immergeil

Very Old Member
Aug 10, 2014
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Maybe I am naive, but I always imagine an idol as popular as Tomoe to be very well off financially.
It is indeed a bit naive, the wast majority of idols be it singers or gravure models make little to no money, only the really big ones can live off it (and Tomoe is not that big).

As daredemonai said the smart ones finish high-school and then goes to university, not sure what plans Tomoe has but I'm guessing she just hopes to marry some rich guy.
 
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daredemonai

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Mar 19, 2009
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Not sure how to do this, but this was one of the photos I took of her at the restaurant...
If anyone doubts Kakimatsu's story, do a Google reverse image search of this photo. You won't find it anywhere on the web, so he couldn't have just taken it from Tomoe's blog or some other public source.
I'm sorry but I just can't get it through my head that she was "waiting (your) table". Are you saying she was working as a waitress?
and if so, why? was it a promotional gig ?
Maybe I am naive, but I always imagine an idol as popular as Tomoe to be very well off financially.
Check out my post above. The only "idols" making enough money to live comfortably are the ones seen regularly on prime time Japanese broadcast television. Tomoe is not one of them.
 

HeavyNosebleed

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Dec 4, 2013
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the wast majority of idols be it singers or gravure models make little to no money, only the really big ones can live off it (and Tomoe is not that big).
I once read an article that stated that the average Gravure Idol makes about as much as an average office worker. They even gave a number. I think it was 250,000 yen per month. But I don't have the link to the article anymore.
Maybe the article was wrong or Tomoe is "below average" (as she does not have many releases in big magazines like Weekly Playboy, Young Animal or under a really big IV label). :(

But another theory could also apply: She maybe earns as much as an average office worker and could live off it but isn't really satisfied with it. With being a Gravure Idol she might have enough time for a second job to raise her overall income to a level where she is able to afford a more decent lifestyle. Just a theory...
 

daredemonai

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Mar 19, 2009
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I once read an article that stated that the average Gravure Idol makes about as much as an average office worker. They even gave a number. I think it was 250,000 yen per month.
That article was no doubt talking about famous gravure idols. At the risk of repeating myself, Tomoe is not famous outside of junior idol fandom, which is a very small (and dark) fandom. You could walk around a busy intersection in downtown Tokyo with a big photo of Tomoe for a half an hour before you found anyone who knew her name. (Or rather, someone who would admit to knowing her name.)
 

Glassjaw

Miu > all
Apr 30, 2007
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Tomoe has 10,000 followers on Twitter, which is pretty impressive: but there's other gravure idols with over ten times that amount who I'm not even that familiar with. Then there's girls like Nozomi Takada who are very niche in their erotic content but she's hands on with her company and seems to be doing quite well for herself.
 

trend

Oshiri is life
Apr 1, 2009
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"damaged"...being a junior don't mean you will not have mainstream activities after.
Come on, just take a look at shinozaki Ai, she is pretty well known in Japan and was the icon of Jr gravure.
 

Immergeil

Very Old Member
Aug 10, 2014
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"damaged"...being a junior don't mean you will not have mainstream activities after.
Come on, just take a look at shinozaki Ai, she is pretty well known in Japan and was the icon of Jr gravure.
I don't think the issue is being a jr.idol it's more what kind of gravure you are doing, there are plenty of jr. idols that do videos of them just running around doing stuff with no lingering shots of their ass or crotch and such, that kind is absolutely harmless and I don't think that will harm their career.

I have not seen any of Ai Shinozaki's jr. idol stuff though so I'm not sure what kind she did.

EDIT: I did a quick search and the stuff I saw looked pretty much as I described above, it seemed harmless.
 
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HeavyNosebleed

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I don't think the issue is being a jr.idol it's more what kind of gravure you are doing, there are plenty of jr. idols that do videos of them just running around doing stuff with no lingering shots of their ass or crotch and such, that kind is absolutely harmless.

I have not seen any of Ai Shinozaki's jr. idol stuff though so I'm not sure what kind she did.

EDIT: I did a quick search and the stuff I saw looked pretty much as I described above, it seemed harmless.
At first: Thanks a lot gokkunfan for all these "old" sets. It was really the right thing to post to relax the tense discussion that has had build up here. :)

@Immergeil That is about spot on, I think. Junior Idols who have become very famous like Ai Shinozaki, Saaya Irie or Rina Koike were doing tame stuff at that age. They were also showing a lot of skin in some of their releases, but not as much as many Imouto Idols like Tomoe. Furthermore things like positions and exposure are a big difference, too. As you said shots in positions like ass-up to the camera or wide open legs with the angle pointing right between them show the difference to Ai Shinozaki or Saaya Irie. Even considering Tomoe wasn't the most revealing and "extreme" of Imouto she still was part of that group of Imouto Idols and thus gets judged as one of them.
Also Saaya, Ai or Rina were actresses or part of a girl group at a very early age which was supporting their career big time and moving them in the right direction to become more and more "mainstream famous".

@Kamikatsu You are a really lucky guy. ;) My heart was beating fast while reading your posts. :D I think I would have almost fainted being at that restaurant and seeing Tomoe. If I would have managed to stay conscious I would have been going down on one knee to ask her for a date. Though Tomoe most likely wouldn't understand what I say. :D