Interview with retired porn star Mio Oichi

Now 33, Mio Oichi (音市美音) worked in the Japanese adult video industry from 2011 to 2012, and then again from 2014 to 2015, and a final time in 2018.

In a long and wide-ranging interview with Spa! earlier this month, she talked about her career and the difficulties she has faced as a former porn star. We’ve translated some highlights.

Her JAV career began in a fairly typical way.

“I was scouted when I made my debut. I was walking down the street when someone called out to me, and I went for an interview at an agency. I was young and interested in working in the entertainment industry, and they were honest about how they also had adult actresses on their roster, so I felt that they were an agency that didn’t lie or deceive.”

As often happens, the agency persuaded her to try doing porn.

“To be honest, I didn’t know much about the industry. But they explained that I would be a solo actress who could sign an exclusive contract with a manufacturer, so the contract terms would be good. I was really skinny at the time, so I didn’t think I could be a gravure model. I agonized over it for about three months, but I was offered a good role, so I thought it would be great if it could lead to a future career.”

What was it like to have sex in front of other people?

“I was very resistant! At the time, I had only had sex with two men, and had never been with anyone other than a boyfriend. I think that’s the case for many women, but I also had prejudices toward porn. My boyfriend when I was a student had porn, and I would cry just looking at the photo on the packaging. But when I looked at the online store, I was so impressed by the beautiful women and my image of porn gradually changed. Even so, I was full of anxiety when I first met the male actor on set.”

Why did she quit just six months after starting?

“After my debut, I started a blog to promote myself, but would sometimes get abusive comments in the comments section.”

She says those kinds of comments gave her a lot of stress. “Since it’s a job where you’re exposed, people would make small negative comments about your appearance that they wouldn’t normally say, and point out things you wouldn’t notice. I’m basically someone who cares about other people’s opinions, so it hurt. I’d lived a normal life up until then, so I’d never been exposed to that kind of abusive commentary. And because it’s written, even if I get 100 nice comments, one bad comment would bother me and make me feel down.”

It also felt like the right time to quit.

“I had filmed six AVs in six months, and felt satisfied, like I’d done enough. The production company had talked to me about renewing my contract, but considering the mental burden of the slander and its impact on my lifestyle, I decided I wanted to quit once and for all.”

She was actually still doing her regular job during her first stint.

“I was working. I had shoots once a month, so I scheduled them on my days off.”

Did people at work find out she was a porn actress? “A few people did. They would ask me really nasty questions at work. They’s things like, ‘Do you like sex?’ or ‘Are you interested in sex?’ It’s not just men, I’ve been asked that by women too.”

She returned in 2014.

“I had the opportunity to meet the manager and president of my current agency, and while we were having dinner together, I was reminded of how interesting the industry is and how much fun I had at events with my fans. I felt a strong desire to see my fans again and try it again. It had been several years since my first retirement and I wasn’t using social media, so I simply thought that I want to relive the fun memories I had with my fans.”

Nonetheless, there were drawbacks to being a porn actress.

“My biggest concern was work. After I retired, I worried for about two years whether people would notice. I had a lot of bad experiences at work and in my love life, and I was depressed.”

She again experienced trolling and slander.

“They weren’t direct attacks on me, but rather slander against my friends and people close to me. At the workplace where my friend works, she was bullied with comments about how your friend is a porn star and suggestions that she was one too. If it was me, I would have been prepared for that, but it was really painful to see my friend get dragged into it, and I was filled with guilt. That was the hardest thing mentally.”

Otoichi explains the strategies she developed for dealing with this.

“I always had to carry a sleeping pill and razor with me. Otherwise my heart would race. Even at work, I had to cut my wrists in the bathroom. Sometimes when I forgot my razor, I would go out of my way to buy one.”

Since retiring, has she experienced difficulty in her love life?

“I wanted someone who would accept me for who I was in the past, so before we started dating I’d be upfront with them that I was once a porn actress. They’d say things like, ‘I respect you, but can’t date you.’ Or after intimacy, they’d say things like ‘you’re a real pro’ or ‘you’ve got great technique,’ which hurt me. I’d only actually appeared in a dozen or so films!”

Since her final retirement from porn, Oichi has worked at Red Dragon, a Roppongi hostess bar staffed by JAV performers, and also opened her own bar.

In 2023, she launched a crowdfunding campaign for her first photo book. She held an exhibition earlier this month in Shibuya.