TOKYO (TR) – In another blow to the image of the adult video (AV) industry, it has now emerged that a popular actress has been arrested for the possession of illegal drugs, reports Shukan Jitsuwa (July 21).
On the morning of June 20, officers from the Kanto Narcotics Control Department entered the Tokyo residence of 28-year-old actress Nozomi Aso and arrested her for violating narcotic and psychotropic drug laws after a search of the premises revealed illegal substances that she admitted belonged to her.
Aso made her debut in the AV industry in June of 2012 for label SOD Create. That title subsequently zoomed up to the top of sales chart the following month at distribution site DMM.com. Aso currently has more than 80 titles listed on the site.
The native of Yokohama has garnered a reputation for attractive appearance and lack of reluctance in engaging in hard-core scenes. She also works as a gravure (pin-up) idol — including an appearance in the pages of Shukan Jitsuwa — and a club DJ.
Her popularity is not limited to Japan. In Taiwan, where her appearance has been likened to actress Lin Chi-ling, she has done modeling work. In 2014, she appeared in “Naked Ambition 3D,” the Hong Kong film directed by Lee Kung-lok that parodies Japan’s AV industry.
Aso’s arrest represents the latest black mark for the industry, coming the same month as the bust of AV agency Marks Japan for coercing an actress to perform in a film shot at a campground in Kanagawa Prefecture in 2013.
Earlier this month, the former president of the company, Norihide Murayama, was fined one million yen under a summary order by the Tokyo Summary Court. Murayama and 51 other persons still face indecent exposure charges for the same shoot.
A person within the AV industry expresses concern to Tokyo Sports (July 9) about the ripple effect that Aso’s arrest may have.
“When one actress is caught, the eyes of suspicion from the public will fall to other actresses that have had nothing to do with the case — and then the entire industry becomes entwined in the trouble,” the source says. “This type of thing must not happen again.”
Aso’s agency confirmed her arrest with the magazine. Her Twitter account (@nozomi_asou) has been inactive since the day after her arrest.
