In an interview with the Bunshun Online, Japanese adult video star Minamo has described her childhood as a lonely time spent as an outsider who "had no friends."
Ahead of her retirement from porn in December, the ravishingly beautiful star says everything changed when she entered high school. She underwent a dramatic transformation and people began to compare her to actress Kasumi Arimura (even though Minamo is now famously a dead ringer for actress Mitsuki Takahata) and became immensely popular with the boys. Although she finally achieved her dream of joining the cool crowd, Minamo says ...
Kaoru Oshima made a huge splash when he debuted in the adult film industry in 2014 as the first otokonoko (male-to-female crossdressing) adult film star. He (we are assuming Oshima goes by "he") retired from the porn industry at age 25 the following year and has since expanded his career as a TV personality and writer, similar to the likes of Minamo, who recently debuted as a novelist ahead of her retirement from JAV.
Having entered the industry via gay adult videos as a biological male, why did Oshima shift his focus to mainstream adult films as a femboy performer? Oshima sat for an ...
The leading Japanese adult video performer Minamo, who is set to retire in December, has released her debut novel.
Her first novel, Mother's Boat of Mud, went on sale on September 14, published by Kadokawa, one the biggest publishers in Japan.
With her 192-page literary debut, Minamo follows in the footsteps of porn peers like Mana Sakura, who has published several books.
As expected, the release her generated a lot of media attention. She was recently interviewed by Web The Television about her new novel.
It started with perhaps the obvious question: Why did she choose family as the ...
To remember the former porn star Tsubomi is to go back to what now seems like a veritable golden age of adult video, a more innocent time of JAV before the restrictive new legislation came in and the coercion scandals that have blackened the industry.
Tsubomi was a Lolita-style performer who made her debut in 2006 at the age of 18. She had already appeared in 1,000 releases by 2012.
We actually assumed she had retired in the 2010s, but it seems she did not officially leave the industry until late 2022, making her career one of the longest in recent memory.
Known as Tsubomin to her fans, ...
What happens when porn stars retire? Most disappear into obscurity after a short career in a highly competitive industry, probably earning money by hostessing, compensated dating, and sex work. A small number are able to switch gears to an adjacent career, such as acting or modeling (such as Yua Mikami). And there are interesting examples of JAV stars who switch to a wholly different occupation, like Hiyori Yoshioka, who works at a sexual health clinic.
We have chronicled various examples of these post-idol careers over the years, and another interesting one recently came across our ...
The prolific Japanese porn director Chisho Ito, known professionally as Tohjiro, has died at the age of 70. He had been suffering from lung cancer.
The news was announced on July 21 by his wife, the former porn star Mirei Asaoka.
Tohjiro was born in Roppongi, Tokyo, in 1956. He made his first film, Gondola, in the mid-1980s, and it screened internationally in 1987 and 1988.
In 1989, he shot his first adult video (this was at a time when JAV was entering its heyday in terms of sales, as lavishly portrayed in the Netflix series The Naked Director). In 2001, he founded the AV production ...
Kyoko Ichikawa announced her retirement from Japanese adult video on July 8 but has since followed up with further messages on social media.
The 45-year-old said: "I've recently observed information being spread about my workplace and private life, as well as malicious direct messages and harassing behavior." She warned, "I will keep evidence concerning the spread of false information, invasions of privacy, and defamation, and will take appropriate action, including legal measures, where necessary." She concluded by thanking her fans for their support. "I apologize for any concern this may ...
The Japanese porn star Minamo has announced her retirement.
The wildly popular adult video performer put out a statement on June 14 on her social media channels announcing her forthcoming retirement in December, while Soft on Demand released a special page on its website. It brings to an end a five-year career that has seen the 26-year-old mononymous star rise to the top of the industry.
In that time, Minamo (usually written in uppercase roman letters in Japanese) has achieved significant mainstream recognition alongside her dozens of adult video releases, photo books, and calendars.
The ...
Retired porn stars tend to disappear into the oblivion of regular employment after retirement, with only a few seeking out the limelight by launching other public-facing careers. But this is the first time that we have heard of a porn star switching gears into charity work.
Eimi Fukada was one of the biggest names in the Japanese adult video industry but she seemed to quietly retire last year. As far as we know, she didn't realize any new productions and, while we didn't seem a formal announcement, she is now described in the media as a "former" porn star (or, as the Japanese media always ...
Following recent report that nearly half of men and 4% of women have used sex workers, and that the sex industry is shifting toward a model centered on in-call services instead of brothels, there is much public debate right now in Japan about prostitution.
The TV show Abema Prime recently hosted a discussion about the merits of punishing customers, something that may become possible in the future with proposed changes to current legislation under review.
The author, former Nikkei reporter, graduate if Keio University, and ex-porn star Suzumi Suzuki (pictured) was one of the guests. She ...
