The Guardian has profiled the porn star Kurumin Aroma, another example of the chronic problem of coercion in the adult video industry in Japan. Though long widely known for some time, the controversy over the coercion and exploitation of female performers has recently scandalized the industry, leading to a lot of press attention, a public apology and even arrests. Several prominent performers have come forward with stories of how they were tricked and forced into performing. Aroma wanted to be a gravure idol and was spotted by a scout while still at college. Then when she had a ...

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After the media controversy comes the government crackdown. The biggest story in the adult industry last year was when the widespread coercion in the porn industry was finally exposed after several famous performers came forward, in addition to multiple arrests and prosecutions. It led to an official apology from the industry, though can we really hope that things will really improve when the industry is so large and its needs so rampant? (After all, such coercion is also endemic for gravure idols, music idols and the general entertainment world.) Kyodo now reports that the ...

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We have recently seen a lot of controversy in the porn industry in Japan over coercion after several prominent cases where women, including current stars, have come forward to allege they were forced to perform when they were originally scouted on different terms. It is one of the AV industry's dirty secrets that no one liked to talk about until last year. It has led to arrests and court cases as well as a wave of bad publicity in the mainstream media. And the latest "victim" of the controversy is not even a member of the industry! Now a lawyer who represented a production company ...

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The controversy over exploitation and coercion in the Japanese porn industry continues to rage. Following allegations, condemnations, arrests, and apologies, now comes another development. The popular AV star Saki Kouzai has come forward with the revelation that her porn debut was also coerced. In a 20-hour interview with Bunshun Shukan, she has come forward alleging both coercion and makura eigo, or the casting couch: you have to sleep with people to get ahead. She is currently suing Ryo Aoki, the head of Marks Japan who was previously arrested for a previous coercion case. Three ...

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One of the year's biggest stories continues to get bigger. Exploitation and coercion in the Japanese AV industry has been condemned for trafficking. It has sparked a public debate about labor rights for porn performers, or the lack thereof. The issue of coercing women to appear in porn has even led to arrests. In days past, such people in the porn industry were presumably protected by the Yakuza but the ongoing civil war may have shaken up the system. Amid intense media attention, now an AV industry association has issued a formal apology and promised reform. The Intellectual ...

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The recent interest in Japanese AV performers' labor and human rights continues to develop. It's one of the big stories of the year so far. Following the arrest mere days ago of a porn performer agency for forcing its roster of women to appear in porn and other recent developments like a damning report and seminar on the issue of exploitation and trafficking, now comes news that former AV star Mariko Kawana has launched a new orgnization to help. There are already groups like Lighthouse: Center for Human Trafficking Victims (formerly Polaris Project Japan) and Human Rights Now (HRN) as ...

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A company president of a Japanese AV talent agency has been arrested for allegedly forcing a woman to appear in pornography. It was learnt on June 11th that Marks Japan was raided by cops and three of its employees arrested. Police also raided other related businesses, including two production companies. The allegations stem from a woman who signed up to Marks Japan's roster of talent as a gravure idol in 2009, but was then sent to a porn shoot in September 2013 despite knowing she did not want to appear. Marks Japan's talent includes everyone from relatively innocuous things like ...

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Porn workers of the world, unite! Do Japan’s porn actresses and actors have labor rights? This was the question asked in a recent feature in the Japan Times. Ostensibly a report on a May 4th talk at a Koenji cafe, it was about the AV industry's response to Human Rights Now (HRN), which had issued a damning report about the local AV industry. The international NGO, which is based in Tokyo and has U.N. special consultative status, reported the results of an in-depth investigation into the pornography business in Japan. The report concluded that the industry had violated the human ...

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An AFP article doing the rounds on sites like Japan Today and Mail Online has some bad things to say about Japanese porn. The headline blasts: "Japan's porn industry preys on young women, say rights advocates". Well, not an unfamiliar topic, we hear you say. Japanese women are being exploited and abused in Japan’s multi-billion dollar pornographic film industry, rights advocates said on Thursday, calling on authorities to strengthen laws to protect them. Pornography is widely available in Japan, where some actresses become well known enough to appear on mainstream TV chat ...

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