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 ...
June is almost upon us, set to bring a bevy of new porn debuts by aspiring adult video stars in a competitive industry.
Here are some of the debuts we are looking forward to in the first half of the month.
Released digitally on June 2 and on physical format on June 6, Rina Matsunaga (松永梨杏) makes her JAV debut on Moodyz Diva (MIDV00366). The 162-minute production will surely make a lot out of the 21-year-old college student's H-cup breasts and girl-next-door looks.
The slinky and elegantly beautiful Wakana Sakura (さくらわかな) has an appropriate name for her debut release ...
Revisiting old Japanese porn VHS video covers from the 1980s and 1990s
May 23, 2023
/ Tadashi Anahori
Before we had streaming and downloadable formats, we had Blu-ray and DVD. And before that, back in some period lost to the mists of time -- namely, the 1980s and 1990s -- we have VHS video tapes.
The arrival of VHS marked the full birth of the Japanese adult video industry, hence the name.
The new format had incredible commercial potential for widespread distribution of content and meant hardcore porn was no longer a niche but an easily accessible, widely consumed form of porn (as opposed to the simulated sex in "pink" sexploitation, whose decline was hastened by AV).
VHS was the heyday of ...