Former porn star Yua Mikami is brand ambassador for papakatsu app

Since retiring from porn in August 2023, Yua Mikami has regularly stirred up controversy. Firstly by appearing to date two male singers at once. Secondly by pursuing her efforts to work in mainstream fashion through her own brand MISTREASS and by modeling for others, which some consider inappropriate given her previous line of work.

The 32-year-old YouTuber and celebrity will clearly do anything for a quick buck, including launching her own meme coin.

Her latest gig is serving as brand ambassador for papakatsu app mypappy, which she announced earlier this month. It has provoked a decidedly mixed responses.

Papakatsu is a form of compensated dating in which younger women enjoy a transactional sexual relationship with a sugar daddy. It has become a buzzword over the past few years but its reputation has been badly damaged by cases of fraud and even murder, not to mention the sexual exploitation of minors.

One of the distinct features of mypappy is that it requires male users who register to declare their income, which must be over ¥10 million (more than double the average income in Japan). They have to submit supporting documents to prove this. It guarantees that users are successful “high-spec” men and can really afford to subsidize dates with younger, beautiful women.

Features include allowing users to notify if they want to go a particular restaurant and personalized support from a dedicated concierge. Tinder this is most certainly not.

We’re not sure how popular Mikami is with the target demographic of high-earning men, though her association with the app is bound to encourage papakatsu in general. The assumption is that if you are willing to pay for dates, you can bed even a porn star. (This is not far off, since many current and retired JAV performers do compensated dating, though probably through more discreet introduction services than a public app.)

After her work for mypappy became apparent, Mikami (who was previously known as Momona Kito in her first career as a music idol) has attracted ironic comments on social media that she is once again stirring up trouble (weeks after the scandal over her choice to wear a commercially available wedding dress to an event).

Media commentators have noted that the line between sugar daddy dating and more conventional dating and matchmaking apps for marriage and other purposes is inherently unclear in today’s crowded market. The choice to use a former adult actress is inherently provocative, reinforcing the sexualized image of papakatsu in the public eye. Despite the emergence of convenient services clearly advertised as papakatsu, it remains something of a taboo topic that Mikami’s ambassadorship is not going to change (if not rather compound).

Papakatsu, like all forms of compensated dating, is a decidedly gray zone in a legal sense. Though not breaking any laws, as long as both parties are adults, it is inherently based on an unequal power structure (because one side is paying) and is liable to attract (and potentially trap) vulnerable young women.