TV Presenters in Hot Water Over Sexy Photo Spread

Presenters from Korea's three terrestrial networks -- MBC's Lee Jung-min, KBS's Kim Kyoung-ran, and SBS's Kim Ji-yeon -- have all posed for a sexy photo shoot that will appear in the September issue of men's magazine Arena.

In a press release, the magazine says the sexy transformation of the three was due to the makeup, revealing clothes and hairstyle they sport in the shots. Along with the release, the magazine sent a sneak preview of the three in relatively suggestive outfits. Lee Jung-min (MBC) appears in an off-the-s! houlder dress, Kim Ji-yeon's outfit shows off her chest, and Kim Kyoung-ran's getup emphasizes her waist.

But trouble is brewing since a couple of the presenters failed to report their external activity to their employers, as required by company policy. Guardians of morality also say it is unacceptable for figures on public television, where a certain level of dignity needs to be preserved, to appear in suggestive photographs.

MBC says Lee Jung-min made no report before shooting the photo spread, in a "clear violation" of company policy, "After receiving the details, we will decide what measures to take," it said. "According to Lee's explanation, she received an assurance from the magazine that it would not run any advance PR and said that the content of the spread are far from suggestive, Lee herself appears to have been fooled, so we will most likely be able to allow for extenuating circumstances." Lee has declined to comment.

SBS says it was! a mistake of Kim Ji-yeon not let the company know, but the magazine m ay not have been on the straight and narrow, so there is no need for disciplinary measures. KBS is also looking into the details, but Kim Kyoung-ran had told the company about the shoot in advance, and since her pictures cannot be said to have been any more provocative than those of the other presenters, there does not seem to be a problem.

Lee Jung-min hosts MBC's "Wonder World", "Sports News" and"Sports Magazine." Kim Kyoung-ran hosts KBS's "Sponge," "Open Concert"and "Movie Conquest", while Kim Ji-yeon presents the SBS show "Morning Wide."

Women-only cars fail to combat rampant groping on trains

Groping attacks and other harassment against women commuters increased on some Tokyo-area train lines last year, despite the rising numbers of women-only cars, officials said.

The overall number of reported groping cases in Tokyo dropped slightly in 2005, but authorities are worried by marked incidents of the attacks on a number of lines that introduced or increased women-only cars last year, police said.

"We've been calling on passengers to prevent such nuisances on trains with announcements and posters, but there were still victims and there were calls" for women-only trains, said JR East spokesman Yuichi Ogasawara.

Anonymous groping of women on Japan's crowded train lines has long been a social concern.

Passengers during rush-hour are often so jam-packed they are immobilized in a crush of bodies and victims have no way of escaping. Offenders can easily disappear into the crowd at the station.

A dozen train operators introduced or increased the number of women-only cars in Tokyo last year in hopes of providing some separation of the sexes on crowded lines.

The number of reported cases of groping and other lewd behavior toward women and girls -- including secretly taking photographs -- dropped in Tokyo from a record high 2,201 in 2004 to 2,137 in 2005, a fall of about 3 percent.

Arrests for such crimes in the capital were also down from 1,897 in 2004 to 1,853 in 2005, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police.

But the number of arrests on JR East's Chuo Line as well as Keio Corp.'s Keio Line, both linking eastern and western Tokyo, rose after adding women-only cars.

The groping arrests on the Chuo Line, which introduced women only cars last September, went up to 217 in 2005, the highest among all lines in the Tokyo area, from 188 in 2004.

On the Keio Line, which first introduced women-only trains in 2001 for late night riders and extended the service to rush hours last year, there were 146 arrests in 2005, up from 122 the year before.

Of the 66 train lines linking Tokyo and neighboring cities operated by 16 companies, 26 lines by 12 companies have introduced women-only cars, according to a national daily newspaper.

If convicted, gropers can face to up to 10 years in prison in most severe cases.

Read your gal a titillating tale, then get ready for a frantic frolic

"This is the first time I've ever made love outdoors," Kaoruko blushed, her hands modestly covering her bare breasts.

"Should we stop, then?" asked the now-tumescent Yohei, in a slightly irritated tone of voice.

"Uh-uh," she replied, with a shake of her head.

This scene, excerpted from Yu Kusanagi's erotic novel, "Matsuri no Yoru ni" (On the night of the festival), was included on the list of 10 erotic novels recommended for summer reading by fiction critic Morihiro Nagata.

"Its combination of exotic sexual venues and expressions that aim to titillate produce an invigorating atmosphere that has the effect of really turning on women," Nagata asserts.

Reading the lewd lines out loud to your lady love, says Shukan Gendai, is an effective way to kindle her latent libidinous lusts.

In the abovementioned tale, Yohei Ogami, a 29-year-old TV commercia producer, returns to his home town for the first time in 10 years to shoot scenes at the local festival, and while there encounters his old high school flame Kaoruko.

Kaoruko, now married, runs a small drinking establishment. During the festival she winds up imbibing a bit too much of her wares and while in her cups confesses her undying love to Yohei. Promptly disregarding her matrimonial vows, the two soon find themselves stretched out on the grass beside a riverbank.

"Kaoruko lifted her knees to form the shape of a letter 'M,' and Yohei, intoxicated by the fragrance emanating from her shadowy thatch, thrust forward with his tongue. 'Aaaaahhhhhhh!' she cried."

This story, Nagata suggests, features two qualities that lend themselves well to seduction. "First," he says, "the narrative is well-composed, with good characterizations. And second, the erotic passages ought to be extremely effective in getting her horny."

Nagata ought to know; he reviews about 30 such books a month, making him familiar with current trends in the smutty book trade.

"I see more and more titles these days in which the male characters take on passive roles," he tells Shukan Gendai. "I suppose it's because there are more female authors turning out these books, and also because female readership has been increasing.

"Another recent development I've observed in these books is that after their characters have engaged in sex, they are often beset by feelings of loneliness, like post-coital depression," Nagata adds.

Nagata also recommends Toshiue no Shukujo: Juuki furu koosu (An older woman: A full course of soft flesh) by Ryo Makimura, in which an 18-year-old college aspirant named Yuichiro is initiated into the ways of carnal pleasure by his 32-year-old stepmother, Keiko.

"Oh, mom, that feels really good," he moaned, as she clasped his pole of flesh at its base and squeezed it gently.

"Relax, Yu-chan," she murmured. "This is just the start. I've got lot more ways to make you feel good. Here, how's this, hmmmmm?"

Others in the list of the 10 recommended titles included:

- Hajirai Manadala (The chant of shyness) by Kagero Mutsuki, about a handsome young doctor who's very popular with his female patients;

- Kyonyuu Kuiin: Oshiete ageru (Big-busted queen -- I'll show you how to do it), by Fubuki Takazawa, about forbidden fruits offered by a secret SM club in Roppongi; and

- Kashin no Madoromi (A snooze among the flower petals) by Jin Ando, in which Kotaro, the leading male character, leaves his job in the big city to return to the countryside, where he enjoys cavorting with a series of females. These include a winsome widow and a mail delivery agent named Hisako, whose ample 93cm bre asts manage to dispatch Kotaro's jism by express airmail.

Try picking up one of these titles and read it aloud to your lady friend, advises Shukan Gendai. This sultry stuff should have her panting with passion in no time.

Chicken means prostitute? Dictionary upsets parents

BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- A dictionary designed for pupils and middle school students is considered unsuitable by many parents for their kids.

The Xinhua Dictionary with English Translation, published by Nanfang Press in 2003, defines the Chinese word "chicken" as either a kind of poultry, or the derogatory short form for prostitutes. The dictionary also gives "pimp" as one of the meanings of the Chinese word "duck."

The dictionary describes itself as a "modern, up-to-date dictionary specially designed for pupils and middle school students in the new century."

An anonymous parent, however, said she think some of the definitions are unsuitable for young kids and teenagers.

According to an on-line survey on the People's Daily website, 560 out of 878 people who took part in the survey think the dictionary will have a bad influence on kids and teenagers, and 322 of them believe the editors should be punished. Three hundred and eighteen respondents think the definition given by the dictionary will not harm young readers.

An editor surnamed Zhang with Nanfang Press said in an interview with Beijing Youth Daily on Thursday, "There is only oneedition of the dictionary, published in 2003, so any bad influence on pupils is limited."

He said that if Nanfang Press publishes other dictionaries, definitions of this kind will be deleted.

The country's most authoritative dictionary, Xinhua Dictionary published by Commercial Press in 2005, and other commonly used dictionaries for pupils and middle school students define "chicken" only as poultry.

There is no connection between Commercial Press' Xinhua Dictionary and the Xinhua Dictionary with English Translation by Nanfang Press.

i wana move to japan.

Look, Japanese can have whole shopping malls dedicated to porn

Its gonna be hard to erase this from their culture

Rise in Japan teen sex ignites education debate

Tokyo - Sixteen-year-old Monami Okubo sees nothing wrong with sex before marriage.

"I really don't think there's any reason to wait," said the bespectacled first-year high school teen, wearing her school uniform as she chatted with friends in Tokyo's trendy Shibuya district. "It's not realistic."

Attitudes like Okubo's are troubling for Japanese policy makers alarmed by a leap in teenage sexual activity.

Nearly half of all 17-year-old girls have had sex, up from around 17 percent in 1990. For boys, the figure is 40 percent, nearly double the 1990 figure, according to Health Ministry data.

A resulting jump in sexually transmitted diseases among young people and rising teenage abortion rates have touched off debate about sex education in a nation where pornography is widely sold but taboos about frank discussions of sex linger.

The debate pits those urging more detailed sex education against those who say schools are already far too explicit and some who want to promote U.S.-style abstinence-only education.

Ruling party lawmaker Eriko Yamatani says explicit sex education is partly to blame for the rise in teen activity.

"This is teaching kids from primary school that as long as you use contraception it's OK to have sex," she told Reuters.

Yamatani, 54, supports some sex education in schools but worries that some of the methods used -- such as anatomically correct nearly life-sized male and female dolls and textbooks with illustrations of people having sex -- are too graphic.

Girls, she said, should be learning that they "can become mothers and their bodies are sacred, their bodies aren't theirs alone. They are very sacred things that give birth to new life.

"So, as a result, it's desirable to have abstinence until marriage," she added. "This message has to be thoroughly taught."

Sex education is part of basic health curricula in most primary schools, while middle and high school students get sketchy information about contraception.

Nothing Useful

On the other side of the debate are educators who feel more concrete knowledge is needed, especially in a society where natural curiosity about sex is fanned by suggestive scenes in the media, the prevalence of erotic comics and a relatively lax attitude toward sexual exploitation of young people.

"There's porn all over the place," said Yukihiro Murase, a lecturer in sexology at Hitotsubashi University near Tokyo.

"It really is quite a stimulant."

Data suggests that the message about the risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases is either too muted or simply ignored.

The number of abortions in women under 20 is over 40,000 annually compared with 19,000 in 1980. Abortions have long been common in Japan, where condoms are the main form of birth control.

And the number of teens diagnosed with chlamydia -- which can cause sterility -- shot up to 6,163 in 2003 from 3,639 four years earlier, according to Health Ministry figures. Other surveys suggest the real numbers may be even higher.

"Many schools teach the names of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), but kids think the only people who get these are middle-aged men," added Masako Kihara, an associate professor at Kyoto University. "Or they think it only happens in cities."

Many Japanese teens have a high turnover in partners -- as many as three or more a year -- but believe they're safe from sexual diseases because they only have one partner at a time.

"We need to teach that there's a real risk to them. If you make it specific enough, they'll finally understand. Things like saying that you are basically having sex with everyone your partner's had sex with for the last few years," Kihara added.

The Education Ministry is trying to walk a fine line between the opposing camps.

"There are parents who don't want us to teach in great detail, so we can't teach the whole class that way," said a ministry official.

"Something must be done to prevent STDs, but at this point we ask teachers to instruct pupils in danger of this privately."

For many teens, though, practicality takes priority.

"I'm curious about sex, and it's really better to know things like contraception," said 16-year-old Aki, who said she had a boyfriend. "I dislike the idea of abstinence being forced on me.

"Knowing about contraception and how to protect myself is the best thing. It's reassuring."

Professor splits hairs over pubic profiles

"Women's pubic hair is normally shaped like an inverted triangle, but some is oblong or elliptic-shaped," pubic hair researcher Kosai Jumon tells Asahi Geino, adding that the shape of a woman's "underhair" often determines her sexual proclivities.

"It's not rare for women with elongated pubic hair to be the types who fall in love at first site and soon become passionate. They're not the types who're happy shut up in the home. They may cause those around them to worry about them a little. But that devilish side to them is what makes them so attractive to men."

Jumon's recently released book "Tamashi Yura Ageman (Rising Fortunes of the Soul)" categorizes women's pubic hair into five types, each of which purportedly determines its owner's fortune.

Viewing crotch coverings is supposed to determine whether a woman will make a good wife who makes her man happy or a virago who makes her husband's life hell on earth.

Jumon says that the frisky types with elongated pubic hairstyles are not the only types of mound mustaches that require some consideration. Those with mountain delta type minge, where the pattern of the mop resembles the mouth of a river, are said to be hyper-infidels.

Jumon says that most Oriental women's pubic hair is shaped in what he calls the standard-type, which is an inverted triangle.

"It shows endurance and indicates suitability for married life. They have everything they need for enduring such home-like activities as childbirth, child-raising and caring for their husband or parents," Jumon tells Asahi Geino. "I don't think it's saying too much to say that it is these standard-type women who helped raise Japan to glory."

Jumon, 70, says that years of experience with a variety of women alerted him to the finding that sexual prowess differed according to their pubic hairdo.

"Studying intensively while I was young and building up experience led me to refer to the pubic hair area as 'The Zone,' and I gradually learned everything about it," he says.

Jumon divides 'The Zone' into five sub-zones endurance, attachment, action, emotion and receptivity -- the shape of each determines a woman's sexual persona.

Jumon claims the average Japanese woman's pubic hair is a standard-type, inverted triangle shape where the base extends for 9 centimeters and it runs the same length from top to bottom, with the mean length of hairs being 7.5 centimeters.

"A perfect wife has a clearly defined endurance sub-zone and slight traits of a receptivity sub-zone. Put simply, this means she doesn't care a great deal about things like ethics or morals. A woman with pubic hair like this would be able to bear a lot, but also have a sexual side that allowed for unbridled wantonness," the pubic hair expert tells Asahi Geino. "In short, hair like this would indicate a good wife during the day who turns into a whore a night."

Indonesian fears over porn law

The introduction of a bill which would heavily restrict pornography in Indonesia has been attacked by women's rights campaigners in the country, who fear it is the first step towards the implementation of Islamic Sharia law.

The bill has polarised society in the country, with conservative Islamic groups - who say tighter controls are needed - pressing for its swift passage into law.

But many women's groups and artists fear proposals to crack down on anything regarded as pornography by the bill's sponsors could restrict freedoms.

Gaddis Arrivia, a professor at the University of Indonesia and editor of a feminist journal, told BBC World Service's Analysis programme that she feared the bill would lead to harsh restrictions on women's everyday life, in particular by forcing them to cover up.

"There are strong elements of Sharia law in this bill," she said.

"Lately we have 58 local laws in the provinces in Indonesia regulating what women can and cannot wear. This bill is the same - it has a lot of nuances of Sharia law in it."

Strong influence

There is widespread agreement across many sections of Indonesian society that highly explicit material should be restricted to adults.

But groups such as the country's press council - which has made representations asking for the bill to be dropped - fear conservative groups are using the anti-porn bill to push for more Islamic-based laws.

In particular, the wording of the new bill has caused deep concern. It could ban what is described as "porno action", such as displaying the navel or acts such as kissing in public. Both will be punishable by five years in prison or a 250 million rupiah fine.

"The way they define pornography is more of eroticism and sensuality," Dr Arrivia said.

"Porno actually means also banning kissing in public, and also dancing erotically is also considered pornography.

"What they consider sensual is the way women dress - so this is really about covering women up, and this is ridiculous."

John Sidel, a Professor of International and Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics, said that Islamist parties want to have a strong influence on the passage of the bill - despite their minority status.

"I certainly think that there are people who feel strongly about this issue in a genuine way. On the other hand there are others who are no doubt making use of this as an issue to remind people that they should be good or better Muslims," he said.

"There are people who are using this issue to extract favours, and who would like to make some kind of mileage on this issue - not just for publicity's sake, but also, perhaps, to increase their regulatory power in Indonesian society.

"Islamists have done rather poorly over the last 10 years, and are in a secular decline - so they're making the most of the residual influence they might have on these kinds of issues."

"Pornographic action"

He added that while he believed the bill is not intended as a stepping stone to implementing Sharia law, is was possible it could "open up the door to a broadly Islamist form of regulation of everyday life."

However, advocates of the bill have demonstrated in force, with more than 10,000 activists on the streets of the capital Jakarta last week to show their backing for the tougher laws.

Thousands more turned out for demonstrations - organised by mosques and conservative Islamic groups - in towns across Indonesia.

"As a mother, I fully support the government's efforts to introduce an anti-pornography bill," one demonstrator told Analysis.

"We feel that pornography is dangerous for our children."

One of the key figures invoked in the debate is pop star Inul Daratista, whose performances on prime time TV involve a style of dancing known as "drilling" - swivelling her hips and twisting towards the ground.

Her performances have offended many conservative observers, who argue they are concerned that girls from ordinary backgrounds - like Inul's - may copy her dancing.

Dr Zuo Kiflimanca, an MP from the Islamic Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS), said he wants to see much tighter controls on what he views as "pornographic action."

"In principle, my party will support the bill - with the understanding that a lot of porn magazines and some programmes on television are not right for our children," he said.

"So the message is that to save the future of our children, we should create this kind of bill."

'Love hotel' scene of sex workers' film fest

Hong Kong's newest film festival doesn't feature Jackie Chan or Jet Li kicking down doors and punching villains. This one is all about prostitutes.

The inaugural three-day Hong Kong Sex Workers' Film Festival that kicks off Friday is an underfunded but comprehensive look at the lives of prostitutes across Asia -- told by the sex workers themselves.

The festival, hosted by the Hong Kong sex worker support group Zi Teng, aims to offer an alternative to the stylized and stereotypical portrayals of prostitutes in mainstream cinema, curator Yau Ching said.

The nine-movie program includes contributions from Canada, the United States, Taiwan, India and Hong Kong. The films are not only about sex workers but are either made entirely by them or in conjunction with a director.

Yau, who teaches cultural studies at Hong Kong's Lingnan University, said that mainstream filmmakers tend to take a "wh ore or Madonna" approach to depicting prostitutes, painting them as either victim or predator.

She said she hopes to break such stereotypes by presenting a series of documentaries that address the day-to-day realities of prostitution from the perspective of sex workers.

"Very few films talk about their job specifically or their relationship with society as a sex worker," she said.

Letting the subjects tell their own stories offers a unique viewpoint, Yau said.

"They [prostitutes] try to support a family, just like other mothers, so their self-perception, the level of self-respect is different," she said.

Among the offerings is "The Story of the Taipei Prostitutes," about a campaign to fight a ban on prostitution in Taiwan's capital. Another short film outlines the "sex worker's manifesto" drafted at the first National Conference of Sex Workers in Kolkata, India, in 1997.

Two films revolve around pioneer sex worker activist Carol Leigh, who is credited with coining the term "sex worker" and who founded the San Francisco Sex Worker Film and Video Festival.

One obvious gap is the lack of films from mainland China, where unlike in Hong Kong sex work is illegal. Curator Yau said she knows of underground films about sex workers in China but didn't have the resources to bring them to Hong Kong.

Yau, who volunteered her services to Zi Teng, said the festival was organized on a shoestring budget. Filmmakers donated their movies, and a friend offered cheap printing services for publicity materials.

The films will be shown at Zi Teng's small office space that accommodates about 50 people, located in a run-down pink building that also houses an hourly motel, or "love hotel."

Another obstacle has been what organizers allege is government harassment.

Zi Teng staff member Elaine Lam said the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department called the group Monday ordering them to obtain a license for the film festival, saying the public event turns its offices into an entertainment venue.

Lam suspects bias, characterizing the film festival as a small-scale event that doesn't justify a strict interpretation of the law. Organizers have sidestepped the legal problem by asking ticket buyers to join Zi Teng, hence making the film festival a private, members-only activity.

"A lot of groups organize film showings. Officials haven't tried to enforce the law on them," she said.

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said all movie showings open to the public require a license.

"It is an offense to conduct cinematography display activities without a license," a department statement said.

Sex work is not illegal in Hong Kong, but it is against the law to solicit for business, or live off the earnings of prostitution of others.

Japan's new national pastime? Panty peeking

Over the past few years, the careers of some of Japan's best and brightest young talents have been squandered as they were caught trying to catch sneaky glances at women's panties.

At times it can seem as though panty watching is almost a national pastime and many men openly admit that they'd prefer to see a woman in her undergarments than totally bereft of clothes.

"The lure of women's panties runs very deep," T, a self-professed panty pioneer having traded and smelled hundreds of thousands of pairs of women's knickers, tells Weekly Playboy. "That single piece of cloth covers up a woman's most intimate areas. That changes the mere piece of cloth into a mysterious garment. A woman's private parts are the part of her furthest away from a man, which makes them the most interesting part of her as far as men are concerned. And it's those panties offering the woman's most interesting part, its last line of defense against the outside world. That's why panties are romantic."

There are other opinions about the allure of undies.

"There's nothing romantic about the way some men see women's panties. Those types who commit criminal acts just to get a glimpse up a woman's skirt are the ultimate masochistic-narcissists. They're screaming out to the world that they're incorrigibly kinky," Hayama, a writer of erotica also well versed in psychology, tells Weekly Playboy. "Recently, there's been a huge upsurge of masochistic narcissists who revel in the fact that women find them repulsive. The growth is particularly noticeable among intellectuals and academics."

Japan's briefs buffs generally hate skirts more than anything else. Shrinks say they're not surprised.

"Being able to catch a glimpse of something that you can't normally see provides an incredible amount of pleasure. If women always went around dressed only in their panties, nobody would ever get excited, right?" psychologist Hideki Wada tells Weekly Playboy. "Men are animals with an extraordinarily strong sense of curiosity. If something is hidden, or they are forbidden from seeing it, they only want to get their hands on it even more."

Sexual attitudes changing in South Korea

SEOUL, Two-thirds of South Korean college students said premarital sex was acceptable, reflecting an increasingly liberal mindset among Korean youths, a survey showed.

Bien-Aller, a Seoul-based matchmaking company, conducted a survey of 528 male and female college students across the country between April 25 and May 27. The survey showed that 67.4 percent of respondents said having sex had nothing to do with marriage, while the remaining 32.6 percent said either they would never have premarital sex, or sexual relations were acceptable only if a couple planned to marry.

About 35 percent of 249 male students said it was okay to have sex with someone they loved, whereas 28 percent said sex without love was okay. Nearly 13 percent said they would have sex only with someone they planned to marry.

Of 279 female students, 27 percent said they would have pre-marital sexual relations only with a person they planned to marry, and 17 percent said they would never have sex before marriage.

Male students are more willing to have casual sex than their female counterparts, the survey concluded.

Korean student sells sex to pay rent

Four years ago, Suzie and her parents moved from South Korea to New Zealand.

But Suzie's father could not find work, and her mother's food business failed. So they decided to go back to Korea, and they wanted their daughter to join them.

But Suzie decided to stay in New Zealand because she enjoyed the freedom there.

'My parents said I had to support myself financially if I wanted to stay on,' she said.

But Suzie, who is pursuing a degree in business management, found it hard to get by.

After finishing high school, she worked at an Asian grocery shop with a salary of $180 per week. This was not enough to cover her $110 weekly rent and her living expenses, she said.

A friend then suggested that she work in the sex industry.

'I was looking at ways in which I could earn fast money. I looked at the classifieds, and there were a few advertisements for workers at massage parlours,' she said.

'But I knew if I worked for them, they'd take a commission. Since I know prostitution is legal in New Zealand, I thought I might as well do it myself and keep everything.'

She bought a pre-paid handphone and bought an ad in the classifieds under the 'adult entertainment' section. To her surprise, she received over 20 calls.

Her first customer was a Kiwi man in his mid-40s. 'He said he was lonely after his wife died, so I pitied him,' Susie said.

'He was quite a nice man. We talked first and we had sex only for a short while before he left.'

But Suzie said they did not use a condom as she thought he 'looked like a nice family man and not the kind that would visit prostitutes every night'.

She claims she is a good judge of character and 'can judge people by their voice'.

'If they sound nasty, I won't even give them my address or go to where they want me to go,' she said.

Parents Don't Know

Now, she works from a rented house she shares with two other Chinese student prostitutes, and earns about $2,000 per week.

'My parents have got no clue about what I am doing. They think I got lucky and have struck a deal with a modelling agency that pays me well,' she said.

'I used to have to watch every cent but now, not only am I able to spend freely. I also have money to send back to my parents for the Korean New Year.'

Though she knows about the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, Suzie said she will not go to them for help for fear that she would be registered as a 'prostitute'.

'I do not want my friends to know, or my parents to ever find out that I am selling my body,' she said.

'I am happy doing what I do now, but I will stop when I find a good paying professional job one day.'

Increasing number of Chinese college students turn to prostitution

A recent investigation into an Internet-based prostitution ring by police from Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, discovered that a significant number of the prostitutes are female college students.

According to Xinhua News Agency, illegal pornographic operations in China are increasingly targeting college campuses. Qian, the leader of the Internet-based prostitution ring in Hangzhou, made huge profits from introducing female college students to wealthy "clients".

Internet-based sex deals provide anonymity for clients. Qian posted photos of female students on a website and made their contact details available with one click on the photos.

Qian charges Internet users about 1,000 yuan (~$120) for each "transaction," as well as the 300 yuan (~35) "introduction fee" that he charges the students.

Mr. Ma Xiaoming, a former reporter with Shaanxi Provincial Television, said the students have different reasons for turning to prostitution. Some of them come from low-income families, and some have a distorted concept of money and low morality.

Ma said, "There are many factors involved. The primary one is moral degeneration and the degeneration of morale on campus. In society, people just want money. As long as they have money and fame, as long as they have the material things they chase after, they don't care how they get them.

"Some say that the Chinese people today believe in nothing. I say that's not true, because they do believe in money. They will do anything to get money and better living conditions. Some of them are really hard up. There are people in this category, too."

Dr. William Lan from the Texas Technology University College of Education said that it was really heart-wrenching for Chinese scholars abroad to learn that some Chinese female university students have become prostitutes.

"I learnt about this situation through the internet," said Lan. "I hope this is not common. The reasons behind this are quite complicated, and some of the students could be driven by poverty.

"But I feel the most dangerous thing in China is that people look down on poverty but not prostitution. To them there's nothing wrong with becoming a prostitute, but people may laugh at you if you are poor. Such a trend is really worrying."

Regarding the subject of prostitution involving female college students, Profession Hu Xingdou from Beijing Institute of Technology said, "Of course students from some schools sell their bodies in hotels. This may have something to do with financial difficulties in their families, or the individual's desire to spend money to dress up, so she needs money. It is true that the trends in society have an influence on them. But I think our students, including both men and women, should respect themselves and make money through upright channels. They should have the right perspective regarding money and should not seek that little bit of economic interest unscrupulously. I think the students should have this mentality."

Mr. Liu, a physiatrist at a university in Beijing, said, "Indeed there are such [prostitutes] among college students in China. Some of them may be from remote areas in China, and their families may have difficulty supporting their tuition and living expenses. Some of these students may make this choice. This is normal. However, in the end, the price they pay is huge."

Ms. Song Meiya, senior editor of the Beijing-based Chinese Women's Press, said, "Of course there are all kinds of degenerate trends in society, which have contributed to many female college students [becoming prostitutes]. For example, they have to dress in a certain way. During job interviews there are so many requirements on them. There are more and more requirements and pressure on women nowadays.

"What can they do to deal with the pressure? They are giving up a lot, including their bodies. So I think when women are giving their bodies away, it is also a sign of society's choice."

Reports in recent years say that many wealthy men are looking to college campuses to buy pleasure. They believe that female students are well educated, "safe and clean," and look good when they go out together. Some even pay for college students to be their long-term mistresses. Song said, "Men use their power and money to purchase sex as a material thing.They treat women as merchandise."

She asked who is more responsible for the situation: the prostitutes, or those who buy their services.

Understanding Japan's 'Love Hotels'

The words 'love' and 'hotel' combined in the English language conjure up romantic images of energetic weekends away, breakfast in bed, walks in the woods, dinner by candlelight with champagne - and whatever else springs to mind - by an open fire. In Japan, however, the resultant image of the same combination of words is somewhat different.

The services offered by a 'love-hotel' result from necessity. With a population of around twice that of the UK in a similar land-size, 85% of which is mountainous, space is at a premium. Also, until recently, most people lived with their families until marriage, often with three generations under one roof, separated by only paper screens. Without a private space for the most private of acts, the streets wouldn't be a decent place to walk.

The Japanese are nothing if not a practical people, and in a country where sex is accepted without much of the guilt associated with it in the West, to compete with the highly priced traditional inn, or ryokan, love-hotels began springing up in the 1950s offering an affordable love-nest for rent by the hour.

Originally aping the ryokan they aimed to replace, from the 1960s on love hotels appeared, catering - at least superficially - to modern, Western ideas of love and romance. Many took an individual theme, whether a European-style hotel bedroom, a pleasure den with a rotating bed and ceiling mirror, or a movie such as the eternally popular Roman Holiday or Gone With the Wind, complete with duplicate bed and curtains.

As women gradually came to have more social and financial clout, hotels re-modelled themselves away from typically male themes such as outer space and cars. Porno channels on the TV were out and a 'come early, stay late' policy was in, complete with karaoke machines, jacuzzis and even swimming pools. Some love-hotels boast sun-beds for those who like to top up their tan on the job, or adjoining 'swapping rooms' for those who prefer to bed hop. Some have CCTV feeds from all the rooms, offering a unique in-house video channel where you can watch others watching you doing what you're watching them do. A number of hotels provide 'party rooms' for groups and even S&M facilities for aficionados.

At others the fare is altogether more 'wholesome'. One hotel famously offered a free trip to Tokyo Disneyland to any couple who stayed in all of their 24 rooms within a six month period, and a free trip to Hong Kong if they did it twice.

To ensure their clients can fully relax, love-hotels are models of discretion. Customers never see the staff and anonymity is assured. Drivers enter underground car parks hidden from view and staff cover their number plates to foil any prying eyes. An empty reception greets customers and a back-lit panel displays photographs of the available rooms. Pressing a button selects the chosen room, the light behind it goes out and lights on the floor act as a guide to the room. The open door closes behind you as you enter.

Inside, the room is fully automated. The TV, radio and lights can be controlled from the headboard of the bed and drinks, snacks and sex-toys can be ordered from room service, all of which can be paid for by credit card via an in-room cash machine.

Dotted along highways and huddled around nightspots, with neon signs flashing names like Châteaux Belle, Paradise and Casablanca, love-hotels are easily to spot and accessible to young couples with or without transport. A married couple wishing to add some spice to their love life, and a 'salaryman' (office worker), stumbling out of a bar with his favourite 'office-lady' (female office worker) after a night's team-building karaoke and drinking, have the perfect location for a furtive clinch. Such is the abundance of love-hotels that there is never the need for a 'Back to mine for a coffee, pet?' invite as, at the right moment, a love-hotel will come into view.

Patronage is by no means the exclusive domain of the young, married or inebriate, and many customers bring their own entertainment. Yuki Nishikawa worked in a love hotel in Osaka for over a year and saw many a coming and going. "People of all ages come. I once found a bag full of sex aids in reception, so I phoned up to the couple that had just checked in. I left the bag where it was and strained over the top of the dividing screen to see who would collect it. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a man in his eighties bounding eagerly out of the elevator."

While most customers could be described as 'normal', in a love-hotel the sleazier side of life is never far away. A few well-publicized murders have taken place in love-hotels, they're frequently used as locations for porno film shoots, pay off locations for gangsters (the yakuza), and they play host to the ubiquitous sex industry.

The manager of Yuki's hotel paid 200,000 yen (c.USD1,800) a month to the local yakuza and every bedroom in the hotel had a flyer advertising 'chiropractic' services. Most afternoons, single men would take a room and several minutes later, a woman in her forties, wearing doctor's whites, thick make-up, high heels and fish-net stockings would arrive, announcing she had a patient in the recently solo-occupied room. She would leave an hour later with her coat over her arm, her make-up smudged and her hair slightly ruffled, paying the hotel a cut of the bone re-positioning fee.

Whatever activity you have planned, the amount you'll pay varies. Naturally, the more you pay the more you get, from the number of condoms beside the bed, to the quality of the shag on the floor. Taking a room at 'rest' rates will cost 2,000-5,000 yen (c.USD18-45) for two hours, while an overnight stay rises to as much as 13,000 yen (c.USD115).

Though often cheaper than all but the cheapest business hotel, love-hotels do not operate as normal hotels, and once you have left, you have to pay again to get back in. It is highly unlikely that groups of men wearing football shirts would find themselves let in, though at the end of a particularly dazzling, jinky solo-run, a love-hotel is the perfect place for your favourite celebration after
you've scored.

Love hotels are a potential source of cheap accommodation during your stay in Japan. Most establishments will accept single guests of either sex though many draw the line at same sex couples. Ask at reception.

Life of a professional mistress not always a fistful of yen

Japan's mistress business is reaching its headiest days since the '80s bubble era, courtesy of a crackdown on sex services and an improving economy, according to Spa!.

Miho Nagakura knows exactly what it's like to be a kept woman, having lived for almost five years in a posh central Tokyo apartment, given a 200,000 yen monthly stipend and lavished with luxuries by a lad who loved her from the moment he first laid eyes on her.

"We had normal sex once a week - he never wanted anything weird and I was quite happy to do his cooking and otherwise look after him. He told me to make something of myself, so I started taking English conversation, flower arrangement and other classes a few times a week. It seemed he got a lot of enjoyment out of watching me grow into a lady," the 29-year-old medical equipment worker tells Spa!

All good things come to an end, though, as Nagakura discovered. "It looks like he found himself a younger mistress. He stopped visiting me as often and then the relationship just fizzled out," she says. "He didn't even give me a payoff."

Kana Hikawa knows what it's like to be a professional mistress in Noughties Japan, too, but unlike Nagakura, she's strictly business with little feeling involved.

Hikawa enrolled in an online matchmaking service where women upload their profile and photos for free and the men pay an annual fee running into several hundred thousand yen. For that sum, men can choose the registered women they fancy and are permitted to take them on a date on the premise that if they enjoy each other's company, they will enter a contract for the woman to become a mistress.

"On the day after I registered, I was introduced to two guys and I picked the one most likely to have multiple mistresses. That way, he'd probably have more money around I could also get away with meeting him less but still getting paid," the shrewd 26-year-old credit card company worker tells Spa! "Before you agree to sign a contract, there's a tryout romp. I used every technique I'd ever learned with every other guy I'd slept with, put all my effort into the session and really tried to sell myself. I refused to be passive, jumping on top and spending at least 10 minutes performing fellatio."

Hikawa's efforts paid off and she ended up signing a contract where she received 100,000 yen in cash every time she agreed to meet the 45-year-old tax accountant whose fancy she had tickled.

Not every professional mistress has a happy tale to tell, though. Satoe Kawai was less than happy with her stint as a kept woman.

"He bought me presents like saucy lingerie and even an anal probe. I was more like his sex slave than a lover. One time during sex, he suddenly thrust his fist in without a word of warning," the 27-year-old woman tells Spa! "I was tempted to call the cops on him."

Kawai found her way into being a mistress by posting a message on an ordinary lonely hearts site, but stressing that she was seeking a 35,000 yen payment any time she met somebody. Within half an hour, she'd been swamped with messages from guys eager to take her up on the offer, but countering with sums considerably less than what she was seeking. Eventually she settled on a man who said he couldn't afford 35,000 yen a meeting, but would pay her 100,000 yen a month if she agreed to meet him every Saturday. Kawai says she needed the money and agreed to his condition. But things soured for when Kawai when their sexual relationship began to take a twist toward the twisted.

"What got me through all the unpleasantness of the abnormal games was the delight I felt at not being broke all the time," the professional mistress tells Spa! "Now, I've got myself a regular job. It's a bit boring at times and, I know this is a given, but earning a legitimate living is the best way of all."

Shibuya's sleazy happening bars offer chaotic, erotic action at
bargain prices

"Are you sure this place is all right?" Sayaka whispers nervously.

Sayaka's reaction to this out-of-the-way club in Tokyo's Shibuya district, located in the corner of a nondescript building off Miyamasuzaka Street, may be understandable. She's never been to a "happening bar" before, and this place looks, well, sleazy right down to its official greeter, who appears to be a female impersonator in his late 30s.

"Happening bars" in Roppongi and other parts of Tokyo, explains Shukan Taishu offer customers a chance to engage in, or observe, anything-goes activities, performed spontaneously in the most exhibitionist style imaginable. Catering to the jaded affluent and the morbidly curious, they generally charge a minimum of 10,000 yen for membership by couples, and perhaps twice that figure for unaccompanied males. Females are generally admitted for a nominal fee, and in some places even free of charge.

Discovery of the Shibuya establishment shows that once the aura of exclusivity eventually wears off, when a good idea trickles down to mass markets, it becomes considerably more affordable. How affordable? Admission for Shukan Taishu's reporter and Sayaka, his unaware date, came to 4,000 yen, including two drinks.

The reporter paid in advance, and the couple -- as a prelude for things to come, perhaps? -- shed their footwear before entering.

This club had a maximum capacity of about 15 people. So as to leave little doubt as to its purpose as a venue for the sexually open-minded and the hopelessly horny, its brown-hued walls were festooned with suggestive motifs, such as phallic symbols and erotic "shunga" woodblock prints from the Edo period.

Four women, who appeared to be in their 20s, and seven somewhat older men were already seated and sipping at their drinks.

Sayaka struck up a conversation with a young woman named Miki at a neighboring bar stool.

"Do you go to 'hapu-baa' (happening bars) often?" Miki asked Sayaka, who shyly shook her head in the negative.

"Ooohh look, she's shy. Isn't that cute?" gushed Miki.

The reporter's eyes gradually adjusted to the interior gloom and they soon noticed that an older man with white hair was in the process of using a hemp rope to tie up a nude young woman, using an elaborate combination of loops and knots. Once she was rendered immobile, he began teasing her nipples, and she writhed and squealed with a combination of humiliation, pain and pleasure.

Seeing this, a woman who appeared to be an office worker said, "Ah, I feel like eating!" She knelt before her date, lowered the zipper on his trousers, and buried her face in his crotch, making loud sucking sounds.

"Hey, 'Yukorin's' 'regular' performance has begun," a male customer dryly remarked.

After bringing her date to orgasm, 'Yukorin' moved on to the customer at the next stool and, after washing out her mouth with a shot of tequila, repeated the process.

Shukan Taishu's reporter excused himself for a quick visit to the loo, and returned to find a leggy young woman had moved in and begun fondling the breasts of his date, Sayaka. But when the woman tried to run her hand toward Sayaka's crotch, resistance stiffened.

Realizing Sayaka wasn't willing to go all the way, the young woman lifted her own skirt and began energetically fingering herself, with accompanying sound effects. Others in the bar soon began joining in, transforming this "happening" into what American teens typically describe as a circle jerk.

"I can't stand this crazy place any longer," whispered Sayaka in hushed desperation. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"Hey, don't you want to get it on with me?" the leggy woman said to Sayaka.

The couple fled.

Still, Shukan Taishu's reporter was upbeat after his experience. After all, he asks, where else can you enjoy such chaotic, erotic action in a city like Tokyo at these bargain prices?

Discounts for India sex workers

Sex workers are being given smart cards in the southern Indian city of Mysore as part of a project to combat AIDs.

Card holders get discounts at selected shops for groceries and clothes, and some restaurants, on the condition they have regular health checks.

Officials say this pilot project is the first of its kind in India.

The scheme is sponsored by the AIDs India Initiative run by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It aims to cover more than 1,000 sex workers.

The card carries all the medical details of the sex worker, who is checked for sexually transmitted diseases on a regular basis at a clinic in Mysore.

"If they fail to turn up for a check-up every three months, the smart card automatically becomes invalid," says Sushena Reza-Paul, of the Karnataka Health Promotion Trust that is overseeing the scheme.

Extension possible

Ms Reza-Paul, who works at the University of Manitoba in Canada that is playing a role in the project, says the programme could well be extended to other cities and towns across India.

"We are already getting calls from different places. Once the pilot project is completed, we will tabulate the findings and see how the scheme can be implemented," Ms Reza-Paul told the BBC.

"Shops and restaurants were initially reluctant to be associated with the project but eventually agreed.

"Now the card-holders feel they are part of the mainstream. Their self-esteem has gone up," she says.

Good girl pays the price for being naughty instead of nice

Actress Akiko Yada's squeaky clean image took a battering when the paparazzi caught her on a dirty weekend trip to Hawaii with glitterati bad boy Manabu Oshio and now she looks like she'll pay for it with her career, according to Shukan Shincho.

Yada was the face of the enormously popular TV campaign for Aflac insurance company, but has lost the job after her photos were splashed all over the scandal sheets.

"She'd been appearing in the company's commercials since 2002, but won't be in any more ads after her contract runs out on July 28," a reporter on the entertainment beat tells Shukan Shincho. "Tetsuro Yanagiba, who has been appearing with her, is going to keep on doing the ads, which effectively means that Yada was sacked."

Producers of the commercial admit that Yada's scandal cost her the job.

"In today's society, there shouldn't be anything wrong with being spotted with a guy, but the image she has projected is of a well-mannered, prim-and-proper young lady, and the gap between the two is just too big," the producer says. "Oshio is notorious, swearing at reporters and generally being uncouth, which has left him with an awful reputation. When the women's magazine took photos of her pouring suntan lotion over the back of guy whose body was covered in tattoos she looked like nothing more than a typical yakuza whore."

The revealing shots are expected to be harmful for the 28-year-old actress.

"Yada'll probably lose lots of her sponsors," the producer says. "She was in the class making around 30 million yen a commercial, but she won't be able to command that much anymore."

Many feel the only hope Yada has of surviving in Japan's cutthroat entertainment world is to dump Oshio.

"What's most frightening about this whole thing is that she's not likely to give him the flick. Yada's incorrigible. Oshio is mainly making a living performing with his band and Yada, cool as you like, always turns up for his shows," the producer says. "Just the other day, they were spotted on a date at (Tokyo's) Odaiba -- right in front of the Fuji TV building. It was like as though she deliberately wanted somebody to spot her with him."

Not everybody sees the scandal as a total blight on the actress' name.

"If Yada eventually wants to be seen as a serious actress, she's got to make sure this scandal doesn't come to much," entertainment commentator Masaaki Hiruma says. "In some ways, the scandal could even open doors for her. But, she's got to get rid of Oshio. She's finished as an actress as long as she's with him."

Another entertainment beat reporter advises Yada to get in first.

"Oshio has gone out with and dumped Natsumi Abe, Naomi Zaisen, Ayana Hirayama and loads of other stars. He's you're archetypical playboy," the hack tells Shukan Shincho. "There are already whispers about that he's got another woman now. Yada might even end up finding herself dumped."

For today's lewd lassies, the good vibes just keep on coming

Rumi, a 20-year-old student at a beauty college with a slender body and a great tan, just loooves to hang out at the beach.

"When I'm sunbathing, I see men's eyes traveling over my bust and legs, and that really gets me hot. I guess women just want to be seen," she giggles.

Once in this condition, Rumi can relieve herself in public without the least concern over being observed. Her technique is to paddle her beach board out a ways from the shore ("there aren't too many swimmers there, y'know?") and, while gripping the edge of the board with her left hand, let her right hand slip down to her submerged lower torso, and poke a finger or two through the narrow part of her bikini and stimulate herself to orgasm.

"The feeling of doing it with people around is incredible, completely different from being alone in the bathtub," Rumi blushes.

As you might have guessed, the subject is about women's creative techniques for self-abuse in unusual venues. And after hearing the most intimate confessions of 11 lewd lassies, Shukan Taishu is convinced that dildos and vibrators are old hat. Now, the object of choice can be anything. Even a mobile phone.

Employed as a saleslady by a cell phone retailer, Madoka, 24, took what was perhaps too great affection to mobile models while on the job.

"We hardly get any customers during the summer season," she winks. "So I thought I'd spend a little time comparing the silent ringer (vibration) levels of the various models."

Naturally the most effect way to do this was to have the phone in close contact with her body. How close? Mmmm, would you believe snuggled against her love nest?

"I hold it so the tip of the antenna is right up against my clitoris," she giggles. "Once the thing starts buzzing, I can really get off on it. After I used one, it went back in the case. Then this really nice young guy bought it. Thinking about him using the same phone I'd been diddling myself really got me sopping."

Emi, a 29-year-old secretary for a foreign executive, prefers to sneak into his private office for a confidential wank.

"It's on the 24th floor and has a panoramic view of Tokyo Tower," she says. "A great view of Hibiya Park too. I'll raise the window blinds, and then slump back into that big, cozy director's chair with my legs apart and pleasure myself."

Hmmm, remarks Shukan Taishu. Someone in a facing building with a telescope might unexpectedly find himself with a spectacular view of a promised land of another sort. And wonders what Emi's boss would say if he knew, while he was away on his business trips, that his secretary was moaning with pleasure behind his desk.

"Better keep away from vacuum cleaners," is Sayoko's advice. The 23-year-old newlywed, who enjoys marital bliss with her hubby about three times a week, became aroused one day by the snakelike appearance of her vacuum cleaner hose, and the next thing she knew, she attempted to seek out its phallic delights.

This was done by sliding the hose forward and backward against her clitoral mound.

Finally Midori, age 38, talks about her experiences growing up as the daughter of parents who were custodians of a dormitory for single factory workers in a rural town.

"My father was hospitalized for three months," she relates, "and my mother spent most of her time looking after him, so I pitched in with their chores.

"There were three washing machines next to the bathing area, and the guys would leave their fetid underdrawers in the clothes hamper before running a load of wash. I could get incredibly turned on by sniffing them. On the one hand, I guess this kind of odor fetish made me feel a little sordid, but perhaps because I was young then, their odor seemed to me like the smell of fresh green grass."

Midori then married and moved to the big city, but of late has frequently felt nostalgic stirrings to visit her parents' place in the countryside.

"For the past several years, I've only have sex with my husband about once every three months," she admits, "and have been feeling sort of frustrated. So I've got into the habit of hopping the train and going back to visit my folks as often as time permits."

Not long after Midori arrives and gets settled, she'll mosey over to the dorm laundry area for a secret sniff from their aromatic BVDs.

"It probably seems sick --- offering to help out with family chores just so I can get another whiff of those fetid men's briefs," Midori sighs.

The conveyance she rides to her source of pleasure, quips Shukan Taishu, is not a streetcar, but an express train named Desire.

A Phallus Garden in "Love Land"

There's a persistent prejudice against the Japanese, the Koreans and other Asians -- that they're prudish and repressed. But go to "Love Land" on Cheju Island in South Korea and you'll start to question that cliché.

I can still remember the feeling of disbelief when I turned the corner in a well-heeled, respectable Tokyo neighborhood to find myself face-to-face with a porn cinema. Not only that, but on the shopping street nearby, a poster display advertised the cinema's selection of lewd flicks with maximum explicitness. A respectable-looking man in a suit stood in front of the display in broad daylight, inspecting the images like a true connoisseur.

Whoever said the Japanese are prudish? For me it was one of these moments of astonishment tourists often experience in the Far East. You think the whole region is as repressed as a priest's seminary. You see only the most daring teenage couples kissing in public. And then all of a sudden you find yourself sitting next to an office worker on the subway and notice he leafing through a porn mag. Or you discover astounding fertility fetishes in the local temple -- like a penis-shaped bell clapper dangling from the ceiling.

But if you really want to learn about the Asian sex life, "Love Land" in South Korea is the place to visit.

"Love Land" is a theme park, about the size of two soccer fields, located in the north of Cheju Island. And it's crammed with soft porn memorabilia -- statues, photographs and sculptures that seem like something halfway between a post-modern version of those temple phalluses and a Jeff Koons installation -- just more trashy, if that's possible.

Salacious Disneyland

Just behind the entrance to Love Land, an acrobatic, oral-sex ensemble greets visitors. It shows a man and two women -- one woman has her legs wrapped around the man's neck and looks like she's going to break her own neck any minute. The acrobatic threesome is illuminated at night, just like the other exhibits here: the nipple mountain crowned with pink nubs or the sturdy erect penises that rise up from the goldfish pond like a fountain. The sculptures are so explicit you can't help stopping in front of them with a mixture of disbelief and amusement -- even as a jaded Western tourist.

What's the point of all this? And why is this salacious Disneyland located here of all places, right between the planes of volcanic Cheju Island, whose other attractions are a traditional village turned folkloric theme park and a teddy bear museum?

Even people who know next to nothing about Cheju Island are aware that it's also known as South Korea's "Honeymoon Isle." The small island with its 600,000 inhabitants has held this honorary title since the end of the Korean War, thanks to a double coincidence. On the one hand, Cheju Island is the southernmost and hence warmest part of Korea to have been properly settled. On the other hand, most South Koreans were unable -- for financial and political reasons -- to travel abroad until the early 1990s.

Cheju Island, with its beaches and mighty volcanic mountain, became the destination of choice for those who didn't want to go hiking and temple-spotting in the country's interior. That was doubly true for freshly married couples, who are still drawn to the island today.

The "island of sex ed"

During the last few decades, many of these marriages were arranged by the parents of the spouses. The lucky ones might have had a brief chance to meet each other -- under the watchful eyes of relatives -- before exchanging vows. And then, after their wedding, they were immediately flown off to the south -- to Cheju Island. As they got used to the notion of being bonded for life, they spent their wedding night and the following days on the Honeymoon Isle, which thereby also became a kind of "island of sex ed."

As late as the end of the 1980s, journalist and travel writer Simon Winchester reported that some hotel employees on the island performed as "professional icebreakers." In the evenings, the hotel would offer an entertainment program featuring lap dances and others raunchy or risqué highlights. Its purpose was to help the intimidated, freshly married novices relax -- and perhaps to give them some ideas for later. Winchester remarks wryly about one of these hotel entertainers that he probably deflowered more women than any other man in Asia.

So perhaps it's no wonder then that Korea's Love Land should have been built here, just a short taxi drive from Cheju City. Whoever has meandered about between the gigantic stone labia and climbed the 10 meter (33 feet) marble phallus probably feels a little less repressed afterwards.

Still, none of this is proof of an unusually open or relaxed attitude to sex. The opposite is true. A few thoroughly rule-governed exceptions apart, the things that are shown and imagined in Love Land are kept under cover elsewhere in South Korea. In this sense, the theme park is not unlike Asian porn mags or fertility rites: It's a small isle of freedom in an ocean of taboos.

A picture for the album

Of course, Korea's newlyweds now have other destinations they can travel to besides Cheju Island. South Korea has gotten wealthier, and flights abroad aren't a political issue anymore either. Still, the island has remained an important travel destination for young couples.

Besides tourists on an afternoon outing, you'll still see many shy young couples in their early 20s idling through the love park, glancing about and giggling nervously. They'll sit down next to each other on the phallus bench, set up their camera tripod and use the automatic release function to shoot a photo for the family album. We're in Korea, after all, and no trip would be complete without a picture. Maybe they'll even stop by the Loveland Store and purchase a few souvenirs to use later.

If they're not too embarrassed, that is.

summarise please.

The things we do for love and money

As a girl living in Thailand, I often find myself amazed at what people will do for money. A stroll down the upmarket and classy Soi Bangla (note the sarcasm) is a prime example of this.

I'm never surprised at the ladies of the night who entertain the more refined gentlemen visitors. But, for every refined gentlemen visitor, there is a host of huge, sweaty cretins with a few wisps of greasy hair scraped and flattened across their equally greasy forehead.

Often their body odour, coupled with the stench coming from their 'Sex Instructor' vests stiff and crusty from a few days worth of stale beer, sweat, and unidentifiable body fluids - actually masks the stench coming from the piles of rubbish gathered on the nearby street corners.

Sure, the Bangla ladies might get a bit of extra cash from these men, who are just grateful that someone is actually willing to make physical contact with them, but the small fortune the ladies would have to spend on soap and disinfectant afterwards would counteract any pay increase?

A friend who once worked in a small Thai village up north was told by some local sex workers that these men are often the ones the girls want. The theory goes that a drop dead gorgeous guy is likely to have had a string of equally beautiful girlfriends who have already spent all his money, whereas a less attractive gentleman, such as described above, has probably never been loved so has never spent money on presents, weekends away or other such expenses.

Put simply: the bigger the waist, the fuller the wallet. Think about that then, guys, when you next sit in a bar with a whole hoard of women dripping off you.

After an interesting weekend a while back that involved an intimate encounter with a - how shall I put it - well-known person, I found myself wondering just how far I would be prepared to go for money.

Phuket attracts many high profile visitors. Royalty from various countries are seen here on their expensive yachts, sports personalities often frequent the palatial villas they bought with just a few days' earnings, celebrity chefs open upmarket restaurants and television and movie stars bless the quieter beaches.

Now, while you might live here and never meet any of these people, as a sociable 20-something girl I guess it was only a matter of time before I did. It was a good half hour of chatting before I even realised who he was.

I thought people were just staring because he was a good looking guy. In fact, he was so down to earth that even when he told me his name, I might not have twigged had a friend not pointed it out to me.

Despite who he was though, it really was just one of those nights where you meet someone and have a great laugh together. By 3am, both of the friends we were out with that night had made subtle exits ¡V and I was invited back to his hotel.

This is the part where I could probably sell my story to some trashy tabloid in exchange for thousands. Even though I had told him I was a writer, it didn't put enough fear into him to stop him from getting to know me intimately. He actually knows about this column, but I promised the following morning that I would withhold his identity.

So what's stopping me from telling all?

Well, he was nothing short of a gentleman the entire evening. He didn't flaunt who he was, didn't assume or expect that anything would happen between us because of it and, even when we got down to business, it was more of a slow and personal thing than a fast and furious, rip your-clothes-off ordeal.

To be fair though, it may have killed me if he¡¦d been anything but delicate - basically he was just too damn 'nice' for me to turn him in.

If it's not obvious what the big deal is, he's married. Morals are a funny thing. He had enough to treat me with respect, but not enough not to spend the night with me. I have enough not to rip apart a marriage for a few moments of fame and a nice payoff, but not enough not to sleep with him.

I suppose what it comes down to is this: if I was to capitalise on the experience, I would be no better than the fine young ladies of Patong. Above all else though, it made no odds to me who he was. I didn't go back to his hotel because he was famous. I went because I liked him.

So, as much as I would love to reveal who I was with that night, I won't. As great as it would be to get published in an international newspaper, for the time being I'm content to just be Miss Manolo, sharing her experiences with the Phuket Post.

Thailand 'a world porn leader'

The top official in the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology claimed today that Thailand is among the top 5 nations of the entire world in pornographic websites.

Maneerat Paliphat, permanent secretary at the ministry, did not name the other four, or hint at how she knew about the "honour".

But she did say that the webmasters of the porn sites could not be penalised as they have registered the sites overseas.

Mrs Maneerat said the flourishing pornography and cyber-criminals associated with Thailand present a social problem. Cases of hacking and online fraud working from Thailand have been handed to the Department of Special Investigation.

In the meantime, she said, Thailand needs more laws and regulations to prevent such social problems.

The ICT Ministry has redirected thousands of websites to its so-called "cyber inspector," the green screen of mean which informs Internet users they have reached a blocked site.

In addition to obscene sites, the ministry has attempted to block sites which can affect national security, such as those relating to the three southernmost provinces of Thailand. In practice, the censorship is leaky.

Originally posted by tepter:

the bikini....promoting red cross or swiss??