Covering the first adult convention ever held in Japan, the Adult Treasure Expo (ATE), was an assignment I could not turn down. So, when HotMovies.com offered me the opportunity to explore the fetish and sex scene in Japan, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime.

Japanese Sex Clubs

I flew into Osaka first, where I had the opportunity to visit three different S/M bars: Mistress Midori’s club Doma, Mistress Dahlia’s Visona Visari, and Club Piss, owned by Mistress Saki. These intimate little clubs are more for socializing than for play, and are a version of the “hostess clubs” that are popular all over Japan. The Mamasans and their attending hostesses were quite willing to pose for some photos, but unfortunately the clubs were slow and there were no performances. Most fetish clubs in Japan seem to have a “no photo” policy, so unfortunately my photos are limited.

The largest fetish community in Japan is a group called the Tokyo Kink Society (TKS). I met Charm, the founder of TKS, while in Tokyo. Unfortunately, I was a month early for the Japan Fetish Ball, held by TKS and billed as the ultimate fetish party in Japan, but Charm was kind enough to invite me to join him and his slave to visit club Beauty & Beast, a happening bar in downtown Tokyo. The happening bar is similar in most ways to a swingers club, however happening bars will allow in single people while most swingers bars only allow couples. There are an estimated 50 such clubs in Tokyo. Inside club Beauty & Beast, there were a number of rooms open for couples to play, including a fairly large dungeon area that was stocked with an array of floggers, whips, rope, and bondage furniture. A rack of costumes stood against one wall, where guests were free to try on one of the many costumes available for a little cosplay. The general rule was reported to be “anything goes,” but it seemed to be a slow night with very little action.

Japanese Porn

The Japanese porn industry is a lesson in contradiction. While Japanese pornography is considered by some to be the most bizarre and in some cases disturbing porn in the world, archaic laws that date from the latter half of the 19th century during the Meiji era are still in effect, forcing adult filmmakers to censor adult content with mosaics covering male and female genitalia. From Lolicon and Junior idol and the obsession with young girls, to Chikan (groping women on trains), diaper play, beastly love, rape scenes, and an infinite range of niche-specific fetishes, the Japanese taste for unusual porn seems to be insatiable. The Japanese are also known for their exquisitely animated cartoons (Hentai) that can portray anything from tentacle sex to bondage to incest. The strict censorship laws are designed to protect the public from material considered to be “injurious to public morals.” Adult production companies are required to place mosaic filters over any trace of human genitalia (dogs and other animals are remarkably excluded from this requirement). This is a painstakingly tedious process which I witnesses in person being applied frame by frame by a very patient editor. As long as the male and female genitalia are covered, Japanese productions fall within the confines of the law. Interestingly, the anus is excluded from this provision because it is part of the digestive tract and not considered to be a sexual organ. Until 1991, the entire pubic region, including pubic hair, was deemed obscene and unpublishable; however, now pubes are acceptable. For a very thorough article on the history and laws regarding Japanese porn, refer to the Wikipedia article here.

The Adult Treasure Expo (ATE)

From the S/M bars, happening bars, and the adult stores in the Akihabara district in Tokyo, we move to the Adult Treasure Expo where I was on assignment for HotMovies.com. My purpose at the expo was to meet with (and open the door to establish relationships with) some of the largest adult studios in Japan, including Soft on Demand, Wanz, and Warp entertainment to name a few. My partner Lady Venus arrived in Tokyo the evening before the expo and photographed the convention while my friend and translator Rik and I met with various studios. We’ve been to a lot of adult conventions in the past three years, but we were unsure what to expect at the ATE in Tokyo. With over 110,000 tickets having been pre-sold, we had expected the convention hall to be filled, and we were right. Unlike many of the other conventions we have attended, the ATE was billed as an adult convention rather than a porn convention. What’s the difference? There was more than just porn and sex toys at this venue. Some booths focused on AIDS awareness, condom education, female genital mutilation, medical care, and contraception. Most of the expo consisted of Japanese businesses; however, some friends from the US also put in an appearance, as they were also eager to learn about the Japanese sex industry. Adult film star Tera Patrick and her husband Evan Seinfeld sat at the booth next to us, and adult distributors and producers such as Caballero and Passion Pictures were close by. Japanese sex toys also occupied a large portion of the event. Japan has a major sex toy industry, estimated to be worth some four trillion yen (34 billion dollars) a year. While men are far more frequent buyers of sex toys in Japan, obvious by the many varieties of love dolls that ranged from plastic blow-up dolls to realistic rubber girlfriends that were scattered throughout the show floor. Japanese women weren't left out either, as there were plenty of colorful vibrators to choose from of all shapes and sizes. One of the more interesting toys was the Virtual Hole Takumi. This toy is shaped like a bowling pin and is attached to a PC by a USB cable. The man then inserts his member into the bowling pin and starts running the supplied adult video, featuring a naked young woman writhing and groaning, on the computer. It's here that Virtual Hole Takumi starts to get really good. The toy adjusts its movements depending on the actions of the woman on the screen, or remotely by a real-time user. It's possible to recreate slightly different actions, such as when a woman uses her mouth or hand on the male end of a phallic shaped wand, the pleasure given to the user is an accurate simulation of the real thing.

On the last day of the show, Lady Venus had a chance to do a little exploring in the Harajuku district and get some shots of the some of the street performers. Shots from the street are also in the gallery. Considering it was the first year, the convention went smoothly. Even Boys II Men made an appearance, performing for an AIDS benefit on the main stage on the last day of the expo. As the Japanese adult industry seeks to expand beyond its borders, we anticipate that the Adult Treasure Expo 2007 will continue to grow.

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Click here to see the entire Adult Treasure Expo photo galleries.