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Japan’s AV industry trembling after arrest of actress Yui Nishikawa

AV actress Yui Nishikawa, who made her debut for label Moodyz in , was arrested for appearing in an uncensored film uploaded to the internet
AV actress Yui Nishikawa, who made her debut for label Moodyz in 2013, was arrested for appearing in an uncensored film uploaded to the internet

Last week, law enforcement divisions in Tokyo and Aichi and Shizuoka prefectures arrested five persons, including well-known adult video (AV) actor Jo Oshima, in the illegal distribution of pornographic material via the internet.

But that’s not all: Popular AV actress Yui Nishikawa was also among the suspects — and the bust could signal a shift in the industry, says Nikkan Gendai (Mar. 4).

Police have accused Oshima, Nishikawa, whose real name is Ayaka Kikuchi, one other actor and two production personnel of allegedly participating in the upload of pornographic content in which genitalia is not obscured to the site Caribbeancom.com. The suspects were charged with the digital distribution of content deemed obscene.

The material was filmed at a studio in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward on February 2, 2016. It was distributed on a video site last August.

According to an investigative source, AV production firm Declare received a fee of two million yen for dispatching Nishikawa to the shoot. Of that amount, the actress received 1.2 million yen.

Between September of 2009 and November of last year, Declare recorded revenues of 154 million yen through the dispatching of performers. It currently has 50 actresses registered on its books. The company works in conjunction with AV company Pierrot, which was busted in January for the same crime.

The servers for Caribbeancom.com are hosted overseas. The site has around 300,000 members. According to journalist Hiroyuki Motoori, monthly sales total 1.5 billion yen.

“When a film featuring an actress like Nishikawa is uploaded, the number of members increases all at once,” the journalist says.

AV writer Takumi Higashide says that the site is lucrative for actresses. For example, the two-million-yen fee Nishikawa received is around double what she would get for a regular film.

“A bust at any AV shoot”

However, the good times may not last. While the bust in question took place due to an upload of content to the internet, Gendai speculates that the police may broaden the scope of their crackdown to regular AV productions.

An unnamed AV director says that all films include the shooting of honban, or full sex. The obfuscation, or mosaic, is applied digitally as a means of censoring the content.

“That’s why I am asked by the police for the actual film,” the director says. “If the police wanted to, they could make a bust at any AV shoot.”

According to the director, both actors and actresses will now fear being arrested. “There is a fear that the number of applicants will sharply decrease,” he says.

Source: “Joyu to danyu mo taiho karibian tekihatsu de AV kara honban ga kieru hi,” Nikkan Gendai (Mar. 4)