Monthly Playboy (月刊プレイボーイ, Gekkan Pureibōi), also known as Geppure (月プレ) or MPB, was a franchise of Playboy magazine in Japan.

Monthly Playboy
Cover of the February 1988 issue, featuring Brooke Shields
CategoriesMen's magazine
FrequencyMonthly
Circulationapprox. 900,000 (1975),
approx. 55,000 (final few years[1])
First issueJuly 1975
Final issue
Number
January 2009
408
CompanyShueisha
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Websitem-playboy.shueisha.co.jp

History and profile

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Monthly Playboy was first published in July 1975.[2][3] Influenced by the sophisticated designs and contents of Monthly Playboy, a number of magazines were launched to imitate it.[4] However, this was a magazine that translated and re-edited Playboy published in the United States for the Japanese market. As such, it is essentially unrelated to Weekly Playboy.[1] Kazuhiko Torishima, known for bringing Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama to the world, commented as follows. "Monthly Playboy was an interesting magazine with cutting-edge contents that attracted relatively young readers in their 20s and 30s, rather than older, and it also had a good advertising strategy".[5] The magazine ceased publication with the final January 2009 issue, due to a decline in readership.[1][6]

Pop artist Keiichi Tanaami was the magazine's first art director.[7]

Mika Okuda

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Mika Okuda, one of the 1988 Playmates, was an original member of Onyanko Club, the biggest female idol group of the 1980s, and was membership number 1.[8][9][10] However, only two weeks after the group was launched in April 1985, she was photographed by the weekly magazine Shūkan Bunshun smoking in a coffee shop with five other members.[8][9][10] This scandal led to Okuda's dismissal from Onyanko Club.[8][9][10] She had dropped her high school credits in March 1985. Therefore, she had to start her second grade all over again in April (schools in Japan start a new grade in April).[9][10] She admitted that there was a time when she was a delinquent girl before becoming a member of Onyanko Club.[11] She had a part-time job at the amusement park Toshimaen during the summer vacation of the year she was fired. after starting the second trimester in September, she worked another part-time job after school.[12] In August 1986, she even appeared in the photo magazine Emma (Emma).This magazine was published by Bungeishunjū, the same company that publishes Shūkan Bunshun, the magazine that forced her to be fired.[13] She also applied for the idol group audition organized by the manga magazine Weekly Young Magazine. However, she was not selected.[9][10][14] After graduating from Tokyo Metropolitan Kurume High School (東京都立久留米高校) in 1987, there was talk of her making her debut as a singer with Polydor Japan, but it did not come to fruition.[9][10][15] Her nudity was revealed in the October 1988 issue of Monthly Playboy for the first time after she was named runner-up in Playmate Japan 88.[10][16][17]

Playmate Japan (1986–1993)

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Playmate Japan (プレイメイト・ジャパン)[18]

  • 1986 - Shiho Masui (ますい志保), Emi Satō, Reiko Sugano
  • 1987 - Minako Konno
  • 1988 - Sayoko Kobayashi (小林沙世子), Mari Kokubu, Mika Okuda
  • 1989 - Momo Aida (あいだもも)
  • 1990 - Kurisu Aoki, Akio Horisaka, Sachiko Kurachi, Haruka Morimura, Madoka Sugawara, Rie Sugimoto
  • 1991 - Misuteriasu K
  • 1992 - Kana Aiba, Reira Misaki, Chise Tokuda
  • 1993 - Yūko Sugimoto (杉本夕子), Yoriko Ikuta (生田依子), Mio Asai

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c 土肥義則 (2 June 2009). 『週刊プレイボーイ』を悩ませていること……それは. Business Media Makoto (in Japanese). ITmedia. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
  2. ^ "Yakudōki Shōwa 50 nen - 62 nen (1975 - 1987)". Shueisha Shōshi (in Japanese). Shueisha. Retrieved 26 May 2007.
  3. ^ "Japan's Playboy magazine to be cancelled". European Journalism Center. 1 August 2008. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  4. ^ Yasuda, Rio (July 2, 2019). 日本エロ本全史 [complete history of Japanese pornographic books] (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Ohta Publishing. ISBN 978-4-7783-1674-7.
  5. ^ "ドラゴンボールの生みの親 『ジャンプ』伝説の編集長が語る「嫌いな仕事で結果を出す方法」" [The father of Dragon Ball and legendary editor-in-chief of the manga magazine JUMP talks about how to get better results with work you dislike]. ITmedia (ITmedia). 2018-10-26. Retrieved 2022-05-07.
  6. ^ "「月刊PLAYBOY(日本版)」休刊へ". J-CASTモノウォッチ. J-Cast. 1 August 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
  7. ^ "Keiichi Tanaami". Collaborative Cataloging Japan. Retrieved 2022-05-20.
  8. ^ a b c "おニャン子クラブ黒歴史 未成年喫煙写真流出で欠番となったメンバーたち" [The Dark History of Onyanko Club: the members who were treated as missing numbers due to underage smoking photo leak]. Livedoor (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan. Retrieved 2022-05-07.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Nude, ed. (November 1998). "馘ニャン子はこの5人だ!!" [These are the five Nyankoes that got fired!!]. お宝ガールズ(Treasure Girls) (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Core Magazine. pp. 62–63.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Nude, ed. (September 2005). "負のおニャン子たちに光を!" [Bring light to the negative Onyankoes!]. お宝ガールズ(Treasure Girls) (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Core Magazine. pp. 60–62.
  11. ^ Norio, Hachiya (June 26, 1986). "今は夕ニャンも笑って見れるようになったの" [Now I can watch Yūnyan with a smile on my face]. GORO (GORO) (in Japanese). Vol. 13. Tokyo, Japan: Shōgakukan. pp. 22–23.
  12. ^ Ōkura, Jirō, ed. (1986-04-05). "幻のNO.1は奥田美香" [Mika Okuda is the legendary NO.1]. 青春写真(Youth Photo) (in Japanese). Vol. 2. Tokyo, Japan: Nihon Bunkasha (ぶんか社). pp. 76–78.
  13. ^ Matsuo, Shūsuke, ed. (August 20, 1986). "奥田美香 おニャン子の幻の会員番号NO.1" [Mika Okuda: Onyanko's legendary membership NO.1]. Emma (Emma (雑誌)) (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Bungeishunjū. pp. 94–95.
  14. ^ Ishimaru 1989, p. 72
  15. ^ Ishimaru 1989, p. 100
  16. ^ Ishimaru 1989, pp. 141, 148
  17. ^ "「おニャン子」全54人のメンバーの現在は!?" [What is the current status of all 54 members of "Onyanko"!?] (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Futabasha. 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2022-05-07.
  18. ^ "【1986年5月】日本初プレイメイト誕生、グラビア界に国際化の波". Ameba News. CyberAgent. 12 May 2007. Archived from the original on 30 April 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
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