AV idol

An AV Idol ("adult video idol"; nihongo|AV actress|AV女優|AV joyu) is a Japanese idol that works in the pornographic business, often both as an actress as well as a model as the video performances have a wide range, from just the idol strolling around their house doing chores in bikinis to hardcore porn. Since the dawn of the AV industry in the early 1980s, hundreds of AV idols have debuted every year, with an average career span of about a year, appearing in five or ten videos during that time. [cite web |url=http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/pornborn.html|title=A Star is Porn|accessdate=2007-02-18 |last=Fornander|first=Kjell|year=1992|month=July|format= |work= [http://www.tokyo.to/ Tokyo Journal] |publisher= |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060516235928/http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/pornborn.html|archivedate =2006-05-16] Notable AV idols have careers spanning several years, have a high general public recognition, or make a significant impact on the industry in some other manner. [cite web |url=http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/7.2/Iwamura.html|title=Letter from Japan: From Girls Who Dress Up Like Boys To Trussed-up Porn Stars - Some of the Contemporary Heroines on the Japanese Screen|accessdate=2007-04-25 |last=Iwamura|first=Rosemary|year=1994|publisher=Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture, vol. 7 no. 2|quote=In addition to the influence of pornography on mainstream cinema, the line between pornography and family entertainment, such as daytime television, is blurred. It is not uncommon in Japan for a waning female television star or singer to feature in pornographic videos. Similarly, there are women actors from pornographic videos who move into daytime television.]

The AV industry in Japan

The line between "adult" and family entertainment in Japan is not as clear-cut as it is in some other countries. A celebrity may appear in AVs after already having established a career in mainstream television. Also, it is not rare for a popular AV actress to go on to mainstream celebrity. [Iwamura.] Fornander reports that "a background in porn is not necessarily a skeleton in the cupboard anymore. In some cases, it’s a career move." [cite web |url=http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/pornborn.html|title=A Star is Porn|accessdate=2007-02-18 |last=Fornander|first=Kjell|year=1992|month=July|format= |work= [http://www.tokyo.to/ Tokyo Journal] |publisher= |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060516235928/http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/pornborn.html|archivedate =2006-05-16]

The AV, or "Adult Video" market is a major industry in Japan, reportedly worth about ¥400 billion per year. In 1992, it was reported that over 11 AVs were being made every day by over 70 production companies in Tokyo alone. The AV market was estimated to make up about 30 percent of Japan's video rentals. [cite web |url=http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/pornborn.html|title=A Star is Porn|accessdate=2007-02-18 |last=Fornander|first=Kjell|year=1992|month=July|format= |work= [http://www.tokyo.to/ Tokyo Journal] |publisher= |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060516235928/http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/pornborn.html|archivedate =2006-05-16] It was estimated in 1994 that, between legal and illegal videos, around 14,000 AVs a year were being made in the country, in contrast to about 2,500 in the United States. [cite web |url=http://www.hawaii.edu/PCSS/online_artcls/pornography/prngrphy_rape_jp.html|title=Pornography, Rape and Sex Crimes in Japan|accessdate=2007-02-18|last=Diamond|first=Milton|authorlink= |coauthors=Ayako Uchiyama|date= |year=1999|month= |format= |work= |publisher=Pacific Center for Sex and Society; University Of Hawai`i]

The AV actress

Early AV performers were often struggling actresses who could not find work in the theatrical Roman Porno films and girls from the soaplands. [AV producer Shoichi Yoshimura, quoted in cite web |url=http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/pornborn.html|title=A Star is Porn|accessdate=2007-02-18 |last=Fornander|first=Kjell|year=1992|month=July|format= |work= [http://www.tokyo.to/ Tokyo Journal] |publisher= |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060516235928/http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/pornborn.html|archivedate =2006-05-16] AV star Kaoru Kuroki has been credited with raising the status of AV idols in the public's eye. According to Rosemary Iwamura, "she didn't seem to be making videos because of a lack of options but rather as an informed choice." [cite web |url=http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/7.2/Iwamura.html|title=Letter from Japan: From Girls Who Dress Up Like Boys To Trussed-up Porn Stars - Some of the Contemporary Heroines on the Japanese Screen|accessdate=2007-02-18|last=Iwamura|first=Rosemary|year=1994|work=Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture, vol. 7 no. 2]

AV actresses are usually recruited by scouts in Tokyo neighborhoods such as Roppongi, Shinjuku and Shibuya. These scouts are affiliated with talent agencies who then hire the actresses to the AV production companies. Some women wishing to appear in AVs apply to the production companies, but they are usually referred to the talent agencies. The production companies are typically charged ¥1.5 million or more for an actress to appear in a video. [cite web |url=http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/pornborn.html|title=A Star is Porn|accessdate=2007-02-18 |last=Fornander|first=Kjell|year=1992|month=July|format= |work= [http://www.tokyo.to/ Tokyo Journal] |publisher= |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060516235928/http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/pornborn.html|archivedate =2006-05-16] AV actresses make between ¥200,000 and 4 million yen per video. [cite web |url=http://www.bigempire.com/sake/av_director.html|title=The AV Director|accessdate=2007-02-18 |last=Stovall|first=Albert|year=|month=|format= |work=Sake Drenched Postcards|publisher= |archiveurl=|archivedate =]

AV fans are invited to follow the progress of a prominent AV actress' career over several video appearances. In her AV debut video, the actress is introduced as a "new face," and her inexperience is played up in interviews preceding the modeling and sex scenes. Following this debut video, the AV audience follows the actress' journey through sexual awakening, and her eventual specialization, after about five AV appearances, in a specific genre such as lesbianism or SM. Once the actress has established herself as a mature AV star, she has the options of continuing into some of the more outrageous AV genres, retiring, or, sometimes, re-emerging under a new name as a "new face." [cite web |url=http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/pornborn.html|title=A Star is Porn|accessdate=2007-02-18 |last=Fornander|first=Kjell|year=1992|month=July|format= |work= [http://www.tokyo.to/ Tokyo Journal] |publisher= |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060516235928/http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/pornborn.html|archivedate =2006-05-16]

Types of AV idols

Bornoff identifies some Japanese AV stereotypes as, "the prim Office Lady, the virgin-next-door, the randy farm girl, the leotarded aerobics enthusiast, the sexy predator in the hot-spring resort and, last but not least, the self-assertive slut who is put in her place by being gang-banged on the floor of the cutting room." [cite book |last=Bornoff|first=Nicholas|title=Pink Samurai: An Erotic Exploration of Japanese Society; The Pursuit and Politics of Sex in Japan|origyear=1991|edition=Paperback|series= |date= |year=1994|publisher=HarperCollins|location=London|isbn=0-586-20576-4|oclc= |doi= |id= |pages=609|chapter=18 (Naked Dissent)] Also, noted AV director "Tarzan" Yagi says that a successful AV actress should fit into an easily-identifiable type which, "can be identified at a glance, making it easier for viewers to recognize the type they prefer." Yagi mentions, "the 'slender' type, 'Lolita' type, 'buxom' type and so on." [cite news |first=Ryann|last=Connell|title=Porno queen's mysterious death -- murder or suicide?|url=http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/archive/news/2005/07/20050711p2g00m0dm010000c.html|work=mainichi-msn.co.jp|publisher= |date=2005-07-11|accessdate=2007-02-18
cite news |first=Masuo|last=Kamiyama|title=The sultry secrets of AV starlets' prolonged careers|url=http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/archive/news/2005/10/20051022p2g00m0dm002000c.html|work=mainichi-msn.co.jp|publisher= |date=2005-10-22|accessdate=2007-02-18]

Some major AV types include:

Busty

While a few early AV idols such as Kyoko Nakamura and Eri Kikuchi made their careers off their large busts, Noriyuki Adachi singles Kimiko Matsuzaka's 1989 debut as the point at which the "Big Bust Boom" (巨乳ブーム - "Kyonyu Boom") was set on fire. [cite book |last=Adachi|first=Noriyuki|title=アダルトな人びと - Adaruto na Hitobito ("Adult" People)|publisher=Kodansha|location=Tokyo|language=Japanese|isbn=4-06-205546-5|pages=50] In the years following Matsuzaka's debut, the AV world was never without another major big-bust AV idol, including Miki Sawaguchi, Mariko Morikawa, and Anna Ohura. By the mid-1990s, the Big Bust genre had become a staple of the AV industry.

Mature

The vast majority of AV actresses make their debuts in their late teens. [cite web |url=http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/pornborn.html|title=A Star is Porn|accessdate=2007-02-18 |last=Fornander|first=Kjell|year=1992|month=July|format= |work= [http://www.tokyo.to/ Tokyo Journal] |publisher= |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060516235928/http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/pornborn.html|archivedate =2006-05-16] However, in the mid-1990s, a trend for "mature women" models in AVs became evident. [cite web |url=http://xxx.xcity.jp/SHIN-TOHO/HISTORY/S_SHINOZAKI/index.html|title=Satomi Shinozaki biography|accessdate=2007-02-18 |format= |work= [http://xxx.xcity.jp/SHIN-TOHO/HISTORY/ Shin-Toho History] ] While youthful debuts would still remain the norm, this broadening in tastes would pave the way for the debuts of future "mature" AV stars like Aki Tomosaki in 2000, Asuka Yūki‎ in 2005 and Maki Tomoda in 2006, all of whom had passed their 30th birthdays at the time of their debuts. These older actresses became popular in AVs with an incest theme. [cite web |url=http://www.bigempire.com/sake/av_actress.html|title=The AV Actress|accessdate=2007-03-03 |last=Stovall|first=Albert|work=Sake-Drenched Postcards at bigempire.com|publisher= ]

ome notable AV idols

Of the literally hundreds of women who make AV debuts in Japan yearly, this is a list of a few AV idols who are notable for reasons such as a making a major impact on the industry, for their high public visibility, or for their extraordinarily long careers.

1980s

References

ources

* [http://www.j-idols.org/ J-Idols.org] - A site that offers a lot of pictures of Japanese Idols. (English)
* [http://www.japaneseav.com JapaneseAV.com - Weekly Japanese Adult Video Updates]
* [http://www.sweatpig.com Sweatpig.com - Authority blog on Japanese Adult Video]
* [http://www.javpornstars.com javpornstars.com - Japanese Av Idols Pictures And Movies]
* [http://dreamciti.blogspot.com/ Japanese Idol Pictures and Information]
*
* [http://avidol.xcity.jp/english avidol.xcity.jp/english AV Idol Profiles] (English)
*
* [http://dreamciti.blogspot.com/ Japanese Idol Pictures and Information]
* [http://www.b-v.co.jp/ b-v.co.jp AV Idol Interviews] (Japanese)
*
* [http://www.angelfire.com/ms2/jav/stars.htm Japanese AV Stars] (English)
* [http://www.javamateurs.com/ Japanese AV Amateurs - Upcoming av stars] (English)
* [http://i-dic.dorachan.com/ Web I-dic Profiles] (Japanese)
* [http://jjsjapaneseidols.thumblogger.com/ Japanese AV Directory] (English)
* [http://www.asiangirlsandbabes.com/ Sexy Asian Girls and Babes Photos] A photo gallery of Asian models including but not limited to Japanese gravure and AV models (English)

ee also

*Chronology of adult videos in Japan
*Pornography in Japan