J-Mate

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

Translated by Ex-S Woo

Interviewer: You've been called the Queen of AV in the 1990s. What do you recall from those days?

Sally: Not all good. Every day busy with stripping and AV. Alcohol was a stress reliever. I would drink 96-proof vodka and be throwing up at the video shoot the next day.

Interviewer: So you haven't really quit stripping?

Sally: Huh? Not at all. I have been doing it all along.

Interviewer: That puts you on both the stage and the video set. Impressive. But you took two years off from your AV career.

Sally: It would really be a pain in the ass to do stripping and AV at the same time. I didn't have a month of vacation for a year. I would be all tired out and end up not being able to do either.

Interviewer: That is an easy to understand reason.

Sally: After skipping two video shoots, I thought they would never use me again. The fees really hurt.

Interviewer: Just like a breach of contract. Did you have to pay the penalties out of your pocket?

Sally: Yeah.

Interviewer: How much?

Sally: I skipped two videos. It was about 2 million yen in all.

Interviewer: Ooh! That must have hurt.

Sally: My managing office paid some of it though.

Interviewer: So that is why you chose stripping?

Sally: I have been dancing for years. That is more fun.

Interviewer: So you have been doing it for a while?

Sally: Yeah. Everyone seems to hate stripping. Girls nowadays quit right away. I never thought of quitting, and I like it a lot.

Interviewer: What dancing did you do?

Sally: I started with figure skating at three. My dad was on a skate team.

Interviewer: Your dad? Really?

Sally: I was figure skating and roller skating from when I was really little.

Interviewer: Was your dad touring overseas or something?

Sally: I don't know about that. My dad had lots of pictures, though.

Interviewer: So your parents were really into sports?

Sally: That's why I went to a school that emphasized athletics for high school.

Interviewer: Your entry into athletic high school..

Sally: Uhm, I did new gymnastics. I did it for my figure skating. Girls doing figure skating end up doing ballet or things like that. You have to keep your body limber. I did modern ballet for two years but couldn't get into it. It was just too demanding that your form was pretty. I was good, but didn't like it.

Interviewer: Your body's figure doesn't seem to go with figure skating, though.

Sally: My legs got pretty fat. But I quit in junior high. I didn't like the competitions. I only made it to second level, anyway.

Interviewer: You have levels in figure skating?

Sally: Of course. If you get to first level, you can go to major competitions. You don't at second level. Just practice turns and the basics.

Interviewer: When did you start rythmic gymnastics?

Sally: I was in fourth grade. I continued until my third year in high school. My school was affiliated with an athletics college. But I didn't want to go college, so I quit.

Interviewer: You were really into it.

Sally: There are girls that are really good at it and some that just suck. I eventually got tired of it. I just quit. But I did do it all through high school. There were classes I could compete in and some I couldn't.

Interviewer: I would really love to see a picture of you in leotards from when you were in junior high.

Sally: No you wouldn't. I was fat.

Interviewer: Aw, come on. You must have been cute. A model of health (laughs).

Sally: Hah, hah. I was light, but chubby. They wouldn't let me get too thin.

Interviewer: You are only 39kg. You could do with some meat on you.

Sally: I was up to like 42kg a while ago. It was years since I had been that fat.

Interviewer: Did you pick up some strange disease?

Sally: I must have been drinking too much. I thought I was gonna keep getting heavier, but a week later I was down to 40kg.

Interviewer: I bet you are weak in a fight, being so thin.

Sally: Heh, heh. I'm pretty tough, you know. I love a good fight.

Interviewer: You would take a stick over your opponent's head, huh.

Sally: I don't need a stick. I could take you down with my bare feet.

Interviewer: So you are pretty quick to get in a fight?

Sally: Not usually.

Interviewer: You were born in Tokyo, right? You seem like a typical 'Edokko'.

Sally: People tell me that a lot. I am a real 'my pace' person. I am myself, and others are themselves. I don't care what anyone else does. I only talk about myself. I have gotten better though. I can listen to about three words now. In the past I wouldn't listen at all. I was self-centered from childhood, after all. Everyone wanted to listen to me.

Interviewer: Your boyfriend must have had a hard time.

Sally: Hm? But all the boys listen to what I have to say. Or so they say. I would ask 'have you been listening to me? What did I just say?' Heh heh. And they wouldn't be listening after all. So I would say I hate them and break up.

Interviewer: Doesn't seem like a fun relationship (laughs).

Sally: Ah ha ha. I know I am self-centered. I sometimes don't like myself, either.

Interviewer: Your profile says your first time was in your third year of high school. I hear you have had 150 guys and your were doing it all the time when you were busy with club activities.

Sally: But in my third year of high school, it was right before graduation so I didn't do it much. I didn't even have a boyfriend before turning 18.

Interviewer: Then who did you do it with?

Sally: I did 'enjo-kosai' a lot. It is like business, enjo-kosai is.

Interviewer: Your first time was really unusual. 'In a park with a 40-ish man.'

Sally: Hah, hah. Yeah. He was a talent company producer.

Interviewer: They say that if you want to get into show business, ya gotta sleep with someone.

Sally: That's right, that's right!

Interviewer: How stupid.

Sally: My friends told me he was a dangerous guy but I managed to catch him.

Interviewer: You wanted to be in show business?

Sally: He just said 'let's do it' and it was in a park. I wondered why such an important person would have to do it in the park.

Interviewer: At least go to a love hotel (laughs).

Sally: I know. My first time and with a guy I didn't even like. I met him by chance in Ikebukuro some years later. He was dealing in gems or something now. As dangerous as ever.

Interviewer: What park was it?

Sally: Okubo park.

Interviewer: Okubo park? Right in the middle of busy Shinjuku??!!

Sally: Yeah. That big place. We did it on a bench and in the stairwell of an apartment building. Also on the grass. Right in the middle of the afternoon!

Interviewer: I didn't know anyone would do it there in the middle of the afternoon. I should go check that out sometime.

Sally: Everyone says they do it in Okubo park.

Interviewer: Did you feel like you were cheated?

Sally: I didn't care if I was a virgin or not. If I did, I couldn't do 'enjo-kosai' (paid dating).

Interviewer: Pretty straight forward.

Sally: That's right. I am really forward when it comes to money. I didn't feel anything, so why not make something out of it? I don't think I was taken advantage of. I got something out of it.

Interviewer: So most of your 150 men were 'enjo-kosai'?

Sally: No. Some of it was. Other times, I was just picked up. I don't like being picked up, though. I like to pick up the guys.

Interviewer: And what do you pick them up for?

Sally: I just want more friends.

Interviewer: Not for sex?

Sally: If that is what he wants, sure.

Interviewer: Doing it or not, either way is OK with you?

Sally: Yeah.

Interviewer: It says here you 'hate fellatio'.

Sally: I hate it. Outside of work, I have only done it to 5 or 6 guys.

Interviewer: You found your partners at telephone date clubs?

Sally: Hmm... I was with rich men. So they had no qualms with buying a girl. They would pay so much for a month and put her up in a hotel.

Interviewer: How much for a month?

Sally: Two or three hundred thousand yen.

Interviewer: I don't know if that is expensive or not.

Sally: There are lots of people like that.

Interviewer: So you make contracts with multiple guys.

Sally: That's right.

Interviewer: What is the most you make in a month?

Sally: I stopped doing that. It is prostitution, after all. There was a go-between. I would get two-hundred thousand, the other girl ten. I did a million a month once.

Interviewer: Wow. Just like you have brokers and all.

Sally: I thought that it was the best way for me. I couldn't meet any rich people otherwise.

Interviewer: Did you ride a motorcycle?

Sally: I hate those things. I was threatened by some right-wing thugs. I was scared to ride after that.

Interviewer: You were threatened by right-wingers?! (laughs)

Sally: You know, right-wingers hate tough kids. They grabbed our wooden samurai swords and knocked us down with them. I guess I lead a pretty stimulating life.

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you