Porn star Riasu Mizutani announces pregnancy

Beloved for her slinky body, boyish looks, and short hair, the Japanese porn star Riasu Mizutani has announced her pregnancy on social media.

We had noted Mizutani’s recent social media absence and lack of releases, after making a bit of a splash with her debut in 2023. She broke her silence on March 1 with the announcement, accompanied by a picture of her cradling her pregnant belly.

Mizutani has carved out a very unusual presence in the adult video industry, mainly because she is a highly educated young woman who also works an English-Japanese translator.

Since emerging on the scene, she has openly written about and discussed her work (including such topics as how a porn performer files a tax return) and her fieldwork-style attitude towards accumulating sexual experience with different sorts of men. As such, not hiding her pregnancy is very much in keeping with her previous output.

She was included in a recent book of interviews with well-educated Japanese porn stars, alongside Kaho Shibuya, Mao Watanabe (Ai Jinno), Rena Momozono, and the male performer Yuto Kuroda.

In Mizutani’s case, she went to college in the United States, though ill health prevented her from graduating. She is currently enrolled again at a university, albeit on a break right now due to her pregnancy.

Though Mizutani (whose age is not publicly disclosed) told fans that she is due very soon (as the size of her bulge in the pic she shared indicates), she has not offered up any information on the father of the child or whether or not she is now married. Nor whether or not she will continue her career after recovering from pregnancy and childbirth.

Despite the huge size of the Japanese porn industry and the relatively prominent place in mainstream media and culture that female performers enjoy (albeit often euphemistically presented as “sexy actresses”), they face prejudice and criticism (especially on social media) if they marry and/or begin a family.

Sola/Sora Aoi, who was probably the biggest star of JAV in the 2000s, has been outspoken about the online criticism she has received after she retired and started a family, though perhaps her decision to integrate her pregnancy into her fan service (streaming her experience of giving birth to twins) may have exasperated the attention.

The majority of porn performers, of course, disappear into obscurity and do not publicize their post-JAV lives per se, but those with a sizable fandom and with hopes of pursuing other career paths do openly share information about marriage and children.

Examples include Nanami Kawakami and Nayuka Mine.