/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Bros, you seeing this?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/28/its-not-an-oedipus-complex-why-japans-silver-porn-market-is-booming

>‘It’s not an Oedipus complex’: why Japan’s ‘silver porn’ market is booming

>An industry making older women the centre of attention appeals to some actors; and as Japan’s society ages, demand is growing

>Justin McCurry in Tokyo
>Sun 28 Jan 2024 00.00 EST

>Emi Tōda was in her late 50s, recently divorced and getting by on wages from part-time jobs at supermarkets and an undertaker when she decided it was time for a change.

>Now 65, she has appeared in dozens of adult movies catering to the “silver porn” market – a genre of films whose enduring popularity reflects Japan’s status as a super-ageing society.

>“I wanted to save some money so I sent my details off to an employment agency,” Tōda says.

>When a call came offering her parts in three pornographic films, she was adamant that she wasn’t interested. “They had my photo on file and thought I looked the part, so when the agency approached me again, I said yes.”

>Her two adult daughters, with whom she lives in Tokyo, were surprisingly supportive. “They said I looked comfortable with the idea, so they were happy for me to go ahead.”

>While Tōda chose to work in adult films, a 2020 survey by the cabinet office found that an alarming number of Japanese women said they had been forced into appearing in pornographic films by unscrupulous production companies. Some had signed “modelling” contracts but were later pressured into posing nude or have sex on camera.

>The survey found that around a quarter of women in their teens, 20s and 30s had been solicited for jobs as models and idols. Among those who applied for jobs, 13% said they had been asked to take part in photo or video shoots of a sexual nature they had not consented to.

>Two years later, Japan introduced a law allowing women who appear in adult movies to cancel their contracts within a year of the work’s release for any reason and without paying penalties. The material must then deleted and recalled, according to the law, which is designed to prevent producers from bullying or tricking people into appearing in films that would otherwise be available online in perpetuity.

>Japan’s demographic timebomb means the senior porn genre has a large and growing potential fanbase. The proportion of Japanese aged 80 or over reached one in 10 for the first time last year, the government said in September ahead of the annual Respect-for-the-Aged Day. An estimated 36.2 million people are aged 65 or older, accounting for a record 29.1% of the total population. By contrast, the number of 18-year-olds is at a record low of 1.06 million, according to figures released last month.

>Tōda is not alone in moving into the adult video sector later in life. Shigeo Tokuda, whose huge portfolio includes roles in Forbidden Elderly Care and The Manic Training of Lolitas, was recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest porn actor in 2017, when he was 83.

>The 88-year-old Yuko Ogasawara did not make her debut until she was in her early 80s, while Maori Tezuka, who specialised in “accommodating” grandmother roles, retired in 2017 at the age of 80, telling the Tokyo Reporter website that acting in pornographic films had been “lively and fun”.