“Cultural Exchange: A porn star at 76 - Los Angeles Times” plus 1 more |
| Cultural Exchange: A porn star at 76 - Los Angeles Times Posted: Reporting from Tokyo — At the seemingly fragile age of 76, his story is the stuff of Hollywood legend (Well, maybe the seamier side of the San Fernando Valley), a tale made more outlandish because it happened to a buttoned-down salary man in hyper-conservative Japan.For years, a Tokyo grandfather kept a dirty little secret from his family. Longtime travel agent Shigeo Tokuda, who resembles countless older men who ride the Tokyo subway each day, admitted to his wife and daughter that he sometimes performed cameos in small-budget films. But what this senior citizen didn't say was that those scenes, often staged in would-be retirement homes, involved getting naked with actresses young enough to be his granddaughter. Since he was "discovered" in 1996, Tokuda has emerged as a major player in Japan's emerging adult movie genre known as "elder porn." He says he has appeared in more than 350 films such as "Prohibited Nursing" and "Maniac Training of Lolitas." In these scripts, Tokuda always gets the girl. The films play upon well-documented Japanese male fantasies. In each, Tokuda plays a gray-haired master of sex who teaches his ways to an assortment of young nurses and secretaries. Whips and sex aides often factor in the plotlines. "I'm a role model for a lot of men," he says. "I do my best." In 2006, Tokuda's life took a somewhat psychedelic plot twist when his grown daughter intercepted a fax describing an upcoming scene he'd been asked to perform. She and her mother confronted Tokuda, who uses only his stage name in the press. There wasn't the lawyer-dialing and plate-throwing that would take place in many American households. Think controlled, perhaps repressed, anger. "My daughter complained that this wasn't a very nice job to do," he recalls. "My wife worried about my health. She said I was getting old and that this work must be difficult on me physically." Nowadays, Tokuda makes an average of one film a week, earning up to $500 a day. "I told them that I didn't have shame over this type of job," he says, "but that I'd try to be more conservative in the future." "Elder-porn" is a burgeoning industry in a nation that features the world's oldest population and ranks second (behind the U.S.) in the personal consumption of pornography. Japan is also ranked one of the most sexless societies on the planet. A recent study also ranked Japanese couples as among the world's most sexless. Industry executives say proceeds from elder porn — mostly featuring older men and younger women — have doubled in recent years to represent nearly one-fifth of Japan's $1-billion-a-year adult film business. Recently, Tokuda sat down at the offices of an adult film company to discuss life as one of Japan's most veteran porn stars. Dressed in a blazer and casual shirt, he's a slight man — about 5-foot-3, 140 pounds — who wears dentures and has a small but meandering Mikhail Gorbachev-type scar atop his balding head. The Tokyo native was working in the travel promotion industry when he became a fan of order-in room porn flicks. Too shy to frequent adult movie stores, he tracked down the producers of his favorite DVDs. "At 59, I secretly hoped they would offer me some sort of senior discount," he recalls. Tokuda befriended the firm's producers, one of whom made him a proposition over drinks: Tokuda had a "lascivious" face and was invited to try his hand at adult films. In his first scene, filmmakers reduced the number of extras so Tokuda would feel less uncomfortable getting naked. His shyness quickly vanished along with his clothes, and he began slipping away from out-of-office travel company meetings to play porn actor. But after a 2005 stroke (not on the set, he says), he was moved to a desk job by his travel agency. With no opportunity to slip out unnoticed, he retired — not from porn but from the travel industry. The rest, as they say, is Japanese porn history. Tokuda is now a brand name, with many projects bearing the Shigeo Tokuda moniker. A recent installment in his "Forbidden Elderly Care" series has been advertised with such slogans as "Don't Be Ashamed of Getting Old!" and "Lust Is Medicine." Tokuda isn't sure whether he's Japan's oldest male porn actor, but he acknowledges that a few of his biggest competitors — one 90, the other in his 70s — have recently passed away. He's even recognized in public, such as the night two men followed him into a restaurant restroom to ask for his autograph. Tokuda later invited them for a drink with him and his wife. "It's not that I'm proud, but it feels nice to be useful," he says. "My wife is glad that at my age I've still got someplace to go." Other stories: Robonaut 2 aspires to fill in for astronauts This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Indianapolis Cultural Trail already paying off - Indianapolis Star Posted: The Indianapolis Cultural Trail has garnered national attention for revitalizing public spaces and creating connections among neighborhoods. / Matt Kryger / The StarTrail artPlans for the final three sections of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail include several pieces of public art: » Lincoln and King: Prominent gardens will honor President Abraham Lincoln and civil rights pioneer the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. along Washington Street. Lincoln's will be at the Capitol Avenue intersection and King's at Pennsylvania Street. They will be part of the Glick Peace Walk, which includes 10 gardens honoring 12 luminaries along Walnut Street. » Bus shelters: "Moving Forward" will feature three bus shelters -- each carrying the text of a poem by an Indianapolis poet -- on the south side of Virginia Avenue near Lexington Avenue, McCarty Street and Woodlawn Avenue. The shelters were designed by Indianapolis-based architect Donna Sink. » Sculpture: New York artist Fred Wilson's 15-foot sculpture, planned for the northeast corner of Delaware and Washington streets near the City-County Building, is controversial. "E Pluribus Unum" would replicate the figure of a shirtless and shoeless African-American male from the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, replacing a broken chain in his hand with a flag showing abstract symbols of the African Diaspora. Trail officials plan more meetings to gauge community sentiment. Source: Indianapolis Cultural Trail This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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