What JAV and Western Adult Video Can Learn from Each Other

Thank you all for continuing to read the ZENRA JAV Blog.  As it's been about a year since we began it, I figure now's a better time than ever to publish my first piece.  Allow me to introduce myself:  I'm ZENRA, the owner of the site with the same name.

I won't go into the details of my life story as few probably care about that.  However, when it comes to JAV, my journey began in a somewhat unique way:  I really didn't like learning French in middle school.  When high school came around, we were given the choices of a smorgasbord of foreign languages (blue ribbon schooling FTW!) and I picked the most logical choice:  Latin!  Eventually I came to my senses and realized aside from some help with the SAT, learning a dead language didn't have much use for me at the time so I opted to pick the language as far from French as possible:  Japanese!

I was never the best in class, but also spending a sickening amount of time on the internet since we got our first computer in 1996, I somehow via AOL chats and eventually IRC stumbled upon the uniqueness that is visual kei.  The first band that 'clicked' for me was Malice Mizer with their easy to read as a foreigner-who-has-not-yet-mastered-Kanji song Illuminati.  It's a great track and the music video is visual bliss and even features some topless women if memory serves me correct.  It also is Gackt in his prime before he went solo.  Nowadays, he's off in Malaysia I think slowly transitioning into a Dr. Takasu lookalike.

 

Genesis moment for my turn to JAV...?
 

Being immature, dumb, and full of cum, it wasn't too hard for me to focus my 'other' habits on Asian women and of course that eventually included JAV.  While not a scanner, I was on newsgroups early on enjoying Bluebird, Bonvarg, Kuni, CMM, and gosh knows who else.  There was a vibrant community even back then of those importing magazines and photobooks of JAV stars posing seductively and sharing the wealth.  Mind you, this was over a decade before Japanese production companies even started to think on how they can sell their wares outside of the country.

As the reason for writing this long form piece is less autobiography and more about talking about how both the current JAV and western industries can learn from each other, I'll save the other details of my journey to current day ZENRA for another time.  I'm elated that the site continues to grow in popularity and am equally happy we work directly with so many wonderful production companies.

JAV before JAV...for this author at least

If anyone has been following some of my semi-personal ramblings, you may get the idea that I'm something of a JAV elitist in that I think JAV is the ideal adult industry that the west should emulate or they'll never find true success.  The reality is complicated.  JAV has some great, great things going for it, but plenty of issues too.  The west as well also like JAV has its ups and downs and I'd like to spend some time sharing my thoughts on this.  I really don't think one is better than the other and I'll try now to throw bias out the window while putting thoughts I've had fermenting in my head for some time to paper.

*Note:  unless stated otherwise, "JAV" in this article is in reference to the mainstream censored industry.  There may be other articles posted at a later date talking about "uncensored JAV"--both pro and amateur.

Barrier to Entry (for studios)
JAV:  While once upon a time, it was seen as not required but noble, nowadays if you're a JAV studio wanting to sell where most of your customers go, you'll need to have your movies receive a look-over by one of the Ethics organizations.  Think of these as self-regulatory bodies that add their seal of approval to movies before they can be sold.  Some consider them a racket and sure, with all essentially charging the same for not that much work, one can make the claim, but there's more to them then that and we'll cover that more in detail soon.  The other big factor is of course mosaic application.  Uncensored may not be illegal per the wording of the law, but covering up private parts is how the industry interprets it and usually this plus that Ethics seal of approval results in few if any problems with law enforcement.

Conversely, the cost to shoot your average two hour one-day-of-shooting release doesn't vary too much between a top-tier studio and an indies one.  Sure, some actresses command more, but production-wise, everyone is being paid similar rates.  If you're big league, you probably can afford more people on staff and perhaps an additional cameraman, but at the end of the day, your average JAV movie probably costs the studio between $5K and $15K to shoot.  The days of super huge group 6-figure releases are all but over.

West:  Pretty much none!  Shoot, edit, and publish--be it on your own site or a platform (or both!).  I'd love to add more to pad out this out more, but really, by far there are less steps to enter the western industry compared to JAV.

The gatekeepers to mainstream JAV?

Barrier to entry (for performers)
JAV:  As most of our readers are male, JAV actors are pretty much pure freelance.  Please check out the editorial I wrote about this at SankakuComplex for more information.  With very, very few exceptions, none belong to agencies and just receive random calls from a huge number of directors sometimes with very little warning.  Oh, and the pay sucks even if you're near the top.

For actresses, "freelance JAV star" does not carry the same meaning as "freelance" does in the west.  If you're a freelance, that still means you belong to an agency that manages pretty much ALL your affairs (and a future article all about what JAV agencies do to make their 50% cut of all earnings is certainly warranted!), but you shoot for any studio that wants you rather than being locked down.  And yes, we're focusing big on agencies because when it comes to mainstream JAV, studios do not hire pure free agents...ever (excluding extras in non-sexual roles).  Part of the barrier to entry for JAV makers is only hiring performers through approved agencies.  Thus, if you're a woman wanting to enter the industry, you absolutely need to sign on to an agency.  Fortunately, there are dozens to choose from.

West:  Agencies exist in the west too, but from what I know, they seem to more focused on finding work and not much else.  JAV agencies are almost full service concierges for the actress both in front of the camera and off.  They'll even foot the bill for cosmetic procedures (or at least pay for it ahead of time and deduct it from future earnings).  Many a top western performer nowadays seems to be doing it all on their own and I think this is great because unless you have really poor time management skills, it shouldn't be that hard to do your own booking and command your own online presence.

Spoiler:  99% of Twitter profiles of JAV stars are operated ENTIRELY by the agency.  The actress may be contractually obligated to send in a few random selfies each week, but the person typing out all those cutesy posts may be a middle-aged man being paid far too little.

Top = HP for a huge agency in Japan
Bottom = " " west.

Content proscriptions
JAV:  Sorry folks in the west, Japan wins this hands down.  Sure, mosaic covers privates, but in spite of strict supposedly worldwide billing regulations by credit card companies, Japan still seems to have quite a free reign to produce movies that would immediately get the kibosh in the west.  Sometime in the future we plan to interview one of the Ethics organizations and are curious to see if they have some agreement in place that since they--a proper established entity--reviews each movie that content that normally would be not allowed gets the green light.

West:  Perhaps due to the easier barrier to entry and the lower amount of self-regulation, western adult video overall is significantly tamer than JAV.  We can poke fun at fauxcest and all the wacky "step-mum's fantasy is to have a threesome with goofy burglars and oops!  How did both their dicks fall in my butt?!" type of movies, but don't blame the studios for this.  They've little choice if they want to continue accepting the world's most common form of payment when not meeting customers face to face.  Still, JAV wins this absolutely without a doubt.

Distribution options
JAV:  For the longest team, most studios focused solely on producing content and selling on various big sites and stores.  Some studios don't even focus on distribution at all and hire third party companies to do the work for them!  The whole concept of having one's paysite where the content is shown first before it is put on other sites is almost entirely alien.  While now we're seeing some JAV studios think different, the attempts at selling on their own mainly fall flat.  Most don't realize that a great paysite also needs great marketing.  Sadly, with piracy the way it is, simply building a platform isn't enough if free sites do a better job at delivering the same content to the users.

West:  Things are changing some now, but for the longest time, most studios and small shooters alike focused on their own paysites.  With the rise in paysite-placeholders like OnlyFans, ManyVids, PH Premium, and more, we're seeing more first-timers focus solely on these platforms when in this author's opinion at least, doing it on your own is more worthwhile and a heck of a lot safer.

The Future of JAV Distribution?
Not pretty, but does the job.

Social and financial stigma
JAV:  Saying you work in adult in Japan is not recommended, but it isn't horrible.  Even nowadays, there are studios operating openly under their 'porn name'.  And when I mean openly, I'm talking about being incorporated and banking under the same name.  The name showing in the building directory as well is the 'porn name' (one of our partners is located on the top floor of a department store and they share the same elevator with their name showing there too!).  Still, when applying for housing or a loan, it's best to be a little circumspect.

West:  While this varies country by country, using USA as the biggest example, things certainly are not great.  Again, thanks to semi-mainstream sites like OnlyFans, adult has went to absolutely abhorred by some in the limelight to mostly abhorred.  Very few adult companies can openly get bank accounts and I don't know any aside from gargantuan legacy companies that openly operate under their 'porn names' like they do in Japan.

Disruption
JAV:  For the longest time--decades now--if you wanted eyes on your work, you were pretty limited.  Large sites like DMM of course and perhaps larger chains of DVD stores.  The Naked Director does a decent job of showing how the industry was once upon a time and until not too long ago, remained that way.  Now, however, we're finally starting to see some real disruption.  Some is totally homegrown such as smaller creator-focused distribution platforms like Gyutto, though most are western entities entering the Japanese market whether the monolithic companies maintaining the statis que like it or not.  FC2 (Japanese-owned, but operated from abroad) is seeing a boom in uncensored amateur content and PornHub is probably the biggest free site Japanese flock to.  Studios may not like what's happening, but I've always believed more *legit* competition is a good thing.

West:  As mentioned a few times already, sites like OnlyFans and ManyVids are giving some paysites a run for their money.  I'd lump billing processors here as well, but the ones that do paysite processing also are usually doing it for these larger platforms too.  It's never been easier to become a producer of adult content in the west than it is now.
 

We may need another Toru Muranishi to really shake things up.

Self-regulation
JAV:  Going way back to the 70's with the creation of NEVA, the JAV industry has been pushing self-regulation hard and only harder now.  Perhaps it's due to both the cultural group mentality along with nearly all studios being located in the same city, but even today with a handful of organizations replacing the original, the industry can and does protect itself.  2016 accusations by a former actress saw the industry banding together and making necessary changes such as a mandatory '5 year rule' for delisting in all performer contracts.

West:  The total opposite in some ways with emphasis on individuality and getting up by your own bootstraps, there isn't too much in terms of industry-wide organizations.  Yes, there is the FSC that does fantastic work (seriously, if you love porn and have money to spare, consider becoming a member!) along with APAG, but even today it's dog-eat-dog for most entities.  If one goes down for whatever reason, the general mood on industry forums is part apathy, part jubilation ("one less rival, yay!").

Ethics Organization for Ethics Organizations?

STD checking
JAV & the West:  When it comes to testing, both industries do a solid job.  Both require a melange of tests and clean papers before shoots and both will not film without them.  However, what JAV lacks is a system like FSC's PASS, a unified and secure database of up to date test results for all performers.  In the case one tests positive, the FSC will call for an industry-wide filming suspension until said individual can be contacted and their sexual history since the last negative test is mapped out.  JAV, sadly, doesn't have this.  While STDs are also rare, when they happen, filming across the industry continues.

Piracy:
JAV:  A future (very) long-form article on this will certainly be written.  The JAV industry outright fails preventing piracy in nearly any way you can measure it.  As a fan of JAV and a devotee of this industry, I admit piracy and the lack of effectively preventing it compared to the west is the biggest threat to future solvency.  There's no sugar-coating this:  JAV has utterly failed in preventing illegal sites from proliferating.

West:  Some say no man is an island, but individuality reigns supreme and with such responsibility vested on one's shoulders, a heightened interest in preventing one's content from being stolen also comes into play.  From small one-man outfits to big studios and paysites, tackling piracy through various methods is common sense.  Just do a search for any JAV studio compared to any western one:  the former is a full page of illegal links to the point the studio's homepage may not even be on the first page.  The latter is the official site plus social media and approved channels on tube sites--basically all legal and approved outlets for distribution.

Official studio totally missing and all links on the first page go to pirate sites—wait, #8 is cool.

What can the west learn from JAV?  That it's OK not to do everything on your own.  That regulation when done from within isn't a bad thing.  That freedom to shoot what you want comes at a tiny price, but in the long run, it may be worth it to add a few pixels.

And what can JAV learn from the west?  The power to do things on your own when working together may lead to standstills and doom.  That sending DMCA's blindly into the night with your head buried in sand is a fast way to lose lots of money.  That like it or not, the Japanese market may have money to burn, but is small and shrinking year by year.  Disruption will happen and seeing how it's happening in the west holds the keys for survival.

Is one truly better than the other?  Honestly, no.  Though as much as I like JAV and am aware just how big of a industry it is per revenue and sheer amount of content produced, the west will--for a lack of a better word--invade the JAV industry's domestic dominance leading to studios having to make fraught decisions as their future target audience opts for uncensored amateur content on sites like PornHub and FC2 over professional production.  As we covered before, most JAV stars are in it mainly for the money and if it gets to the point where uncensored--with its lack of arrests because police really don't seem to care too much--pays more and offers more work, that's where they'll go.  We're seeing it happen already.  FC2 has never been bigger and I do believe sometime in the future mosaic may not totally go away, but we'll see some concessions made.  Perhaps close-ups will still require pixelation, but shots where genitalia takes up X% or less of the screen will become mosaic-optional.  Or perhaps just like with the anus, genitalia can be shown without mosaic, but pixels would only be needed if they're being 'used'.

Thank you all for sticking around.  This truly was a gargantuan endeavor and the first of other articles about the industry I plan to contribute to the blog.  If you have any suggestions for future entries of this nature, please let us know in the comment field below.