Free Hugs from Eimi Fukada in Tokyo, popular JAV star with over 9,000,000 social media followers

On August 9th 2022 Eimi Fukada, currently one of the most popular JAV stars who is also very active in social media, announced she was having a 24 hour Free Hug event starting August 27th in Shibuya!

Eimi with JAV star Moko Sakura

You can watch a recorded live stream of the event on her YouTube channel, part 1 and part 2.

It was held at "The Shisha House" in Shibuya starting at 18:00 on August 27th. Long lines quickly formed around the building the event was held in and continued on the streets of Shibuya even before the event started and continued to be long after until the early morning the next day. One of the possible reasons the line was so long was you could go back in line as many times as you wanted during the 24 hour period as long as you were willing to wait in the long line again, with some reporting they saw her 3 times in a 6 hour time period!

In case you're not familiar with what a "Free Hug" is, it's literally in the name, a person(s) offering a hug to anyone who comes up to them for free. It was started in 2004 as a way to help lift a persons spirits who could use a hug due mainly to stress, hugs being scientifically proven to help a person feel better and improve health. With the pandemic affecting everyone around the world for the past couple years there's no doubt everyone needs a hug to relieve stress and Eimi's Free Hug event would help relieve that stress; though she only mentioned she was doing the event to be the "most hugged woman on Earth" and I have no doubt she was for those 24 hours, currently not sure if it's a Guinness World Record.Still, it was nice of her to do it while the pandemic is still happening, with Tokyo alone reporting around 15,000 cases daily, and possibly getting COVID herself with all the hugs she was giving.

With gravure idol Miyu Kataoka

I would say it's extremely rare to get a hug from a JAV actresses. If you're a fan of JAV actresses you'd know they have fan events in Japan where they meet and talk to fans, sign autographs, have pictures taken of them, and take pictures while posing with fans. One of the things you can't do with a JAV actress during these fan events is hug them, so to get a hug from Eimi for free (normally you have to buy at least one DVD of the actress or a photobook just to attend a part of the events) must have been a welcome surprise for fans. You could also pay a 1,000 yen "donation" to get a picture taken with her along with the free hug.

With the donation you also get a cerfticate acknowledging you participated in the event and a random autographed photo of Eimi. You could also buy a shirt promoting the event.

Currently the certificate, shirt, autographed photos, and even Eimi's unused paper cups (?) are listed for resale on Mercari Japan.

While not a continuous 24 hours, according to daily.co.jp, she only took one 3 hour break and several 10 minute breaks from standing and hugging everyone who came to see her. She ended up hugging 3163 people, much, much less than the amount of followers she has but that's also 3163 people who were willing to stand in line for hours, normally between 2 to 4 hours, just to get a hug from her and everyone left happy after. The first day ended with 1701 hugs based on the end of the first live stream; there was a computer monitor next to her which would update with the current number of hugs after every hug.

Of course there were procedures and rules to the event, which Eimi explained in this video

Basically at the entrace to the building of the event they'll check your bag, check your ID to clear the age 20+ restriction, and to take your temperature to make sure you won't be infecting Eimi and others at the event as well as wearing a mask. After you enter you'll be snaked through the restaurant venue and near the end where Eimi does the hugs is a table for you to make your 1,000 yen donation and to buy commemorative t-shirts. After that you put your bag on a counter to be given back to you after the hug then wait your turn to get a hug. Before the hug you are required to put your hands behind you before she gives the hug. After the hug you pick up the bag then leave the restaurant.

While watching the live stream I saw some people didn't follow the rules and tried to give Eimi a hug back or had their hands in front instead of behind them but a nearby staff member would quickly grab their hands and put them behind their back. Some succeeded in getting a hug and I noticed they were all women.

I had fun watching the live stream and would see who would try to break the hugging rule, how aggressive the staff were with the rule (one staffer was really quick and forceful with putting the hands behind their back), and to see if anyone managed to get to hug back before the staff stopped them. I believe one of the reasons fans were possibly trying to hug back was actually due to Eimi herself. With their hands held behind their back, Eimi opens up her arms to approach them for a hug and fans will naturally stop thinking for a moment, with the cute and sexy Eimi coming in for a hug who wouldn't? So during that moment when their brain stops thinking their body naturally reacts to reach around for a hug too and that's when their hands come forward to try to hug Eimi back, only to be stopped by staff. Some did release their hands from behind their back but quickly clasped them back together themselves. You could really see some people holding back from hugging her though when you see their hands vibrating while recieving the hug, fighting the urge to hug her back.

With social media personality NISEKIN

Fans were very happy to see Eimi and to get a hug, some literally jumping with joy. There were lots of bowing, I assume, to say "hello," introduce themselves, or maybe saying they're a fan (there was no audio so I could only guess). There was a suprising number of women fans who came up to Eimi, much more than I expected, which I'm happy to see and probably Eimi was too. Some went in groups, guys in one group, couples in another group, and women together too. The ages ranged from 20 to probably some in the 50's or 60's, both men and women.

While watching I noticed the best way to get a really good hug from Eimi was to lean in closer to her and to keep your arms as low as possible behind your back so she could wrap her arms around you. You can see people with wider shoulders or those who didn't keep the arms too low get a half hug as she couldn't reach around far enough to touch their back.

There was an exception though to the hugging back rule, if you were a social media personality or someone she knew personally they could hug her back for their own social media posts.

JAV Star Ai Hongo

Social Media Personality Purin

JAV star Miyu Inamori

During the 24 hour event she had changed into 4 outfits, a tight office lady outfit with a small skirt, bright kimono, sexy bunny, and lastly a sexy cheongsam. Personally I thought the cheongsam was the sexiest.

The event was so popular and caused such a stir with the long lines in Shibuya that she trending on Twitter Japan and even got a Yahoo Japan article about the event.

Thinking about it, the Earth is experiencing extreme heat everywhere now and Japan is no exception. On August 27th Tokyo experienced peak temperatures of 32.778°C / 91°F with humidity at 66% and fans of Eimi were standing in line for hours waiting for their turn to get a hug from her, including social media personality Hezuma Ryuu who collapsed while waiting in line due to heat stroke.

Luckily he's feeling fine after being admitted to a hospital. Please be careful during these extreme times by drinking lots of beneficial fluids like water and drinks with electrolytes to restore what you lose when you sweat, get lots of rest at night, eat properly, and if you're feeling unwell sit down and rest; the worst case call a emergency professional to assist you or someone for help.

Hopefully Eimi and other JAV actresses will hold similar Free Hug events in the future, everyone could use a hug.

Follow Eimi Fukada on social media

Twitter 2.6 million followers

Instagram 1.3 million followers

YouTube 1.13 million followers

TikTok 4.9 million followers

Get Eimi Fukada's JAV at R18.