It's more a case of "Oh Brother" than "Big Brother," but young women with a yen for showing some skin can get themselves a free room for up to half a year in the world's most expensive city provided they let the cameras watch them, according to Shukan Jitsuwa (6/12).

Renting a home in Tokyo can be an arduous experience, costing at least several 10,000 yen notes a month, in addition to a deposit of several months' rent and the same again in a usurious payment to landlords for what is disgracefully called "gift money."

But Reina, a bordello worker who has recently arrived in Tokyo from her native Sapporo, has become the latest in a long line of women to take up the offer from adult satellite channel Paradise TV to live in it's "Peep Room," which she gets for free as long as she lets cameras capture her life on film.

"It's not like I was turned on by the idea of having people watch me live. But the idea of free rent and free utility bills was too good to refuse and I thought I'd bear it out. I don't know anybody in Tokyo and thought I'd try out life in the 'Peep Room.' I thought that while I was here, I could also save up a bit of money for my next place," Reina tells Shukan Jitsuwa.

Reina leaves for work at 5 p.m. and returns home at midnight. She has her evening meal and the cameras, not to mention viewers, are turned on at 2 a.m. Viewers see scenes of Reina reading, watching TV and, occasionally, masturbating. The cameras are switched off at 5 a.m., when Reina sleeps.

Seven cameras have been set up throughout Reina's room. Turning on a light or another appliance also activates the cameras.

"I was really stressed out at first. There was a camera set up under my table to catch glimpses of my panties, so I felt like there was always something aiming for between my legs. It really felt weird," she says. "I didn't say anything to the TV crew, but there were at least two times when I had to rush off and hide in the toilet, where there are no cameras."

Being filmed for a while, however, soon became second nature for the sultry Sapporo siren.

"I've really gotten used to the cameras, so know I deliberately look for the best angles I can move my body to boast about my masturbatory techniques," Reina says. "It's good to know that I'm not alone in big Tokyo. When I go to sleep imagining guys looking at my nude shape on the screen while they relieve themselves, I get as excited as hell. I do get naked because I'm paid more to do so, but the thrill of diddling myself in front of men all over Japan is awesome."

Reina is by no means the first women to live in Paradise TV's "Peep Room," which is the name of a show the channel has been airing for about four years. Many others have also lived in the room, such as university student Midori, who stayed there until April.

"I just watched videos or read dirty comics for women and jacked off. Film crews used to tell me to put on an ecstatic face while I was going at it, but it's pretty hard to act in that situation. In the end, though, I got used to it and the masturbation got better as I did so," Midori tells Shukan Jitsuwa, adding that she even brought her boyfriend into the room to enjoy the experience. "They told me it was fine if I wanted to have nooky. My boyfriend didn't like it much, but we did it three times. It's a live broadcast, don't forget. The film crew told me that under no circumstances was I allowed to show objects on screen that are banned from being broadcast (genitalia). We covered ourselves with a quilt and 'bang,' we were into it. The trouble was, I was always conscious of the cameras, so the stress was enormous. I couldn't do that more than once a month."

Paradise TV officials are delighted with the success of the long-running program.

"We get requests to participate from all sorts of women, such as those with money troubles, those who want to save a bit of cash or those who want to use the time in front of the cameras as a step toward becoming nationally famous," a channel spin doctor tells Shukan Jitsuwa. "If we get the right sort of reaction from viewers, we don't mind if the same girl lives in the 'Peep Room' for free for years."