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Family life hard for Japan’s porn stars

Shukan Post Feb. 28
Shukan Post Feb. 28
TOKYO (TR) – In an interview appearing in Weekly Playboy in December of last year, Japan’s most prolific adult video (AV) star, Taka Kato, indicated that the nature of the business makes it difficult to have a wife or girlfriend.

Kato, who retired last year, is not alone. According to weekly tabloid Shukan Post (Feb. 28), many male porn stars face difficulties in family matters.

“I have a daughter who is five years old,” says 46-year-old actor Masahiro Tabuchi, “Before I got married my wife knew that I am an AV actor. But I have not told my daughter.”

His daughter is in kindergarten, and she will sometimes ask what he does for a living.

“By talking to people, I can earn an income,” he will say at those times.

Such an evasion of the truth, however, is not for his personal benefit.

“I work as an AV actor because I like it,” says Tabuchi. “If people want to talk about me behind my back that is fine. But I could not bear for my daughter to be exposed to such a situation.”

As is to be expected, society holds prejudice against those employed in the AV trade.

“There was one actor whose daughter was on the verge of getting married,” says a veteran AV writer. “That was the end of their relationship.”

Lost contact

Shukan Post describes another actor who had a daughter in high school. Once she learned of his occupation, she became something of a delinquent, and he lost contact with her for a number of years.

“There are a lot of cases of bullying of the children of male and female stars,” says the same writer, “and some of them end in suicide.”

Tabuchi is concerned about what may happen if his daughter’s friends or the acquaintances of his wife learn that he performs in porn.

“I do what I can to keep clear of the friends of my daughter and wife,” he says. “For school athletic meets, I am always sure to wear sunglasses and a cap.”

Shukan Post Feb. 28
Shukan Post Feb. 28
Shukan Post wonders what the appeal of the job could be.

“To be honest, the feeling of having sex for work and in private the good feeling is about the same,” says Tabuchi, who has been working in the trade for 25 years, “and I get paid.”

But the actor would like to make one thing clear.

“Sex for AV is just about the pleasures of the flesh,” he says. “It doesn’t satisfy what is inside.”

As to his wife, the relationship goes much deeper.

“We are making every effort to understand each other’s heart,” he says.

Source: “’Otosan ga AV danyu de gomenna,’” Shukan Post (Feb. 28, pages 134-137)