Tricked Japanese porn actors unmask truth

Young, pretty and looking for stardom, Saki Kozai thought she had found her ticket to fame after an apparent model scout spotted her on a Tokyo street and offered her a job.

Then just 24 years old, she quickly signed a deal with the agency he introduced her to, believing that she would soon star in promotion videos.

In fact, it was not a modelling agency, and on her first day Kozai discovered the job required her to have sex on camera.

“I couldn’t take off my clothes. All I could do was cry,” she said, adding that she saw no way out of the situation.

Kozai, now 30, is among a growing number women who are stepping out of the shadows to say they were forced to work in Japan’s multi-billion-dollar porn industry.

Adult films are widely available in Japan, which has a relatively liberal attitude towards pornography. But the industry’s dark side is rarely discussed, nor are the rights of those who work in it.

Accusations that women were made to perform in sometimes ‘brutal’ sex scenes on film against their will, prompted the industry to issue an unprecedented apology and promise change.

The surprise mea culpa followed the June arrest of three Tokyo talent agents, accused of forcing a woman to appear in more than 100 pornographic videos. Like Kozai, the unnamed woman also thought she would be modelling.

Critics say porn recruiters trick young women — including minors — with promises of stardom.

Agencies keep them stuck with threats, intimidation and fraudulent contracts.

Japanese non-profit group Lighthouse, which works to stop human trafficking, said more than 60 actresses trying to escape the business contacted them in the first half of 2016 — well above previous years.

“And we think this is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Lighthouse spokeswoman Aiki Segawa.

Kozai is now mulling legal action against her former agency. “If I can become an example, other girls who face these kinds of problems might be saved,” she said.