Another week, another new Japanese adult video debut.
This time, the newbie porn performer who has caught our eye is Ruu Totsuka (十束るう), who used to be known professionally as Shiho Nagisa (渚志帆).
Her debut (code STARS-901-T) came out on SODstar digitally on August 30, and then on DVD on September 21.
Apparently, she's been working as a voice and stage actor since the age of six! She's meant to be currently a gravure model, though we had never seen her before. Regardless, her 20-year career just entered a whole new chapter.
The 26-year-old native of Kumamoto has incredible ...
An ex-porn star on Japanese adult industry street scouts
September 3, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
Earlier in the year, we wrote a short profile about Aya Takanashi, the former porn star who is now a columnist.
Her articles in Spa! are always worth a read, usually introducing certain aspects about the adult industry and her insights on them.
We spotted her recent piece about street scouts (known in Japanese as "scout man"). Such suited, flashily dressed figures are often seen hanging around certain neighborhoods of a big city. In Tokyo, this often means Kabukicho.
They go up to women and try to entice them with offers of well-paid work. Sometimes this is porn work, though the true ...
Has the 2022 JAV law really improved the Japanese porn industry?
August 28, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
The Economist recently reported on the Japan's porn industry as it continues to respond to the coercion scandals that (belatedly) came out in the 2010s, and the legislation that politicians have introduced, in part, to tackle the issue.
Claiming that Japan's porn industry is "coming out of the shadows," the article claims that the 2022 law targeting coercion and allowing performers to withdraw from contracts brought the industry out of a gray zone. We are not sure that's fully true. The industry still operates in murky waters, both in a good and bad sense, and the new law was ultimately ...
VR Instant Box Girls features Ichika Matsumoto as personal action figure and sex slave
August 17, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
VR Instant Box Girls stars Ichika Matsumoto and, as the name suggests, is intended for watching with a VR device like the Oculus.
As far as we can tell, this is a new series of AV by SOD Create and we presume will include other entries with different stars.
Released on August 7, the 87-minute AV (13dSDVR01282) has an eye-catching cover with Matsumoto as a female action figure in a blister pack with accessories like lubricant and vibrators. Needless to say, the action figure is naked and doesn't come with any costume parts!
This is recreated in life-size in the AV, which is filmed in a ...
Yua Mikami releases final porn video before retirement
August 14, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
As announced earlier in the year, the immensely popular Japanese porn star Yua Mikami is to return in August and her final release has just come out from S1 No. 1 Style.
The 147-minute release (SSIS00834) comes out on physical format on August 15, following its streaming release at the end of last week.
The JAV stunner turns 30 this month and has enjoyed an eight-year career, which is very long by industry standards. She is also probably the most successful and famous example of a Japanese music idol who switched to adult video; in her case, SKE48, where she was known as Momona ...
SOD Land porn theme park to reopen after five-month closure
August 9, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
Japan's porn giant Soft on Demand seems finally to have recovered from one of the most bizarre and shocking screw-ups in their history.
SOD Land in Kabukicho suddenly closed down in March this year after police discovered it was violating the law on fuzoku ("amusement businesses") establishments, which covers hostess clubs, brothels, and so on.
Billed as an "adult theme park," SOD Land allows visitors to meet and interact with actual Japanese porn performers (and others like sex workers and hostesses) in various ways across five floors, including bars and a space for viewing performers in ...
Japan Innovation Party politician alleged to have had a past career in porn
August 5, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
Japanese politics, a dull place populated by staid old men in gray suits. Right?
Think again.
Look beyond the geriatric male statesmen and discover a fascinating example of models and celebrities enjoying well-paid second careers.
From former gravure idols like Renho and Ayaka Shioyama to nude performance artist Rena Masuyama, there are plenty of instances of women with rather questionable experience moving into politics.
The one-time top gradol Chisato Morishita is bidding to be a politician for the ruling conservative party, the Liberal Democratic Party, possibly making her the hottest ...
An interview with Yuko Ogasawara, 88-year-old porn star
July 20, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
There are jukujo mature porn stars. And then there's Yuko Ogasawara (小笠原裕子).
The 88-year-old is probably the world's oldest porn performer.
We found a couple of recently published longish interviews with her on Shueisha Online.
The obvious questions to start with are: When and why did she begin performing?
Her husband died when she was 59 and she then entered the world of snack bars, working as a "mama" as one bar for seven years from the age of 61. Even after giving that up in 68, it was still several years until she entered the adult video industry.
She spent the ...
Interview with retired Japanese porn star Kaho Shibuya about new book
July 18, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
Kaho Shibuya was a big name in porn during her time as a performer and she's also a rare example of someone who has managed to retain her fame since retiring from adult video in 2018 by carving out a successful second career.
She also takes no prisoners, prepared to spill the beans on the dark side of Japanese porn, and sue a production company for leaking her old videos.
Now active as a cosplayer, Twitch streamer, and author, Shibuya speaks English fluently, which has helped her a lot to keep an international profile.
She recently sat down with Tokyo Weekender for an interview about her ...
Meet Riasu Mizutani, the translator who moonlights as a porn star
June 23, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
Frequent porn crossovers, where female celebrities from other walks of life (music, acting, sports, etc.) move into adult video, mean the JAV industry is populated by quite a varied roster of talent.
Likewise, established porn stars sometimes branch out into other fields like mainstream acting and even writing (several porn performers are novelists, for example, such as Mana Sakura).
But off the top of our head, this is the first instance we know of a JAV star who is also a translator.
Riasu Mizutani (水谷梨明日) made her porn debut in April on Moodzy, but her regular job is as a ...