The Japanese adult film industry gets together to stop HIV/ AIDS

by Chris MaGee

The Pow-Wow blog doesn't normally report on the Japanese adult film industry. Genre films? Yes. Experimental animation? Sure. We're open to pretty much anything; but even though it is technically "Japanese" and "film" we have to be selective because that "adult" part can end up opening a whole can of worms and the blog could turn into a strictly 18+ kind of site. That being said The Tokyo Reporter ran a story at the beginning of month about a telethon put on by Japanese porn broadcaster Paradise TV for a very worthy cause.

Each year the station clears their regular programming schedule to host "24-Hour TV: Eroticism Saves the Earth", a fund-raising drive where the proceeds go to HIV/ AIDS prevention, education, and hopefully one day a cure. Okay, they do this by having porn stars offer a squeeze of a bare breast for ¥1,000 and having a panel of phone operators on hand who'll do more than put you down for a donation; they'll have phone sex with you. Hey, it's safe sex, I guess.

But really, the telethon is no joke. Last year "24-Hour TV: Eroticism Saves the Earth", which is sponsored by the Japan Foundation for AIDS Prevention, brought in ¥2 million ($20,477.92 Canadian) in donations. Not bad for a country where HIV/ AIDS is still a bit of a taboo subject and it's estimated that only 25% of people regularly use condoms. Thankfully Japan has one of the lowest percentage per population of reported cases of HIV infection (roughly 0.1%), but that's still 13,778 people, and frankly, the folks running this telethon are on the front lines of the pandemic.

So no, you won't see a lot of coverage of the Japanese adult film industry on the blog, but for this we'll gladly make an exception.