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Wannabe idol Asuka Sawamoto squeals that bottom-baring antics attracted police spanking

Spa! (5/20)

Self-professed "sexy idol" Asuka Sawamoto concedes she flashed too much flesh prior to her April arrest, but tells Spa! (5/20) the cops are being too heavy handed in their treatment of her.

"OK, I went too far in showing off my bottom and I regret that. But there are plenty of girls apart from me who are showing off their thongs or panties. And in Akihabara (where Sawamoto was arrested), there's an unwritten 'three-strike' rule where you get three chances to be let off by going to the police station and writing an apology, but in my case they arrested me straight off without any warning. Frankly speaking, I was shocked," Sawamoto tells Spa!

"I met a couple of my fans near Akihabara Station and the cops ordered us to break it up and go our separate ways even though I was fully clothed. I never dreamed they'd get so strict with me."

Sawamoto, who is currently out on bail as she waits to see whether prosecutors will lay charges on her, was arrested for breaking a Tokyo Metropolitan Government ordinance outlawing public nuisances by allegedly flashing her fanny to a huge group of frisky photographers in Akihabara on April 25.

She hasn't had much luck since then, either, with the police who arrested her announcing that she's 30 and Sawamoto insisting she's still only 22 -- and thus more marketable in a land with a yen for youth.

Sawamoto's attempts to prove herself also landed her in more hot water, as the copy of her university graduation certificate she released online was signed by the wrong person, raising doubts about the credibility of her claimed academic record.

Sawamoto first made a name for herself online after a series of "shows" in the geek haven where she put on explicit poses for amateur cameramen. Each time she showed up on the streets of Akihabara and displayed her derriere, her reputation grew. On the April 20 performance that led to her arrest, TV news programs had their cameras there to cover her uncovering.

"Several TV networks had asked me about the appearance and all said they wanted me to bare my bottom. So I showed it only after I'd confirmed the TV cameras were on me," she tells Spa! "I didn't really want to do it, but they had paid me, so I figured it was work I was kind of obliged to perform."

Footage of Sawamoto's display was widely aired on tabloid TV shows targeting housewives and quickly attracted widespread criticism. It also sparked the cops into action and Sawamoto was arrested, with consideration of charges being laid against the TV networks alleged to have encouraged her also still underway.

"Look, I'm a performer, so when the media expresses interest in what I'm doing, I'm always grateful," she says. "I flashed my bottom to give my fans a bit of a treat, but something I only did once on the spur of the moment turned into twice, then three times and so on. Of course, I was totally in the wrong."

Sawamoto says her experiences on the streets of Akihabara have soured her view of Tokyo's nerd Never Never Land.

"Akihabara is a stage for pros and amateurs alike, whether they be singers, or cosplayers or street performers. Akihabara is for expressionists and those who want to see them express," Sawamoto tells Spa! "Akihabara's underground idols are famous for the close relationships they have with their fans. That kind of relationship was the only thing I was ever looking for." (By Ryann Connell)