TOKYO — Part of the Japanese porn industry experienced a shutdown this summer over positive COVID-19 tests, according to reports and industry sources.
Details of the shutdown are difficult to obtain, but XBIZ spoke with multiple local sources who confirmed a report that the COVID-related shutdown did happen.
One of the sources within the Japanese “adult video” (AV) industry said that the shutdown happened back in July, with production only resuming slowly in the past few weeks.
Reports of the shutdown first reached the U.S. last week via English-language Japanese tabloid Tokyo Reporter, which headlined “Japan’s Porn Industry Adapts to Pandemic After Stars Test Positive.”
Tokyo Reporter’s Kenji Nakano quoted Japanese-language tabloid Flash’s interview with Mikio Kawai, the director of the AV Human Rights Ethics Organization (AV Human Rights), a local equivalent to the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) but with a narrower scope.
Kawai explained that “that industry’s existing preventative measures regarding sexually transmitted diseases has made it ‘accustomed’ to similar courses of action needed for coronavirus at shoots.”
A Touchy Subject
XBIZ spoke with an AV industry insider, who said matters like this are “a touchy subject” for an industry operating in a gray legal area in Japan, at a time when authorities are engaged in sweeping “anti-crime” campaigns against traditional “vice” categories.
The AV industry, the source explained, is comprised of many different groups, but AV Human Rights and Intellectual Property Promotion Association (IPPA) are “more or less the main serious attempts at self-regulation” in the face of encroaching government threats.
According to this source, the COVID-19 outbreak was linked to four professional performers, at least one of them male, connected to companies that are part of IPPA.
“No one knows the full extent of the outbreak, as ‘shiroto’ (amateur talents) are not being tracked,” the insider told XBIZ.
The pros, however, did notify the companies they shot for and were planning to shoot for, as soon as they tested positive, and a production halt was called.
According to local stories, those performers had attended a socially distanced barbecue before their positive tests. However, an AV Human Rights representative claimed that the four performers “were infected in separate cases,” explaining that the infections were not the result of a “cluster.”
AV Industry Moving Cautiously Forward
After the halt, companies are either still on hold or moving cautiously forward, the source said.
“The ‘above-board’ companies are trying to take safe guards, like temperature testing, PCR testing, reduced staff, everyone in masks except for talent, frequent ventilation breaks,” they added.
But these “legit” companies (aka, "in the system”) fail to account for a big slice of the biz. Many companies using “shiroto” are not being tracked, and as they are not fee-paying members of IPPA, they do not get the association’s help.
The IPPA's role is to self-regulate an industry that has had a less-than-stellar history of handling issues with talent, including holding them financially responsible for losses due to production cancellations.
“Thats why IPPA has publicly announced the four actors who had tested positive would not have to reimburse the companies for the canceled shoots,” the AV industry insider told XBIZ. “IPPA wanted to make it clear there would be no bills for them.”
Cluster Panic
Another source pointed out that the COVID-related halt only concerned the “straight” side of the Japanese industry.
“The gay and straight industries are completely separated,” said this second source. “All I know is the gay industry is still ongoing with its shoots. Temperature is measured before every shooting, and alcohol sprayed on every surface between every takes.”
However, according to other sources, there is a small number of Japanese male performers who work on straight, gay and trans productions.
After the straight companies had slowly resumed shooting, an AV insider told Flash, “polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were performed on the staff and all the performers at those shoots. Ongoing shoots were halted until the staff members and performers tested negative.”
“The AV industry is looked upon harshly by the eyes of the public,” another AV insider told the Shukan Post newspaper. “So, if a cluster of infections occur, it will affect the survival of the industry. Actresses may retire due to fear of infection, so the people involved are being very careful.”