Once only the domain of those with peculiar proclivities, she-male flicks have hit Japan’s mainstream, according to Weekly Playboy (2/11).
“Our New Half (transsexual) DVDs sell real well. We’ve even got a special corner set up for them,” a spokesman for Ramutara Akihabara, a major retailer of erotic movies, tells Weekly Playboy. “Up until a few years ago, these movies only sold among diehard fans and most of the makers were cheap and sleazy independent firms. The movies themselves usually sold for more than 10,000 yen apiece and it was mostly older people with a bit more money who bought them. Now, though, you can buy them for the same price as a normal adult movie, at around 2,000 yen or thereabouts. Now, more younger people are inclined to buy them.”
Masaya Ito, arguably Japan’s foremost maker of movies featuring transsexuals, says the new-found popularity of the genre is not just about price.
“Most of the New Half movies that came out until recently were clearly tacky and were made like they were dealing with some kind of perversion,” he says. “Packaging on recent movies, though, is all about making the stars look like wonderful women. And that has made them more accessible to fans.”
Ito says the main star of the she-male world is a performer called Miruku Aima.
“Miruku Aima is notable because she wanted to be a female right from the time she was a little girl, but she still hasn’t had her body fixed up yet. She’s still got all her male parts, but to be as absolutely feminine as she is while only taking not much more than female hormones is extremely rare,” Ito says. “There are some trannies who want to become like Miruku and others who are more than happy with what they’ve got and flaunt it as well.”
Japanese porn legend Taka Kato, who appears in moves together with Aima, is not surprised by the sudden rise of the she-male.
“Transsexuals obviously have different bodies, but there’s something even more womanly about them than real women,” Kato tells Weekly Playboy. “They have this voice inside them that tells them, ‘I am a woman, even if I don’t look exactly like one.’ It’s a unique charm.” (By Ryann Connell)
（Mainichi Japan） February 5, 2008
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