Considering that a sizeable number of AV actresses in Japan are scouted, is there any reason in particular why you think Rina would necessarily have been coerced into the AV industry?
It's a possibility. It's also possible, for example, that she could've been coerced into joining AKB48 if she has for example, those over-obsessive parents who push their children to join junior beauty pagaents. As my post indicated, I acknowledge that it may have been her own choice entirely, but the possibility that she was coerced to some degree, is plausible.
And why must her parents consider committing seppuku?
That was a joke. :defeat:
Is it impossible for Japanese families to have fights/disagreements like normal families anywhere else?
Of course not, it would be delusional and/or extremely ignorant to suppose that they do not.
While being an AV actor/actress isn't a highly regarded profession in Japan (as anywhere else), the concept of it being (psychologically) degrading is something you project onto it (and we owe such beliefs largely to Western religion). What you assume "must" be degrading to a person may not be degrading at all, in their own mind.
There is no disagreement here, I did not, and did not intend to make any of the contentions you have raised issue with. It's something societies and cultures project unto the minds of its denizens, which is what I wrote. And that she further could have no issues with it is entirely possible, it's true.
To many AV actresses, the industry is an easy way to earn a little extra money, and no worse to their body/mind than clubbing and having casual sex with strangers.
But see I'm one of the millions of persons who find the prospect of "clubbing and having casual sex with strangers" to be evidently self-destructive, conclusively irrational, and immeasurably pernicious to contemplate. Again,
this is only my individual view of how healthy and fulfilling this lifestlye would be for myself and many other people, I acknowledge that
there may be many people who could flourish and find happiness with such lifestyle choices.
I also fully and unconditionally acknowledge that people of course can make their own choices and have their own reasoning and all rights to do what they wish in that regard, the same with people who choose to smoke cigarettes or ride without a seatbelt or eat lots of red-meat. Varied circumstances and beliefs lead to varied conclusions.
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Also, I fail to see why enjo-kousai would have any correlation. Enjo-kousai isn't even prevalent in Japan, period.
Even the existence of the media debacle though, will have instilled the societal consciousness with the idea that there are students who sell their bodies for money. The societal awareness of this behavior (regardless of its debatable prevalence) is what I intended to write about, and what possible effects this might have on the paradigms younger individuals hold with regards to the perception of sex. I do not have comprehensive knowledge, nor do I presume to be authoritative on the subject of Enjo-Kousai.
It exists, but typical "underage sex" among teenagers is far more pervasive than the occurance of enjo-kousai.
Alas, I agree, from what many sources report it seems like many Japanese youth are becoming as promiscuous as Parisians. I'm not sure what long-term effects this may have on Japanese society though.
When you talk about the "proliferation of enjo-kousai", you're really talking about the proliferation of foreigners' fascination with the concept of enjo-kousai.
Actually as I wrote earlier, I was referring to media reporting (sensationalist or otherwise) of the phenonmenon. But certainly it's true that gaijin are infinitely interested in Enjo-Kousai.
It's callous to take a general perspective (eg: on AV having "permanent psychological effects"), analyze a single case, and expect a predetermined outcome as if no AV actress has ever been capable of leading a normal life after their involvement in the industry.
Any career will have permanent psychological effects, as for the other issues, I did not imply, and did not mean to imply any of them. As far as I know it is entirely possible for an AV actress to have a "normal" life after their tenure.
And I think resorting to addages of "wacky Japan" (seppuku, enjo-kousai, etc) is simply disingenuous and inappropriate.
The first (Seppuku) was a joke, and the second (Enjo-Kousai) was miscommunicated.
In one fell swoop you've denied Rina the courtesy of being human (youthful desire, foolishness, self-confidence, and any other emotion other normal AV actresses feel), and reduced her family's burden to mere tabloid fodder.
I did not deny that Rina is human in any capacity, I only cited the possibility that there may have been coercion involved, although "her family's burden" as you put it, is certainly tremendous tabloid fodder. As I indicated earlier, a large part of why I wrote these posts is because I felt concern for her, and hoped she was not coerced into anything. Granted these concerns of mine won't do anything to help anyone, but they compelled me to post.
Not sure if you're looking for some sort of vindication, but if you are actually interested in news, you may find my previous posts in this thread (concerning her presumed involvement in AV) enlightening.
Thank you, I'll go check it out right now. Thanks for responding to my questions.
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Ok, I've read the entire thread, and especially noticed your post here:
And being an independent musician is even harder. Frankly, AKB members (and most pop idol girls) don't earn all that much money. Enough to survive in Tokyo with a little extra to play once in a while, but not enough to secure a career. And composing by herself is a joke; she'd have to go to school and take classes on music composition, considering how all of that was done for her when she was in AKB.
Although we will never know the real reason why Rina went JAV, it most likely has to do with how, when she moved to Tokyo to be in AKB, she often felt lonely and therefore was impressionable to an extent. And how she seemed to really enjoy the popularity and living in Tokyo, and probably had some aversion to giving it up and returning home. And by her own admission of losing her virginity to a random AKB staff, her comfort with her own sexuality.
On that last sentence, just to be a "devil's advocate" here, the possibility completely exists though, that she may have been intimidated, or was drugged, or drunk, or simply talked into going out and then manhandled to a hotel. It's possible that this "staff member" may have made promises to influence her career positively, or threaten it decisively.
All of this is speculation but all of it is plausible. I personally certainly hope that the possibilities I brought up did not occur, and that you, guy, are correct, i.e. that she grew comfortable with her own sexuality.
As a side note though, it's positively heart-breaking to me the idea that a girl would give her virginity to some "random" guy (although I certainly understand it happens countless times everywhere every single freaking day), as opposed to someone she really liked or perhaps even loved. Hopefully the word "random" is not actually entirely appropriate here, and she did at least like the guy or there was no coercion involved. But as you wrote, we will never really know.
Since Rina really wasn't popular enough to get other jobs in entertainment, JAV probably seemed like an easy way for her to keep her pop idol lifestyle.
I find the assertion that "JAV" would ever seem "easy" to be dubious. As far as I know a choice like this may easily be one of the most tremendous and affecting choices (whether positive or negative) an individual can make in their life, that is, whether to prostitute themselves.
It's clear, guy, that you've contributed decisively to this thread, and any further updates would be greatly appreciated. It would just be one of those little things that makes the world seem just slightly less horrible if there was more info forthcoming that she made this choice without significant external coercion.