TOKYO (TR) – Adult video (AV) actress Yuka Murakami is opening up about the the grueling realities of Japan’s corporate culture, revealing that severe power harassment at a so-called “black company” pushed her to flee into the world of porn.
In a no-holds barred interview with Nikkan Spa! (Sep. 3), Murakami, 23, who debuted under the prestigious S1 label and is now approaching her third anniversary in the industry, discusses the dark circumstances surrounding her drastic career shift.
Before stepping in front of the adult camera, Murakami worked as a tour bus guide — a job she initially idealized but quickly discovered was a nightmare of exploitation. “It was a completely black environment,” Murakami explained using the term buraku kigyo (black company). Her grueling schedule required cleaning buses at 11:00 p.m., memorizing tour scripts late into the night, and waking up at 5:00 a.m.
“The pay was low, and it was unbearable. That was the only time in my life I cried just because I wanted to sleep,” she said. The physical toll was severe enough to leave her with chronic tendinitis from writing notes, while sleep-deprived senior staff subjected her to relentless power harassment.
“I can escape!”
Reaching her physical and mental breaking point, Murakami stumbled upon the social media accounts of legendary AV actress Yua Mikami. “I realized there were other ways to live,” she recalled. Using her paid time off, she secretly attended interviews with adult video studios. When S1 offered her a debut contract, her first thought was: “I can escape!”
Murakami submitted her resignation without revealing her true career path to her employer. However, the ghosts of her toxic workplace soon followed her into her new life.
During her very first Instagram Live as an adult actress, a former male driver from the bus company invaded the comments section and deliberately doxxed her real name. Later, another former driver tracked her down and showed up in-person at one of her fan events.
“If you think about it calmly, having two former colleagues track me down is pretty crazy,” she said with a laugh, noting that the severe psychological toll of her former job made her immune to her ex-colleagues’ creepy behavior. “Compared to the pain of those days, this is nothing. I actually feel like thanking them for giving me good material to talk about.”
“My only family”
Murakami’s fierce drive to survive stems from a fractured family background. Essentially abandoned by her parents — who refused to sign scholarship documents, thereby crushing her dreams of attending beauty school — she was raised entirely by her grandmother. Using her earnings from the adult industry, Murakami recently relocated her grandmother from their hometown to live with her in Tokyo.
“She is my only family. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t exist,” Murakami stated.
Despite the societal stigma surrounding Japan’s adult industry, Murakami harbors zero regrets about her choice. Driven by a fierce competitive streak, she plans to remain in the industry until she is 35, or possibly 40.
“I have very little to lose, and I haven’t lost anything,” she declared, adding that while her body may eventually tire, her mental resilience — forged in the fires of a Japanese black company — will never break.
