THE LATEST NEWS

After almost 20 years of online sales only, AkaTako's new shop/art gallery Grand Opening Exhibition has been decided! The doors will open for the first time ever on Friday, July 17, 2026 at 17:30. Thirteen artists are participating with the theme of "AkaTako" = red octopus (plucked from the pages of a EN-JP dictionary before Google Translate existed).

In addition to being Katie's favorite animal, the red octopus holds a special place in Japanese erotic art - most notable is Katsushika Hokusai's "Octopus and Diving Woman" which has been reimagined thousands of times. This exhibition focuses on the red octopus interpreted in many different ways. Brand new original artworks by 13 artists will be available to purchase or just admire. Limited edition goods and licensed merchandise of new artworks are being created now! And many in stock books and goods which include an octopus artwork will be displayed as well.

AkaTako.net was officially started in 2007. Prior to that, Katie was selling a limited amount of items on eBay as a hobby since 2001. After returning to school to learn how to build websites and manage a business properly, Katie moved to Japan for 1 year in 2006/7. She taught English as a second language while making time to visit 26 different cities in just 14 months. When she returned to the USA she built the first AkaTako website. :)

The company has slowly grown over many years with licensed artist collaboration projects starting in 2022. The focus has always been on affordable, high quality items that are easily accessible. Hopefully the access is even easier now that you can come and buy in person! (soon)

Participating artists with original artworks just for this exhibition:

Original artworks and licensed merchandise will be available online within 24 hours of doors opening.

If you'd like to receive an email notification for future exhibitions please sign up here. (The email notification for the Grand Opening was a one time email. Please sign up for this different list even if you signed up for the Grand Opening notification!)

A brand new original artwork by Shintaro Kago is available: "Miyazaki Butcher Shop" which was also printed on a black cotton t-shirt. Pen and watercolor on paper, 21 x 29.7cm (8.25" x 11.7").

Please click the image or links above for close up details and more information.

A wonderful little update to AkaTako.net today - the ability to see prices in your own currency!! There's now a little currency selector at the very top right of every page:

Many popular currencies added - just send me a message if yours is missing!

Please keep in mind that this is DISPLAY only. AkaTako is based in Germany and everything is processed in Euros. You can SEE your approximate currency equivalent but the final checkout process will be done in Euro (with your estimated currency equivalent also displayed for reference).

It took a while to get all the data exported and then reconfigured for the new website but the Reference Library is now back! Hopefully no more broken links... All of the "Artwork Library" links in books are now fixed also so you can see which titles are in (selected) books. 

Hoping to get the search function working in a while - likely after the shop opens. Plus adding the recently released books that have been missing for quite some time. But please enjoy all the reference material again!

Just added for pre-order, the latest book by three powerful erotic artists Hajime Sorayama, Rockin' Jelly Bean, and Katsuya Terada with a special fourth guest this time - Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell). All four artists have a section in "Ex Machina Galactica" with the theme of "sexaroids".

Previously released books:
2014: Pussycat! Kill! Kill! Kill!
2018: Tokyo Sweet Gwendoline
2024: Dominatrix Heaven

Hajime Sorayama's latest gynoids book "The Gynoids Sublime" is now available for pre-order! The USA already has a couple copies and additional copies are on the way to Berlin, Germany right now. (Images, description may change a small amount after arrival). New softcover book is 150 pages with sexy robot artworks, pin-ups, airplane nose art, BDSM, etc., and photos of sexy robot statues both in his own exhibitions and collaborations with other popular artists/companies.

Click images above for more information!

Wow it has been a long very long time that I have been attempting, repeatedly, and failing to upgrade the AkaTako website. The now old website existed for just over 18 years without any major upgrades!! I've gone from Drupal 6 to Drupal 10 with quite a lot of help from a freelancer on Upwork. (Not a paid or compensated ad - just genuinely grateful to have found a talented individual with fair prices.)

AkaTako company is now based in Berlin, Germany. Prices are listed in and will be charged in euros. Shipping and EU VAT are calculated automatically after you enter your shipping address. There's also a new "slow boat" shipping option to facilitate transfer of items from one AkaTako location to the other - and lower cost for you!!

Some "fun statistics" about the AkaTako website:

• Over 2700 individual items offered over 18 years!
• 585 front page "news and info" articles (this is 586).
• The "Related Items" on each product = over 16,000 individual entries! o_o
• Almost 4300 "social media feed" entries!

There are still plenty of things missing or slightly broken. The entire "library" section with reference information doesn't exist yet. This will result in broken links until I find time to import and format everything. (Status will be updated here.)

PayPal and Stripe payments are working properly!

The website is sending emails so the contact form IS now working, order confirmation emails, etc. - all of that is working.

If you notice anything that doesn't look right or is not functional please let me know as soon as possible!

Heading to AkaTako on January 5th, Takato Yamamoto's newest series of illustrations for a JP language "Alice in Wonderland" book. The 224 page book is available in a regular edition or a special limited edition (only 1000 copies!) which includes a paperboard slipcase. There's also three very high quality giclée prints, three t-shirts, three tote bags, four clear plastic files, a single postcard or set of 12, and blind choice random pin back buttons! Please check description for estimated arrival dates.

Alice in Wonderland regular edition	Alice in Wonderland special limited edition	Alice pins
Alice in Wonderland giclée print	Alice in Wonderland II giclée print	Mad Tea Party giclée print
Mad Tea Party t-shirt	Rabbit - Denim t-shirt	Rabbit - White t-shirt
Alice tote bag	Mad Hatter tote bag	Rabbit tote bag
Alice single postcard	. Alice in Wonderland clear file	. Alice clear file
Alice postcard set	. Mad Tea Party clear file	. Small Door clear file

Please click the images or links above for more details and up to date arrival dates.

A gorgeous new book by OZUMA - Yoko Ozuma for his bondage/torture artworks and Kaname Ozuma for his tattooed beauties. Born in 1939, OZUMA was the pioneer of bondage artwork with tattooed beauties. "The World of Tattooed Bondage Beauties" has a translucent dust jacket, red page edges, JP/EN essays, and special "stay flat" binding so that the artwork is not destroyed in the middle when printed across two pages. 

OZUMA was also published in "KINBAKU The Golden Age of Japanese Restrained & Tortured Artworks" book!

A brand new, self-published book by Daisuke Ichiba is now available. "19999" is a 100 page softcover book, hand signed 'BADA' inside the back cover. Book has zero text/filler pages and is absolutely packed with artworks - drawings, sketches, photo collages, nonsense text blocks, etc.

Click the images or links above for more details.