Chronology of adult videos in Japan - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This is a chronological history of the AV (adult video) industry in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. The main events relevant to the AV industry are discussed for each year, as well as notable debuts. Notable AV actress names are in bold font. Names are given in Western order (i.e., family name second), and alphabetized by family name.

Nikkatsu and Roman Porno

In the late 1960s, the pink film, or adult film market in Japan was largely the realm of low-budget independent companies. With their audience being lost to television and the importation of American films, Nikkatsu, Japan's major film studios were struggling for survival. Seeking to attract a new audience, Toei

Toei Company

is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930s United States; operates studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a...

entered the sexploitation market in 1971 with its "Pinky Violence" series. Takashi Itamochi, president of Nikkatsu, Japan's oldest major film studio, made the decision to put the company's high production values and professional talent into the adult, or pink film industry as a way of attracting a new audience. When Nikkatsu launched its Roman Porno series in November 1971 with the Apartment Wife series, these often well-made and artistic softcore pornographic films proved popular with both the public and the critics. This introduction of pornography into mainstream Japanese movie theaters has been credited with saving Nikkatsu from collapse at that time. Nikkatsu produced nothing but Roman Porno films for the next 17 years, releasing an average of three such films a month.

Other large studios such as Shintoho

Shintoho

was a Japanese movie studio. It was one of the big-6 film studios during the Golden Age of Japanese cinema. It was founded by defectors from the original Tōhō Company...

and Million Films would follow Nikkatsu into the big-budget pink film, but Nikkatsu remained the dominant producer of high-production theatrical pornography in Japan. By the end of the 1970s, Nikkatsu's Roman Porno together with pink films by other companies made up over 70% of the domestic Japanese film market.

Background to AVs of the 1980s

Ownership of VCRs first became widespread in Japan in the early 1980s, and this was the dawn of the Japanese AV (Adult Video) industry. Immediately after their debut, these adult videos proved successful with the public. The AVs provided privacy and comfort that the older, established theatrical pornography market could not. Also, Patrick Macias

Patrick Macias

Patrick Macias is an author and co-author of several titles on pop culture fandom, specifically relating to Japanese culture and otaku culture in America...

points out that AVs were better able to focus on niche-interests, and provided the convenience of the fast-forward button. The 1980s thus became a struggle for the attention of the pornography audience in Japan between the AV industry and the producers of theatrical pornography, the largest of which was the Nikkatsu

Nikkatsu

is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...

studio. Due to changing audience loyalties and increased government restrictions on theatrical films, by the end of the decade the AV industry had emerged as the leader of the pornographic marketplace in Japan.

AV's competition with Nikkatsu

When ownership VCRs first became widespread in the early 1980s, the AVs made their appearance and quickly became highly popular. As soon as 1982 the AVs had already attained an approximately equal share of the adult entertainment market with theatrical erotic films. As in the late 1960s, Nikkatsu had again found itself losing its audience, this time to the new AV market. Faced with this new competition over the cinematic adult entertinment audience, Nikkatsu focused on continued production of its S&M films, which had been their most popular product. In 1984, new government policies and an agreement between Eirin

Eirin

is the abbreviated name for , Japan's movie regulator. Eirin was established on the model of the American Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America's Production Code Administration in June, 1949, on the instructions of the US occupation force...

(the Japanese film-rating board) and the pink film companies put drastic new restrictions on theatrical films. Theatrical pink film profits dropped 36% within a month of the new ruling. The studio at first tried to circumvent the new theatrical rules and to compete directly with the AVs by entering their own turf. To launch the company's new "Harder Than Pink" AV series, Nikkatsu wanted Masaru Konuma

Masaru Konuma

is a Japanese director most famous for his Roman Porno films for Nikkatsu during the 1970s.-Early life:Masaru Konuma was born in Otaru, Hokkaidō, on December 30, 1937. Konuma retains no memories of his father who was a teacher...

, director of the highly popular and critically praised 1974 Roman Porno Wife to be Sacrificed
Wife to Be Sacrificed
is a Japanese soft-core pornographic S/M film starring Naomi Tani and directed by Masaru Konuma. The film was produced by Nikkatsu studios as part of their Roman Porno series.- Background :...

, to make a hard-core version of his script Woman in the Box (箱の中の女 - Hako No Naka No Onna) in 1985. Konuma was at first reluctant, but Nikkatsu was able to persuade him to make the video by agreeing to allow Konuma to direct his original (and, according to the Weissers, artistically superior) version of this script for theatrical release the following year. However, Nikkatsu soon ceased production of this video series when it proved unsuccessful with the public.

The studio next tried to tempt audiences back to the theater with higher-caliber pink films, beginning with the Flower and Snake (Hana To Hebi) series (1985–1987), based on its 1974 Roman Porno S/M hit Flower and Snake
Flower and Snake
aka Flowers and Serpents is a Japanese soft-core S/M film starring Naomi Tani, directed by Masaru Konuma and produced by Nikkatsu. Based on a novel by Oniroku Dan , Japan's best-known author of S&M fiction, Flower and Snake was the first of Nikkatsu’s Roman Porno films to deal with an S&M theme...

, starring Naomi Tani

Naomi Tani

is a Japanese actress who is best known for her appearances in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films with an S&M theme during the 1970s.-Early career:Born October 20, 1948, in the Hakata ward of Fukuoka, Naomi Tani moved to Tokyo at the age of 18. After arrival in Tokyo, she was featured in a photo layout...

. When this failed, they hired AV queen Hitomi Kobayashi
Hitomi Kobayashi
is an important early Japanese AV idol. One of the founding figures of the Japanese adult video, she has been called indispensable to any discussion of the AV...

(debut 1986 - see list below) to star in her own theatrical film series in 1987, but these films were judged as little more than AVs on film, and were not popular.

Nikkatsu's loss to the AV industry

After all these strategies by Nikkatsu proved unsuccessful, Eirin dealt the final blow by introducing stricter requirements for sex-related theatrical films. The company was finally forced to concede defeat to the AV industry, and closed its production facilities in April 1988. Bed Partner (1988) was the final film of the venerable 17-year-old Roman Porno series. Nikkatsu continued to distribute films under the name Ropponica, and theatrical pornography through Excess Films, however these were not nearly as popular or critically respected as the Roman Porno series had been in its heyday. By the end of the 1980s, the AV had become established as the main form of adult cinematic entertainment in Japan.

1981

After starring in Japan's first theatrically released hardcore film, director Tetsuji Takechi

Tetsuji Takechi

was a Japanese theatrical and film director, critic and author. First coming to prominence for his theatrical criticism, in the 1940s and 1950s he produced influential and popular experimental kabuki plays. Beginning in the mid-1950s, he continued his innovative theatrical work in noh, kyōgen and...

's Daydream
Daydream (1981 film)
is a Japanese film. A remake by director Tetsuji Takechi of his ground-breaking 1964 Pink film of the same title, this film is considered the first hardcore theatrical release in Japan.-Background:...

(1981

1981 in film

-Events:*January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. UA was humiliated by the astronomical losses on the $40,000,000 movie Heaven's Gate, a major factor in the decision of owner Transamerica to sell it....

), Kyoko Aizome
Kyoko Aizome
is a Japanese erotic actress, singer, AV director, and writer who has been called, "the first hard-core porn actress in Japan."-Early life:Kyōko Aizome was born on February 9, 1958 in Noda Chiba Prefecture. Aizome grew up in a troubled household. Her father was a police officer who beat his wife,...

made her AV debut in November 1981, making her one of Japan's earliest AV idols.

1982

The early adult video, Ken-chan, the Laundry Man (洗濯屋ケンちゃん - Sentakuya Kenchan), became a hit in Japan in 1982, selling over 200,000 copies, an unprecedented number for an adult video. The popularity of this VHS-format video has been said to have increased the sales of video recorders at this time. The popularity of this early video led to its release in the United States by the Orchid International company in 1984.

Early AV performers were often struggling actresses who could not find work in the theatrical Roman Porno films and girls from the soapland

Soapland

A ' is a Japanglish and indicates a paradise for men in Japanese. It is said, since in Japan prostitution is officially prohibited by the government, that it is a type of brothel in Japan where male clients can engage in sexual activity with female prostitutes, although officially the clubs do...

s. 1982 saw the debut of one of the earliest prominent AV actresses, Kate Asabuki
Kate Asabuki
is a Japanese actress who appeared in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films of the 1980s, and was an early adult video performer.-Life and career:Asabuki studied French and English in college, and joined Nikkatsu to work in their Roman Porno films in 1982, while still attending university. She took her...

, whose name would appear on the titles of both AVs and theatrical films. She would go on to serve as a co-host of the weekly television show Tokyo Rock TV.

1983

Satomi Shinozaki, who debuted on AV in 1983, had a career in theatrical films for another 20 years, directing a film in 2001. Another 1983 debut, Kyouko Hashimoto, would graduate from AVs to a successful theatrical film career, appearing in over 100 films, including Kei Mizutani
Kei Mizutani
is a Japanese adult film actress. She has appeared in multiple photo books, movies, and TV series in Japan and her DVD sets are popular in Japan, the United States, and Europe.-Career:...

's breakthrough film Weather Woman (1996)

1983 debuts

Hashimoto Kyouko (橋本杏子) Debut: 1983; Born: 1964?/2/15 Saitama Prefecture; JMDB Filmography, Profile
Satomi Shinozaki (しのざきさとみ) aka Aya Misawa, (三井綾子他) Debut: 1983; Born: 1963/1/18; Web I-dic Profile, Shin-Toho Biography, JMDB Filmography

1984

Yumiko Kumashiro, who debuted in 1984, later starred in a series of theatrical films for Nikkatsu under her stage-name, Eve. She went on to a successful career as a striptease dancer, and starred in films for Shintoho

Shintoho

was a Japanese movie studio. It was one of the big-6 film studios during the Golden Age of Japanese cinema. It was founded by defectors from the original Tōhō Company...

studio in the 1990s.

Also during this year, Wonder Kids studio released the first completely pornographic animated film

Adult animation

Adult animation is a term used to describe animation that is targeted at adults. Animated films and television shows may be considered adult for a number of reasons. Some productions are noted for experimental storytelling and animation techniques, or sophisticated storytelling...

, Lolita Anime

Lolita Anime

The series was the first ever hentai original video animation , created by a studio called Wonder Kids. It ran from February 1984 to May 1985 and consisted of six episodes...

, founding the hentai

Hentai

is a Japanese word that, in the West, is used when referring to sexually explicit or pornographic comics and animation, particularly those of Japanese origin such as anime, manga, and computer games. The word hentai is a kanji compound of 変 and 態...

genre. It was an immediate success and Nikkatsu quickly jumped on the trend and released their own direct-to-video animated porno under the same title

Lolita Anime (Nikkatsu)

is a three episode H anime OVA released in 1984. It was released by Nikkatsu Video on the heels of Wonder Kids' Lolita Anime, the first completely pornographic animated film. By releasing it in the same year and with the same title as Wonder Kids' seminal work, the creators may have hoped to cash...

with recognizably similar characters.

1984 debuts

Yumiko Kumashiro (神代弓子) aka Eve (イヴ) Debut: 1984 (Eve Debut: 2004); Born: 1965/11/22 Shizuoka Prefecture; Web I-dic Profile, JMDB Filmography: Kumashiro Yumiko, JMDB Filmography: Eve

1985

Eri Kikuchi
Eri Kikuchi
is an early Japanese AV idol of the 1980s, and one of the first Japanese AV actresses to be known primarily for her large breasts.-Life and career:...

was an early AV actress to capitalize on her large bust, a metric E-cup. Though she had made underground tapes previously, her official AV debut was in September 1985. She appeared in AVs, magazines and theatrical films such as Shintoho's 1986 Eri Kikuchi - Big Breasts (菊池エリ　巨乳 - Kikuchi Eri Kyonyu). In 2003 she was a lecturer/demonstrator for classes at the AV Cultures School, a school for aspiring AV directors, and in 2007, 23 years after her AV Debut, she was still releasing AVs.

1986

1986 was a turning-point year for the AV industry due to two actresses who debuted this year. Hitomi Kobayashi
Hitomi Kobayashi
is an important early Japanese AV idol. One of the founding figures of the Japanese adult video, she has been called indispensable to any discussion of the AV...

and Kaoru Kuroki
Kaoru Kuroki
, is a former adult video performer and a multi-media personality whose role as a media counselor expressing outspoken views on sex and society have drawn comparisons to La Cicciolina and Dr. Ruth.- Early life :...

became major AV stars who would shape the future of the AV market.

Hitomi Kobayashi's career in the AV field would last for over a decade and a half, earning her the title "Japan's Queen of Adult Video." Her 39 AVs sold over 600,000 copies, earning about 6 billion yen. According to the adult entertainment editor for Shukan Shincho, "She laid the foundations for the golden age of adult video."

Kaoru Kuroki
Kaoru Kuroki
, is a former adult video performer and a multi-media personality whose role as a media counselor expressing outspoken views on sex and society have drawn comparisons to La Cicciolina and Dr. Ruth.- Early life :...

, has been called "the first high-profile AV actress." After becoming a popular star of pornographic videos, she was seen on late-night television, then on daytime talk shows and in national advertising campaigns. She became admired by women for her outspoken but polite and frank discussions of sex, and for expressing "feminist" views on television. According to Rosemary Iwamura, she changed the image of the AV actress. "...she didn't seem to be making videos because of a lack of options but rather as an informed choice." Kuroki's director at Crystal-Eizou

Crystal-Eizou

, known in English as Crystal Image or Crystal Video, is a Japanese corporation involved in the production and distribution of adult videos.-Company history:...

, Toru Muranishi

Toru Muranishi

is an innovative and controversial director of Japanese adult videos who, in a 1992 Tokyo Journal article by Kjell Fornander, was called "the dirtiest of the industry’s dirty old men"...

, became known as an industry innovator who helped create the documentary-style format which would become a trademark of Japanese AVs.

1987

In an attempt to compete with the AV industry, Nikkatsu hired AV queen Hitomi Kobayashi
Hitomi Kobayashi
is an important early Japanese AV idol. One of the founding figures of the Japanese adult video, she has been called indispensable to any discussion of the AV...

, who had debuted the previous year, to star in her own theatrical film series in 1987. These films were not popular with AV fans, who preferred the privacy the AV offered, or with movie-goers, who judged them as little more than AVs on film.

Nao Saejima
Nao Saejima
is a Japanese AV idol and model of the 1980s and 1990s who also starred in photobooks, V-Cinema, and feature films, including Nikkatsu's Roman Porno series.-AV career:...

, who debuted in 1987, would star in self-titled theatrical releases for Nikkatsu, the pink film, Abnormal Excitement: Nao Saejima (1989), and the mainstream Meet Me In the Dream: Wonderland (1996) A 2006 article reported that Saejima was then working as an artist.

1988

Prolific pink film actor Yutaka Ikejima
Yutaka Ikejima
is a Japanese film director, actor, and producer. Considered the most successful filmmaker in the pink film genre in the 2000s, his films are popular with traditional pink film audiences, fans of cinema, and with critics. Because of his prolific contributions to the pink film he has earned the...

entered the directing profession in 1988 through the AV medium. He would eventually move into directing theatrical pink films in 1991, earning several awards at the Pink Grand Prix

Pink Grand Prix

The or is an annual Japanese film award ceremony which recognizes excellence in the pink film. Known as the "Academy Awards of the Pink Film", the ceremony attracts a diverse audience of industry personnel, film scholars and the general public....

through the years for his contributions to that genre.

Nikkatsu ended its 17-year theatrical Roman Porno series in 1988, conceding defeat to the AV market.

Diamond Visual, which would become the largest AV company for a while, was founded in September 1988 by Toru Muranishi

Toru Muranishi

is an innovative and controversial director of Japanese adult videos who, in a 1992 Tokyo Journal article by Kjell Fornander, was called "the dirtiest of the industry’s dirty old men"...

. Muranishi had worked at Crystal-Eizou

Crystal-Eizou

, known in English as Crystal Image or Crystal Video, is a Japanese corporation involved in the production and distribution of adult videos.-Company history:...

when Kaoru Kuroki
Kaoru Kuroki
, is a former adult video performer and a multi-media personality whose role as a media counselor expressing outspoken views on sex and society have drawn comparisons to La Cicciolina and Dr. Ruth.- Early life :...

made her debut there in 1986. Sharing his vision of documentary-style AVs, Kuroki followed Muranishi to his new company.

1988 debut, Keiko Murakami would star in the Apartment Wife film, 団地妻　不倫丸見え (1991, Excess)

1988 debut, Rena Murakami
Rena Murakami
is a Japanese actress and former AV idol.- Life and career :After beginning her career as a gravure idol, Murakami made her AV debut in the March 1988 h.m.p. Miss Christine release, . In December of her debut year she had a role in Toei's mainstream drama release, . She had another role in a...

produced a self-titled movie under her own production unit (Rena Films), under Excess in 1997.

1988 debuts

Mari Ayukawa
Mari Ayukawa
is a former Japanese AV idol and pink film actress.-Life and career:Mari Ayukawa was born in Tokyo on December 2, 1969. Ayukawa had nurse education in high school and she was a medical school student when she made her AV debut in the July 1988 Arena release, ....
Keiko Murakami (村上慶子) Debut: 1988; Born 1971/10/25; Web I-dic Profile, JMDB Filmography
Rena Murakami
Rena Murakami
is a Japanese actress and former AV idol.- Life and career :After beginning her career as a gravure idol, Murakami made her AV debut in the March 1988 h.m.p. Miss Christine release, . In December of her debut year she had a role in Toei's mainstream drama release, . She had another role in a...

1989

Yumika Hayashi
Yumika Hayashi
was a Japanese AV idol and pink film actress. She earned the title of "Japan's Original Adult Video Queen" during a 16-year career in which she starred in nearly 200 AVs and appeared in over 180 films...

, who would earn the title of "Japan's Original Adult Video Queen" during a 16-year career, debuted in 1989. She would star in almost 200 AVs and 180 pink films in her career. A documentary on her life was filmed in 1997,
and she was awarded Best Actress at the Pink Grand Prix

Pink Grand Prix

awards in 2005. Her death in 2005 ended one of the longest careers in the field. and made front-page news in Tokyo.

Busty model/actress Kimiko Matsuzaka
Kimiko Matsuzaka
is a Japanese AV idol who was prominent during the late-1980s and early-1990s noted for her large breasts. An authority on the AV industry points to Matsuzaka's career as the beginning of the "Big Bust Boom" in Japan.- AV Debut :...

's February 1, 1989 AV debut with the Diamond Image company became a huge hit, setting off a in the AV industry.

1989 debuts

Megu Goto (五島めぐ) Debut: 1989; Born: 1970/10/20 Tokyo; Avidol Profile, Web I-dic Profile, JMDB Filmography
Yumika Hayashi
Yumika Hayashi
was a Japanese AV idol and pink film actress. She earned the title of "Japan's Original Adult Video Queen" during a 16-year career in which she starred in nearly 200 AVs and appeared in over 180 films...
Shiina Itou (いとうしいな) aka (椎名かほり), (柏木ゆかり) Debut: 1989; Born: 1970/10/6 Tokyo; Web I-dic Profile, Avidol Profile, JMDB Filmography
Natsuko Kayama (加山なつこ); Debut: August, 1989; Born: 1970/12/23 Tokyo; Web I-dic Profile, JMDB Filmography
Hitomi Kudo
Hitomi Kudo
is a Japanese actress and former AV idol. Her name is also found as Hitomi Kudou and Hitomi Kudoh.-Life and career:Hitomi Kudo was born in Tokyo on August 17, 1969 and made her AV debut in the July 1989 release under the h.m.p. Miss Christine label...
Kimiko Matsuzaka
Kimiko Matsuzaka
is a Japanese AV idol who was prominent during the late-1980s and early-1990s noted for her large breasts. An authority on the AV industry points to Matsuzaka's career as the beginning of the "Big Bust Boom" in Japan.- AV Debut :...
Rui Sakuragi
Rui Sakuragi
, is a former Japanese AV Idol who has been described as a "real AV Queen", the "top Japanese AV idol of the mid-1990's" and the "biggest star" in AV in 1992. She has also appeared widely in mainstream films and videos and on TV.-Life and career:...

AVs in the 1990s

The 1990s opened with the government lifting its 40-year ban on pubic hair in print. According to the Weissers, "by mid-1991, full frontal nudity became commonplace in Japanese magazines and books." The restriction on pubic hair in film and video had been relaxed for imported films, but remained in place for domestic films and AVs until the middle of the decade.

1990

The which became a significant genre of the AV market with Kimiko Matsuzaka
Kimiko Matsuzaka
is a Japanese AV idol who was prominent during the late-1980s and early-1990s noted for her large breasts. An authority on the AV industry points to Matsuzaka's career as the beginning of the "Big Bust Boom" in Japan.- AV Debut :...

's debut early the previous year, continued in 1990. Matsuzaka would appear in her last AV in October 1990, and retire from public life in 1991. Among the leading busty models who debuted this year was Kuwata Kei, whose 113 cm bust measurement was the first in the AV industry to surpass Matsuzaka's advertised 110.7-centimeter metric G-cup. Though never as popular as Matsuzaka, Kuwata's career would last until at least 1998.

1990 debuts

Kei Kuwata (桑田ケイ) Debut: 1990, Born: 1971/8/28 Tokyo; Debut: 1990; http://i-dic.dorachan.com/data?kwtki_00
Hitomi Shiraishi
Hitomi Shiraishi
is a former Japanese model, adult video actress, and a movie and TV actress from the 1990s who has been called "the eternal porn queen" and been described as "one of the most popular AV actresses of 1990s"...

1991

Kimiko Matsuzaka
Kimiko Matsuzaka
is a Japanese AV idol who was prominent during the late-1980s and early-1990s noted for her large breasts. An authority on the AV industry points to Matsuzaka's career as the beginning of the "Big Bust Boom" in Japan.- AV Debut :...

's sudden retirement from public life in the spring of 1991 came as a shock to the AV industry. Director Toru Muranishi

Toru Muranishi

is an innovative and controversial director of Japanese adult videos who, in a 1992 Tokyo Journal article by Kjell Fornander, was called "the dirtiest of the industry’s dirty old men"...

called Matsuzaka's October 1990 departure from AVs one of the worst stories of the year for the AV industry. Muranishi's company, Diamond Visual, for which Matsuzaka worked, would go from the largest AV producing company to declaring bankruptcy within a year of her retirement.

Actress Rie Miyazawa

Rie Miyazawa

is a Japanese actress and former model.- Life and career :Rie Miyazawa was born in Tokyo and raised by her mother. Since her debut at age 11 in an advertisement for Kit Kat, she has many films, television shows, commercials, stage appearances and photo books to her credit. She starred in the...

's shashinshuu (photo book) Santa Fe
Santa Fe (nude photo book)
Santa Fe is a Japanese nude photo book published in 1991. It was modelled by Rie Miyazawa, and photographed by Kishin Shinoyama. Taken at the peak of Miyazawa's career, it sold 1.5 million copies...

, released in November 1991, was one of the first photo books to take advantage of the lifting of the long-standing ban on the showing of pubic hair. Revealing a little hair in one picture, the book became a national phenomenon, selling 1.5 million copies. "Hea nuudo" (or "Hair nudes") in photography became commonplace, but the ban remained in place for AVs.

1992

The major film studio, Shintoho

Shintoho

was a Japanese movie studio. It was one of the big-6 film studios during the Golden Age of Japanese cinema. It was founded by defectors from the original Tōhō Company...

entered the AV (adult video) market in 1992 with its "Hard Porno" series. This was a line of video-releases of older Koji Wakamatsu

Koji Wakamatsu

is a Japanese film director who directed such pinku eiga films as and . He also produced Nagisa Ōshima's controversial film In the Realm of the Senses...

-produced S&M films. The series opened with the Shinya Yamamoto-directed Naomi Tani

Naomi Tani

film Cruelty of the Female Inquisition (1975). Wakamatsu's own Torture Chronicles were released to video in this series.
In the wake of the preceding year's "hair nude" photo by Rie Miyazawa, other celebrities appear in photos displaying pubic hair, including Yoko Shimada

Yoko Shimada

is a Japanese actress. She is best known to Western audiences for her portrayal of Mariko in the 1980 miniseries Shōgun. She was the only female member of Shogun's massive cast of Japanese actors shown speaking English, for which she relied on a dialogue coach, as she was not fluent in the...

and Keiko Oginome

Keiko Oginome

is a Japanese actress. She won the award for best supporting actress at the 14th Yokohama Film Festival for The Triple Cross. Yōko Oginome is her younger sister.-Filmography:* The Triple Cross * Crest of Betrayal...

. Diamond Visual, the largest AV production company at the time, declared bankruptcy in February, 1992, creating concerns that the survival of the AV industry could be in danger.

1995

In December 1995, Ganari Takahashi

Ganari Takahashi

is an entrepreneur in the field of Japanese adult video . He founded Soft On Demand , one of the largest porn conglomerates in Japan.-Life and career:...

founded the AV company Soft On Demand

Soft on Demand

, often known as SOD, is a Japanese adult video group of companies which has its headquarters in the Nakano ward of Tokyo. SOD was founded in December 1995 by Ganari Takahashi, who retired from the company in March 2005 and is currently working in agriculture...

, which would become the largest independent adult video company in Japan and notable for its creative approach to adult videos.

Until the mid-1990s, AV actress were almost exclusively models in their late teens or early 20s at the time of their debuts. However, at this time, "mature women" models in AVs became increasingly popular. 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
Aki Tomosaki
is a Japanese actress who has made a name for herself in the growing "mature woman" genre of the Japanese AV industry. The Japanese AV industry has awarded her for her work in this genre.-Life and career:...

in 2000, and Maki Tomoda
Maki Tomoda
is an award-winning Japanese actress who is best known for her appearances in adult videos where her long and varied career has cemented her status as an AV idol...

in 2006, both of whom had reached their 30th birthdays at the time of their debuts.

Ruka Aida was one of the most popular 1995 AV debuts, and became known for refusing to allow her male partners to wear condoms in spite of industry concerns over AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

. After retiring from AV appearances, she would work as a masseuse at a "soapland

Soapland

" in Tokyo's Yoshiwara

Yoshiwara

Yoshiwara was a famous Akasen district in Edo, present-day Tōkyō, Japan.In the early 17th century, there was widespread male and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to...

district, and then, in 2004, open her own bar in Tokyo's Roppongi

Roppongi

is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous as home to the rich Roppongi Hills area and an active night club scene. Many foreign embassies are located in Roppongi, and the night life is popular with locals and foreigners alike...

district.

In one of the longer and more prolific AV actress careers, Aika Miura
Aika Miura
is a popular and award-winning Japanese AV idol who made a clear mark on the AV industry. In a remarkably long and prolific career for an AV actress, she released an average of one film a month over a seven year period—excepting 1998—before she retired in 2002....

averaged one film a month over a seven year period, She starred in the theatrically released, widescreen film Aika Miura - Streetcar Ecstasy in 2001, and retired in 2002, seven years after her AV debut.

Kei Mizutani
Kei Mizutani
is a Japanese adult film actress. She has appeared in multiple photo books, movies, and TV series in Japan and her DVD sets are popular in Japan, the United States, and Europe.-Career:...

s debut in Weather Girl was one of the surprise successes in Japanese cinema of the 1990s. Released to video in 1995, the film quickly developed a cult-following. The video won the Oslo and the Stockholm International Film Festival

Stockholm International Film Festival

The Stockholm International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Stockholm, Sweden. It was launched in 1990 and has been held every year in the second half of November...

s in 1996, causing the video producer to take the unprecedented step of pulling the video from the market to release it theatrically in Japan. It went on to box-office success, and topped several critics' Top Ten lists for the year. The Weissers call it, "a brilliant film, worthy of all the praise it received from some traditionally conservative reviewers, constantly flirting with bad taste while managing to stay fresh and innocent," and point out that the film, "dramatically illustrates the enormous cultural differences between Japanese and American sensibilities." Mizutani would go on to a prolific career and international popularity.

1995 debuts

Ruka Aida (愛田るか) Debut: 1995, Born: 1971/9/4 Kanagawa; Avidol Profile, Web I-dic Profile, News: 2006/1/7
Asami Jo
Asami Jo
is a Japanese AV Idol from Tokyo. Tokusatsu fans also know her as the villain Shibolena in the Super Sentai series Denji Sentai Megaranger.-Life and career:Jō was born in Tokyo and was a TV commercial model before starting a career in pornography...

1996

Miki Sawaguchi
Miki Sawaguchi
, born September 1, 1975 in Yokohama, Japan) is one of Japan's best known adult video performers. On television she has appeared as a regular cast member on two shows and made several guest appearances on other shows...

was one of the more prominent actresses to debut in 1996. Through appearances in magazine photo layouts, gravure books, AV videos, on TV, on radio and even singing on CDs, this busty AV actress became a multi-media star.

A December 2005 news article claimed that 1996 AV debut, Yuri Komuro
Yuri Komuro
is a Japanese AV idol, actress, and author. She was one of the top actresses in the AV field during the late 1990s.-Early life and AV career:Yuri Komuro was born in Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture on July 28, 1976,...

was "one of the brightest stars in the adult video firmament," and reported that she had begun working as an author after her 1999 retirement. At the height of her popularity, Komuro participated in developing a perfume from the odor that had built up in a pair of panties she had worn for several days. The perfume was named "Asoko" (literally, "That place"), a word used as a euphemism for the genitals by the Japanese.

1997

A 2006 article reported that 1997 debut, Sally Yoshino
Sally Yoshino
is a Japanese striptease dancer, model, and AV idol. She has also performed under the name .-Early life:Sally Yoshino was born in Tokyo on November 28, 1978. Her father was a member of a skate team, and Yoshino began figure skating at the age of three...

, was then working as a striptease dancer.

1998 debuts

Azumi Kawashima
Azumi Kawashima
, born August 8, 1979 in Tokyo, Japan, is a Japanese idol and adult video actress.-Life and career:Azumi Kawashima was born in Tokyo on August 8, 1979. Her debut video was Promise released under the Try-Heart Corporation's Sexia's label in December 1998. In January 1999, Kawashima starred in Naive,...
Kurumi Morishita
Kurumi Morishita
is a well-known adult video actress who had a long and prolific career. As of late 2010, Amazon listed 148 DVD titles for her, reflecting her status as a prominent AV Idol. She retired from the adult entertainment industry in 2009.-Life and career:...
Manami Yoshii
Manami Yoshii
is a well-known Japanese adult film actress.-Life and career:Yoshii's first AV was the November 2000 release, Growing Up Journal. Water Fruit was Yoshii's second adult video. Like her first release, it was made for the KUKI studio...

aka Shoko Mizusawa
Maria Yumeno
Maria Yumeno
is a Japanese pink film and adult video actress. In 2003, she was called one of Japan's highest-earning AV performers and "probably its most famous." Many of her movies emphasized her large bust and thin body.-Life and career:...

1999

1999 debut, Mami Aizawa was called "one of the hottest commodities in the Japanese adult video world" in a 2003 article. She had reportedly preserved her virginity until her third AV appearance since her first required only modeling, and the second displayed her manual skills on her male counterpart.

In October 2006, seven years after her 1999 debut, AV star Minori Aoi
Minori Aoi
is a Japanese gravure and AV idol.-Debut and early AVs:Born in Tokyo on March 28, 1980, Minori Aoi was active in tennis during Junior High School and High School. She made her AV debut in the February 1999 release for the Media Station Cosmos Plan label, Pure Heart . Her first video was a difficult...

appeared in a controversial promotional campaign for the 2nd International Healthy City Conference in the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

1999 debuts

Mami Aizawa (相沢まみ) Debut 1999, Born: 1980/06/15 Tokyo; Avidol Profile; News: 2003/9/14
Ami Ayukawa
Ami Ayukawa
is a Japanese AV Idol who worked for both "pro" studios such as Alice Japan and h.m.p., and also for independent companies like Moodyz and Wanz Factory.-Life and career:...
Mariko Kawana
Mariko Kawana
is a Japanese model and actress who has appeared in both softcore pink film and V-Cinema and has also been a hardcore adult video performer and director. She is now retired as an actress and has a second career as a writer.-Life and career:...

2000

Anna Ohura
Anna Ohura
is a Japanese AV performer and model, known for her very large natural breasts. In 2003, according to the Taipei Times, she claimed to have the largest breasts in the Japanese adult film industry...

became one of the leading big-bust performers in the AV industry, developing an international following. At one point she claimed to have the largest breasts in the Japanese adult film industry.

2000 debut Emily Yoshikawa would become a leading AV actress, and make news in the entertainment field with her retirement from the screen to work in Tokyo's Yoshiwara

Yoshiwara

"soapland" district in 2004.

Nao Oikawa
Nao Oikawa
born April 21, 1981 in Hiroshima, Japan is a Japanese actress, TV Personality and was also a former AV idol who was very popular in early 2000s.- Life and career :...

became romantically involved with popular comedian Jinnai Tomonori, and retired from the AV industry in 2004. She followed her AV career with appearances on TV variety shows.

Busty, mature actress, Aki Tomozaki's AV debut in 2000, at the age of 30, initiated a career of over 250 appearances. Her attractively motherly appearance and large breasts gave her a leading role opposite younger actors in many AVs with an incest theme.

2000 debuts

Milk Ichigo
Milk Ichigo
, also often billed as Miruku Ichigo, is an award-winning Japanese adult video actress who has had an exceptionally long career.-Life and career:...
Nao Oikawa
Nao Oikawa
born April 21, 1981 in Hiroshima, Japan is a Japanese actress, TV Personality and was also a former AV idol who was very popular in early 2000s.- Life and career :...

(及川奈央 / おいかわなお) Debut: 2000, Retired: 2004; Born: 1981/04/21 Saitama Prefecture; Avidol Profile, Web I-dic Profile; JMDB Filmography; Interview, Interview (Eng); News: 2003/9/14, News: 2006/12/27
Akira Watase
Akira Watase
was a popular and prolific Japanese AV idol who retired from the adult video industry in 2005.-Life and career:Akira Watase was born July 2, 1980 in Tokyo, Japan.). Her AV debut was in the May 2000 Media Station Cosmos Plan release, Venus....
Emily Yoshikawa (吉川エミリー) Debut: 2000; Retired: 2004; Born 1980/6/3 Dominican Republic; Web I-dic Profile, JMDB Filmography; News: 2004/12/30

2001

Ai Kurosawa
Ai Kurosawa
is an award-winning Japanese model and AV idol. She made her debut in the adult entertainment field in 2001, and after appearing in dozens of AVs , she retired in 2006 but made a comeback in 2007.-Early life:...

became a popular and prolific AV actress, winning the "Main AV Actress Award" at Takeshi Kitano

Takeshi Kitano

is a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...

's second Entertainment Awards ceremony.

Hitomi Hayasaka
Hitomi Hayasaka
is a Japanese model, actress and former adult video performer.-Life and career:Hayasaka was born on June 28, 1982 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan...

, who had planned on majoring in motel management before her AV debut, became one of the more prolific AV performers, making over 120 appearances and still appearing in AVs five years after her debut in the industry.

Nozomi Momoi
Nozomi Momoi
was a popular and prolific Japanese AV idol, known for her "baby face that topped off a huge set of boobs" She appeared in over 100 movies, appearing in up to ten releases per month. In an incident that shocked the nation, she was murdered at the age of 24.-Early life:Nozomi Momoi was born in Tokyo...

, was one of the more prominent and promising AV debuts of the year, appearing in over 100 AVs within a year of her 2001 debut, However her career would be cut short in October 2002 in a murder-suicide that shocked the nation.

Erika Nagai cultivated the image of a martial arts expert in her AVs, and became a favorite of followers of the "strong-woman" genre which became popular in the 2000s.

2001 debuts

Kokoro Amano
Kokoro Amano
, is an AV Idol who starred in pornographic movies between 2001 and 2004 . She worked mainly for Soft On Demand and Moodyz.-Life and career:Kokoro was born 30 August 1982 in the city of Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. She was seeking employment at the time that she was recruited for work in the AV...
Kyoko Ayana
Kyoko Ayana
, born April 15, 1981 in Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture, is a Japanese AV Idol who debuted in 2001. According to Peter Payne, founder of the Japanese popular culture site, J-List, Ayana had "claimed Japan's top big breast idol spot."-Life and career:...
Hitomi Hayasaka
Hitomi Hayasaka
is a Japanese model, actress and former adult video performer.-Life and career:Hayasaka was born on June 28, 1982 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan...
Marina Matsushima
Marina Matsushima
is a Japanese model, adult film actress and AV idol.-Life and career:Matsushima was scouted from her OL job by a talent scout for adult films. She has released movies that focus on her large breasts....

2002

A March 2002 Shukan Bunshun article reported that AV actress Yumika Hayashi
Yumika Hayashi
was a Japanese AV idol and pink film actress. She earned the title of "Japan's Original Adult Video Queen" during a 16-year career in which she starred in nearly 200 AVs and appeared in over 180 films...

, who had made her debut in 1989, participated in a symposium and showing of pornographic films in the Shibuya

Shibuya, Tokyo

is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 208,371 and a population density of 13,540 persons per km². The total area is 15.11 km²....

district targeted for women.

According to a 2003 article, gravure idol Maria Takagi
Maria Takagi
aka Rika Inoue is a multiple award winning former Japanese adult video star who is now a TV actress.-Life and career:Takagi's debut adult video was the December 2002 release Super-Star for the Max-A Calen label. In 2003 she was the winner of five awards at the Kuki Inc.-owned XCity's Adult Video...

, who made her AV debut in 2002, was then the highest-paid AV actress in Japan. She was paid 300 million yen to perform in 30 films. Called the "Aya Matsuura

Aya Matsuura

is a Japanese pop singer from Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.-2000–2009: Hello! Project:Aya auditioned in 2000 for the fourth Morning Musume & Heike Michiyo Protegee Audition and was selected along with Sheki-Dol to become a part of what was later known as Hello! Project. It is a common...

of porn," she made her acting debut in the 2003 Fuji Television

Fuji Television

is a Japanese television station based in Daiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, also known as or CX, based on the station's callsign "JOCX-DTV". It is the flagship station of the Fuji News Network and the ....

dramatic series, Anata no Tonari no Dareka Iru.. She retired in 2004 and has appeared in many TV dramas since then. Her other acting appearances include a role in the 2005 horror-comedy, Tokyo Zombie.

2002 debuts

Sora Aoi
Sora Aoi
is a Japanese AV idol, nude model, and media personality. In addition to being a multiple award winning actress in the AV field, she has also attained mainstream media recognition.- Early life :...
Mai Haruna
Mai Haruna
is a popular and prolific Japanese model and AV idol. She debuted in 2002 and performed in a variety of Japanese adult video genres until her retirement in 2005.-Life and career:...
Mayura Hoshitsuki
Mayura Hoshitsuki
was an award-winning Japanese adult video actress who retired from the adult industry in 2010. Her extended career, popularity and impressive filmography qualify her as an AV idol.-Life and career:...
Yuria Kato
Yuria Kato
is a Japanese adult actress, AV idol, and photo model from Tokyo, Japan. She usually plays passive roles. Her AV debut was with the Cher label in the November 2001 release Love Berry....
Kaede Matsushima
Kaede Matsushima
is a Japanese model, actress and adult video performer who has had a long career as a top AV Idol. She was described as a "Japanese superstar" at Allmovie.-Life and career:...
Ryōko Mitake
Ryoko Mitake
is a popular and multiple-award-winning Japanese AV idol. Throughout her career she alternated between the two AV studios, Alice Japan and Max-A. At the end of her first year in AV, Mitake was given two Best Actress awards in different AV ceremonies, and at the end of her second year she was given...
An Nanba
An Nanba
also known as Ann Nanba is a Japanese adult video actress who has had a long and prolific career during which she has won multiple awards. At the beginning of 2009, the DMM and Amazon sites both listed more than 250 DVDs available under her name. She retired from AV work in 2008.-AV debut and...
Naho Ozawa
Naho Ozawa
is a Japanese model, singer and a former prolific AV idol. She retired from the adult industry in 2007.-AV debut - Try-Heart:...
Asuka Sakamaki
Asuka Sakamaki
is a Japanese AV idol from Tokyo who was born on October 8, 1982.-AV career:Sakamaki made her AV debut in May 2002 in the video First Class for Try Heart's Sexia label, the label under which she continued to appear in several more videos...
Maria Takagi
Maria Takagi
aka Rika Inoue is a multiple award winning former Japanese adult video star who is now a TV actress.-Life and career:Takagi's debut adult video was the December 2002 release Super-Star for the Max-A Calen label. In 2003 she was the winner of five awards at the Kuki Inc.-owned XCity's Adult Video...
Maki Tomoda
Maki Tomoda
is an award-winning Japanese actress who is best known for her appearances in adult videos where her long and varied career has cemented her status as an AV idol...

2003

Shinji Kubo, a male AV actor who had appeared in over 800 videos, opened the AV Cultures School on May 25, 2003. Established to help aspiring AV directors, actress Eri Kikuchi
Eri Kikuchi
is an early Japanese AV idol of the 1980s, and one of the first Japanese AV actresses to be known primarily for her large breasts.-Life and career:...

, who made her AV debut in 1984, was one of the first instructors at this school.

Hitomi Kobayashi
Hitomi Kobayashi
is an important early Japanese AV idol. One of the founding figures of the Japanese adult video, she has been called indispensable to any discussion of the AV...

, who had debuted in 1986 and was called Japan's Queen of Adult Video, announced her retirement with a final, big-budget AV. The widely advertised project was announced for investors in July 2003. Investors in the video would later complain of unethical financial practises.

With no previous film-acting experience, Emi Kuroda
Emi Kuroda
aka is an AV and pink film actress who was born in Osaka in 1978. She is best known for playing the title role in director Mitsuru Meike's The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai .-Life and career:...

, an AV veteran of some 200 videos, was chosen to star in pink film director Mitsuru Meike

Mitsuru Meike

is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the group of prominent pink film directors known collectively as the .-Life and career:...

's (2003). Re-released as The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai
The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai
began life as a pink film, the durable Japanese soft-core genre, with the title but it developed into a cult hit and the producers allowed director Mitsuru Meike to expand it into its present form...

, the film became a surprise cult hit, playing at 20 international film festivals.

Minami Aoyama
Minami Aoyama
is a Japanese AV idol and pink film actress. She has appeared in award-winning pink films, and was herself given a Best Actress award for her work in this genre in 2006.-Life and career:...

made her AV debut and pink film debut both in 2003. She would win the Best Actress award at the 2006 Pink Grand Prix

Pink Grand Prix

2003 debuts

Hikaru Koto
Hikaru Koto
is a former Japanese AV idol and model.-Life and career:Koto made her adult video debut at age eighteen in the September 2003 release, on the h.m.p./Platinum Tiffany label...
Ayano Murasaki
Ayano Murasaki
is a Japanese adult video performer.-Life and career:Ayano Murasaki was born in the Ibaraki Prefecture of Japan on March 29, 1969. She made her adult video debut in late 2003 at the age of 34. The market for such "mature woman" or "madame" actresses appeared in Japanese porn films in the mid-1990s...
Kyoko Nakajima
Kyoko Nakajima
is a Japanese AV idol of the early 2000s.-AV debut & VIP:Nakajima was born on March 12, 1983 in Saitama Prefecture, Japan), and her interests include music and tennis.She made her AV debut in May 2003 with the video I Want More Than a Kiss! for the h.m.p...
Sakura Sakurada
Sakura Sakurada
is a Japanese actress, model and adult video star who has also used the name for still photo shoots. Her long and prolific career and international recognition mark her as an AV Idol.-Early career - "Uncensored Movies":...
Riko Tachibana
Riko Tachibana
is a popular and award-winning Japanese adult video idol . Taller than average, Tachibana debuted in 2003 and starred in many adult videos which emphasized her height. An extremely prolific actress, Tachibana had performed in over 200 AVs when she was awarded for Most Appearances at Japan's Adult...
Akiho Yoshizawa
Akiho Yoshizawa
, often known simply as Acky , is a Japanese adult video and pink film actress.-AV debut - Alice Japan & Max-A:Yoshizawa was born in Tokyo, Japan on March 3, 1984 and after working as a gravure idol, made her AV debut in 2003 under contract to two studios, Alice Japan and Max-A...

2004

AV star, Emily Yoshikawa, who had debut in 2000, announced her retirement from the screen in 2004. Her decision to work in Tokyo's red-light Yoshiwara district became a major news item in adult entertainment. Cost for a session with Yoshikawa started at 70,000 yen, which would pay for a trip to Hong Kong and back. Nevertheless, within days of the announcement, Yoshikawa's waiting list was booked three months in advance.

Financial controversy following the release of Hitomi Kobayashi
Hitomi Kobayashi
is an important early Japanese AV idol. One of the founding figures of the Japanese adult video, she has been called indispensable to any discussion of the AV...

's final AV in December 2003, A March 2004 article reported that Kobayashi, who had debuted in 1986, was then working as a hostess at a nightclub in the Roppongi

Roppongi

district of Tokyo. Her husband, the former president of her talent agency, was working as her driver.

Also in Roppongi, the doors to the bar, "Ruka," opened in June 2004. This establishment was named after its owner, the retired AV star Ruka Aida, who had made her AV debut in 1995.

Hotaru Akane
Hotaru Akane
aka is an award-winning Japanese model and AV idol. She is active in many media formats in Japan including a role in a mainstream theatrical film, and is a popular blogger. Her adeptness at female ejaculation has earned Akane the title, "Shiofuki Queen". She retired from AV work in 2008.-Early...

, who debuted in 2004, was named "Newcomer of the Year" in Weekly Playboy
Weekly Playboy
also known as or WPB is a Japanese weekly magazine published by Shueisha since 1966.This magazine is not a regional edition of the American Playboy magazine; the Japanese edition of that magazine was published as Monthly Playboy by Shueisha until its cancellation in January 2009.-People in...

's 2005 "AV Academy Awards". Her particular talent with female ejaculation

Female ejaculation

Female ejaculation refers to the expulsion of noticeable amounts of clear fluid by human females from the paraurethral ducts through and around the urethra during or before an orgasm...

earned her the title "Shiofuki Queen".

2004 debuts

Yua Aida
Yua Aida
is an award-winning former Japanese model and AV idol.-Early life:Yua Aida was born in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on 12 August 1984. Aida was an active girl and involved in many sporting activities during primary and middle school. Tennis was her strongest sport throughout middle school. In high...
Hotaru Akane
Hotaru Akane
aka is an award-winning Japanese model and AV idol. She is active in many media formats in Japan including a role in a mainstream theatrical film, and is a popular blogger. Her adeptness at female ejaculation has earned Akane the title, "Shiofuki Queen". She retired from AV work in 2008.-Early...
Shoko Goto
Shoko Goto
is a busty Japanese adult video actress. She takes a Japanese J-cup bra .- Life and career:Born on January 18, 1985, in Miyazaki Prefecture in Japan's southernmost island of Kyūshū, Shoko debuted on the Japanese adult entertainment scene with her photo shoot in the September 2004 issue of Bachelor...
Chihiro Hara
Chihiro Hara
is a multiple award-winning Japanese adult video performer.-Life and career:Chihiro Hara was born on May 22, 1984 in Tokyo, Japan. She made her debut in adult videos in November 2004 with the S1 No. 1 Style studio in New Face x Semen. Her debut was part of the first group of videos simultaneously...
Chihiro Hasegawa
Chihiro Hasegawa
, also known as Nami Funakura , is an award-winning Japanese AV idol who has starred in more than 200 adult videos on various labels.-Life and career:...
Honoka
Honoka
is an award-winning Japanese adult video actress and popular TV personality and actress. She retired from the AV industry in 2008.-Life and career:...
Saya Misaki
Saya Misaki
, also known as was a Japanese adult film actress. Misaki's career spanned over two years during which she appeared in at least seventy DVDs.- AV career :...
Nana Natsume
Nana Natsume
is an award-winning former AV idol and a well-known celebrity in Japan.-Life and career:Natsume was born on January 23, 1980 in Sakai, Osaka, Japan...

2005

Yumika Hayashi
Yumika Hayashi
was a Japanese AV idol and pink film actress. She earned the title of "Japan's Original Adult Video Queen" during a 16-year career in which she starred in nearly 200 AVs and appeared in over 180 films...

's death after celebrating her 35th birthday in June 2005 ended one of the longest careers in the AV field. Debuting in 1989, by the time of her death, she had become known as "Japan's Original Adult Video Queen." Her 16-year career included appearances in over 400 videos and films, including a documentary on herself.

A December 2005 Asahi Geino article reported on the current careers of several prominent former AV actresses. Yuri Komuro
Yuri Komuro
is a Japanese AV idol, actress, and author. She was one of the top actresses in the AV field during the late 1990s.-Early life and AV career:Yuri Komuro was born in Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture on July 28, 1976,...

was working as an author, Nao Saejima
Nao Saejima
is a Japanese AV idol and model of the 1980s and 1990s who also starred in photobooks, V-Cinema, and feature films, including Nikkatsu's Roman Porno series.-AV career:...

was working as an artist. Ruka Aida was still operating her self-named bar in Roppongi, which she had opened the previous year. Sally Yoshino
Sally Yoshino
is a Japanese striptease dancer, model, and AV idol. She has also performed under the name .-Early life:Sally Yoshino was born in Tokyo on November 28, 1978. Her father was a member of a skate team, and Yoshino began figure skating at the age of three...

had returned to her favorite form of adult entertainment, performing as a striptease dancer. Hitomi Hasegawa was planning and appearing in "sexy events" as an "erotic missionary."

2005 debuts

Yuma Asami
Yuma Asami
is a Japanese adult video actress. Beginning in 2005 Asami appeared in AVs for Alice Japan and S1 No. 1 Style. Her adult videos have won first prize in Japanese Adult Video Awards, and she has won awards as an adult actress...
Risa Coda
Risa Coda
, also known as Risa Koda and Risa Kouda , is an award-winning former Japanese model and adult video actress.-AV debut and career:...
Hikari Hino
Hikari Hino
is a Japanese AV idol, or porn star who has performed for several prominent adult video companies.-Life and career:Hino was born March 7, 1986 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. In July 2005 she debuted at age 19 on the Crystal-Eizou company's Venus label in the video G's Curiosity - Hikari Hino...
Mihiro
Mihiro
, also known as , is a Japanese model, singer, TV personality and award-winning adult video actress.-Life and career:Mihiro was born in Niigata prefecture on May 19, 1982. She began a career as a softcore nude model as early as May 2001 when her video Dream was released followed by the...
Maria Ozawa
Maria Ozawa
, who used the name early in her career, is a former Japanese adult video actress known in Japan as an AV idol.-Early life:Ozawa was born in Hokkaidō, Japan. Her mother is Japanese and her father is Canadian. Since she always attended an international school, she claims that her English reading...
Asuka Yūki
Tina Yuzuki
Tina Yuzuki
, also known as Rio, is a Japanese AV idol who debuted in 2005, while appearing in videos produced by the Max-A and S1 studios. After starring in AVs in various genres during her first year in the industry, she won an industry award as Best New Actress for 2006. Since late 2007, she has used the...
Airi & Meiri
Airi & Meiri
are a Japanese gravure idol and AV idol duo of twin sisters. Their presentation was based on Japanese double singing idols, a concept where two singers with similar appearance and actions appear together.-Life and career:...

(Twins).

2006

Adult video conglomerate Soft On Demand

Soft on Demand

and tabloid paper Tokyo Sports

Tokyo Sports

is a Japanese daily sports newspaper founded in 1958.- See also :*Tokyo Sports Film Award*Yellow journalism*Supermarket tabloid*Junk food news- External links :* http://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp Official Website...

inaugurated the AV Open

AV Open

AV Open is a major awards contest for the Japanese adult video industry. It has gone from a limited sales contest in 2006 to become, via its successor the AV GrandPrix, the major Japanese AV award with nearly 100 participating companies competing for the 2009 awards.-AV Open Origins:The AV Open...

contest for most sales with eighteen AV companies submitting entries.

2006 debuts

Rin Aoki
Rin Aoki
is a Japanese model and adult video actress. She began as a Gravure idol and later moved to hardcore video work where she became an award-winning AV Idol.-Gravure Idol:...

was a gravure idol before moving to AV in 2006.
Meguru Kosaka
Meguru Kosaka
is a popular and prolific Japanese AV idol known for her large G70-cup breasts. She is a recent addition to a long line of "Big-Bust" models in Japanese adult videos often traced back to 1980's idol Kimiko Matsuzaka.-Life and career:...
Miho Maeshima
Miho Maeshima
, also known as Miho Maejima, is a popular Japanese model and AV idol who formerly appeared on broadcast television in Japan.-Life and career:...

appeared as an actress on television before embarking on an AV career in 2006.

2008

The AV Grand Prix ceremony succeeded the AV Open

AV Open

. , starring 2002 "mature woman" debut Maki Tomoda
Maki Tomoda
is an award-winning Japanese actress who is best known for her appearances in adult videos where her long and varied career has cemented her status as an AV idol...

, won "Best SM Video".

2008 debuts

Hitomi Tanaka
Hitomi Tanaka
also known as Hitomi is a Japanese AV idol and gravure idol. She is well known for her large breasts, Japanese size 97J -Life and career:...

was a gravure idol before she debuted as an AV actress in November
Yui Tatsumi
Yui Tatsumi
is a former Japanese race queen who turned into an AV idol.-Life and career:Tatsumi made her exclusive adult video debut with the Alice Japan studio in the January 2008 video . and by late 2010 she had made at least 33 adult videos with the same company...

was a race queen
Race queen
is a Japanese term for a type of promotional model found as part of a pit crew in certain kinds of motor racing, such as F1 races. The equivalent British term is "Pit babe".-History:...

before her January AV debut