So breasts seem to be popular these days. As a matter of fact, walk into any Japanese bookshop or convenience store and you’ll find magazine racks full of photo collections of gurabia, the country’s term for sexy but not-quite-naked models. Almost always busty, the sight of gurabia posing suggestively, often while relaxing in a pool or frolicking in the surf of an island paradise, has helped generations of men in Japan through a lonely winter’s night.

But while the men who run their eyes (or whatever other body parts) over their photos are obviously enjoying an escapist fantasy, one gurabia recently revealed some things fans might rather not have known about the industry. Her claim about the prevalence of surgically enhanced breasts gels with many people’s preexisting assumptions, but what’s shocking is what she claims is the true reason for some of those sweetly seductive smiles.

In case it wasn’t clear, we’ll be talking about/showing pictures of gurabia up ahead, so unless you’re employed as a swimwear designer, this probably isn’t safe for work.

Spilling the beans was 25-year-old Mai Nishida. The Kyoto native, who’s been at the gurabia game since 2006, appeared on broadcaster TV Asahi’s late-night talk show Masahiro Nakai’s Me ni Naru Toshokan last Tuesday, where she gave an insider’s perspective on some of the goings-on in her field (presumably while wearing more than she does on a normal day at work).

Nishida, who, yes, has appeared in DVDs and Blu-rays with titles like Mai Life, Mai Baby, Mai Time, and Mai Honey, claims that the vast majority of her fellow gurabia have had breast-enhancement surgery, pegging the portion with fake breasts at an overwhelming 90 percent. Not that she was present in the operating room, of course, but she says she can tell.

“Almost all gurabia perform the leopardess pose,” she explained, referring to a stance where the model is stretched out on her hands and knees like a cat. “That’s when you can tell if her breasts are real or fake.”

According to Nishida, who asserts her own chest is natural, in this posture there should be a gap between natural breasts. On the other hand, if the breasts still appear full to bursting and unwilling to go their separate ways, then they’re fake.

Being lonely and horny doesn’t necessarily mean you’re naive, though, and odds are a lot of people already assumed many, if not most, gurabia were benefitting from cosmetic surgery. As a matter of fact, many of them might even say it’s a moot point, given the entirely visual nature of their relationship with the models. But even if the supposed prevalence of fake breasts didn’t burst their bubble, it’s likely Nishida’s other piece of gurabia trivia blew their minds.

“During photo shoots in the ocean or pool, a lot of girls pee themselves.”

Looking good makes or breaks a gurabia’s career, and for outdoor sessions, the photographer or film crew is racing to get all the desired shots before the sun goes down, taking with it the light they need for the model to look her best.

Swimming pools are heated, but that still doesn’t mean they’re warm, and obviously there’s nothing you can do to change the ocean’s temperature. Being submerged in chilly water for long stretches of time puts a strain on the bladder, but many gurabia don’t feel it would be right to make everyone wait while they hop out of the water and run to the little girls with big breasts’ room.

Once again, Nishida was clear that she wasn’t talking about herself, of course. She insists that she resists the urge, even when it feels like her bladder is about to become inflamed from the strain. Not everyone has this fortitude, though, and she claims that many others, with the lower half of their bodies obscured by the water, engage in a little bit of multi-tasking.

“That moment of release puts a smile on their face,” Nishida says.

Wait…you mean all those gurabia aren’t smiling just for us?

Nari Nari via Hachima Kikou