Photo By Kishin Shinoyama 1991 72 — Santa Fe Rie Miyazawa

This act was a direct challenge to a long-standing social convention. The book became one of the first "hair-nudes" (ヘアヌード), a genre of photography that Japanese authorities had only just begun to permit. The contrast between Miyazawa’s clean-cut, idol image and the raw, unadorned nudity in the book was devastatingly effective. The public's shock was palpable, and the backlash was immediate.