Once people took their eyes off the naked bodies of the women posing nude outside the Miyazaki Prefectural Government office, they realized one of the faces was extraordinarily familiar. In fact, Shukan Post (2/15) notes, one of the women was once a broadcaster for the local TV network and is actually quite famous in the area.

Late last month, Hiroyuki Asakura, Mitsumi Takahashi and Megumi Ifuku made national news after they were arrested for indecent exposure when the women stripped down to their birthday suits to pose in front of the brick building that has become a hot tourist spot since ex-comedian Hideo Higashikokubaru was elected Miyazaki governor in January last year.

Police say Asakura took the photos of the naked women and posted them on the website he operates for voyeurs together with loads of other exhibitionist shots snapped near other Miyazaki landmarks.

A concerned citizen's tip-off led investigators to the reveal-all trio, but it didn't take long for more observant types to realize that the photos weren't the first time 36-year-old Takahashi had bared her face for the cameras in Miyazaki. She once worked as a reporter for a cable TV station run by local newspaper, Miyazaki Nichinichi Shimbun.

"From 2000 to 2003, she would give reports on events within the city, interviewed people and broadcast news on all sorts of goings-on," a fan of the program Takahashi worked on tells Shukan Post. "She was pretty cheerful and became fairly popular. Anybody who knew her then would find it pretty unbelievable that she was caught up in this indecency case."

Miyazaki Nichinichi's TV studios are located on the first floor of the company building and passersby can see what's going on while shows are being broadcast. Even though she was only working on cable TV, Takahashi's on-air exposure meant she was a minor celebrity in the regional city.

"There were times when I deliberately went out of my way so I could go by the studio and watch her reading the news," one of Takahashi's old high school classmates tells the men's weekly. "She always seemed to be so busy."

Miyazaki Nichinichi admits Takahashi worked on the program.

"It is a fact that she was once one of our casters," a spokesman for the media company tells Shukan Post. "But I must hasten to add that she wasn't a full-time employee. She was only a freelancer."

Pals from high school are also surprised to see Takahashi in trouble with the law. She attended one of the prefecture's best high schools, where she had been known more for keeping to herself than revealing all.

"She wore these Coke-bottle glasses and I never heard of anybody being interested in her," a friend from her schooldays says. "My impression of her at the time was just how much she didn't stand out in our class."

After finishing high school, Takahashi went from one job to another, mostly with local outlets of fast food chains. She underwent a major transformation at the start of the millennium, though, when she scored her TV job.

"She was still in her 20s when she got the job and I guess she wanted to transform herself. I remember she turned up in a kimono at the first class reunion we'd held for some time and looked absolutely stunning," another high school classmate says. "Everyone was surprised by how much she'd changed. Everyone was talking about how much she looked like a TV newscaster and what an amazing transformation it had brought about in her."

It wasn't to be Takahashi's only metamorphosis, though. She disappeared from Miyazaki's TV screens in 2003 when her contract ran out, but brought about another massive change in herself not long after she started dating Asakura around the same time.

"She'd always been a regular at the bar Asakura operated, even before she got onto the news. He'd once been a rock guitarist and Takahashi adored him because of her love of music," another friend says.

After some time, Takahashi moved from being a customer to a helper in her lover's bar.

"She started showing an interest in anything and everything that Asakura liked. She didn't just get into his music, she also started to go and watch wrestling matches with him. I guess her interest in exhibitionism started with him, too," the friend says.

Shukan Post notes that Takahashi did more than just pose nude for Asakura, she was also a willing participant in orgies he organized and posted pictures of on his site.

But the men's weekly notes that the one-time broadcaster now awaiting trial can take solace in the fact at least one of her childhood dreams has kind of come true.

According to the profile she once posted on the Miyazaki Nichinichi website, Takahashi's ideal job when she was child was working as a stripper. (By Ryann Connell)