I. AV in general

"AV" is the term used in Japan for adult video. It doesn't stand for adult video, that's just what it is called. Videos contain hardcore sex, but mosaic censoring is used to "cover" the genitals. Japanese law says you can't show genitalia. I don't know why. This is the biggest complaint of most people regarding Japanese videos. It doesn't bother me one bit; I never cared much for close ups anyway. But if close-ups of insertions and such are your thing, you should probably try something else.

Another big difference between US porn and AV is that most of the videos focus on one girl. She will do two or three sex scenes within the confines of the story, if there is one. Occasionally, the video will include a solo scene or rarer still a lesbian scene tossed in. This is the formula most all companies follow, especially with the "stars,." who are called "idoru" or AV idols. I'm not really sure what makes an idoru beyond her being proclaimed so by her PR, but in general they are the cutest girls in the business.

Another common device is the "documentary" style video. There is no doubt that Ed Powers was influenced by Japanese AV, especially in his "Bus Stop" days. Most of the new girls break into the business this way, being interviewed by the director-cameraman. The documentary can extend beyond mere interviews into following the women through their lives.

The major producer of vids is Kuki Japan, which has under it's umbrella several production companies. They tend to get the best looking women and have the highest production values. Kuki also does fund independent and soft core movies for general release. The next biggest company is probably Soft on Demand. They are what is called an "indie" producer, and independent producer (not, presumably, under Kuki Japan or Cinemagic). There is another big company called Cinemagic. They specialize in esoteric video, SM, bondage, and some lesbian themes. They also do the kind of work that can be shown edited for pay cable networks like Sky TV. Very little of their stuff is available outside Japan. Dream Mill Maker is a distributor for a large number of "indies," labels that are small and produce a small number of tapes that are for sale only. There seems to be hundreds of indie labels, Mr President, Waap, U and K, , Janes, the list is rather mind boggling. Very unlike the system we have here where we have a lot of videos produced and distributed by a relative few companies.

The indie labels are like indie record labels in that they specialize often times. They are like "amateur" productions like Channel 69 stuff (amateur vids in Japan are really amateur, like something you might buy through some woman's web site). SOD produces a wide variety of videos and some soft core "Girls Gone Wild" type stuff. Janes specializes in soft core and lesbian vids, and so on. One company might make a series of four vids on the same theme and disappear. If the series is successful it might go on for a few years. There are WAY more videos produced in Japan than there are in the states. The sheer number of labels out there is mind boggling. Of course that means some lame product, not every video contains a gorgeous babe. Actually, being "cute" is more important than being a knockout or sexy in JAV.

There are a lot of things you can find among AV that you wont find in the US; rape fantasy, bestiality, girls in school uniforms (not the bobby socks/high heeled platforms uniforms they seem to wear on the West Coast US), twin sisters having sex with EACH OTHER, etc. Contrary to rumor, a girl must be 18 to make vids in Japan. If you know anything about kiddie porn in Japan don't tell me about it. I don't want to know. I would bet my autographed Bangles album that those bestiality vids won't make it through customs. You're welcome to try.

II. Lesbian AV

Japan is considered a somewhat homophobic culture. Gay men have high media visibility, but are generally seen as deviant or subject to ridicule. However, many ancient men in the ruling class had young boys as lovers outside their traditional family relationship. Lesbianism is considered completely abnormal by the mainstream. There is no translation of "lesbian" in the language; the word "rezu-bi-n" is used (usually shortened to rezu). Women generally had no choice or power in sexual relationships (which brings to mind an interesting thought in comparing straight sex JAV to lesbian JAV; the men in straight vids rarely allow, for whatever reason, aggression or assertiveness in the women. So in lesbian JAV, one or both women can be assertive).

What is interesting in this light is that there is no couples culture in Japan as there is in the West. Husbands have their friends, wives have theirs. So one would think that there was more opportunity for lesbian relationships to develop extra-martially, and this would be reflected in fiction and erotica. But it isn't. There are no Unfaithful Lesbian Wives themes (but there should be!). Some women talk of having something similar to the "lesbian in college" syndrome that women began to talk about in the states, that is, having a girlfriend is something done while a kid, but then you grow up and take adult responsibilities. Nor does having sex with another women necessarily mean you are a lesbian or bi to Japanese women (Japanese people don't really like to talk about themselves or define themselves as something outside the norm). In a couple of very popular animated series, girls have had open lesbian relationships ( though they were edited to Xena/Gabby like suggestiveness for the US import version).

So in this context you have lesbian adult video in Japan. Such themes were rare in JAV, or kept to the province of the indie or underground companies. Often the word "abnormal" was used in the titles for lesbian video. Now, however, seeing the mid 90's lesbian chic and the success of g/g video in the US, more is being produced. Still, compared to the huge numbers of b/g vids, the numbers are quite small. Also, as I've mentioned earlier, it is very rare to find a lesbian scene within a JAV storyline.

The biggest difference between JAV and US made lesbian videos is the lack of industry stars who make them. Very few AV idols make them, and when they do it is toward the end of their careers. Some stars (Eve, Anna Kazuki, Ririka Komuro, Ram Nagase) have done them as part of a mainstream video. Of course in the US it is nearly the opposite; almost all the performers do g/g. So if you're hoping to find Bunko Kanazawa or Azumi Kawashima or the like in a lesbian video or scene, good luck. If you have . . . tell me about it!

Now, you're probably asking why I should endure censoring, a language barrier, and maybe lots of money in postage to watch some Japanese women get all squishy with each other. Why don't I just rent "Slant-eyed Sluts Who Lick Slits" at the corner shop? Weeeelllll, 1) Almost all titles of US released Asian theme porn are too stupid to be seen renting and borderline racist. 2) With Lezlove.com starting to stock titles the postage wont be THAT bad, and 3) It's a whole new world, different than what you're used to and new faces and bodies to enjoy.

The good things about JAV and JAV lesbian vids in particular: High technical quality. Rarely does one have to worry about poor lighting or orange tinted picture or some of the problems that crop up in some US stuff. You rarely have some cameraman/director trying to get a cheap feel and totally destroying the voyeuristic aspect of watching the women. You get a wider range of product; that is, you don't suffer to the whim of whatever trend is popular. There are lots of different themes, lots of variety, the directors use their imagination and come up with interesting situations that they wouldn't (or sometimes couldn't) do in the US. Or, you can get a compilation tape for a large overview. You get more realism, which can be.

A bad thing about JAV lesbian tapes is that occasionally you can get a tape where the women are obviously not into other women, or at least don't do a good job of pretending. The desire of the Japanese consumer to preserve the voyeuristic aspect of porn sort of dictates that the director doesn't try and alter too much the action as it proceeds. Sometimes the women are rather timid initially and later they warm to the task. Sometimes they don't warm to it. But the typical AV director demands an orgasm from the performers, which is probably why vibrators are used so profusely. Another weakness in my opinion is that so many tapes end with the girls riding the double headed vibrator. I really have a hard time believing that all these women reach orgasm at the same time every time, so it is kind of cool when one woman finishes and the other is still going. Often the double header is substituted for with the strap-on, especially when there is some kind of power relationship implied (which I'll explain).

The "seduction" theme seems to be the most popular theme in lesbian JAV. The older girl ("sempai," "oneesan") will seduce a younger girl or the younger girl will admit to having a crush on the elder. Next is the First timer theme; a director will get two women together, one or both of whom have never had sex with another woman. Next is nampa or get, meaning "girl-hunt," or "pick-up," where a woman goes out on the Tokyo streets to find someone to have sex with on camera. Then there is "chikan" or molester style, girls getting felt up by other girls in a public place like a train. Finally there are the more US style vids which mimic the Vivid/Wicked all girl series. There are also other common fetishes mixed in with lesbian vids like gang bang, orgies, scat, bondage, rape, etc.

As with b/g AV in Japan, the most popular type of g/g it seems are the school uniform, or burusera themes. Two girls in their high school uniform together. This may be offensive to some western eyes (but for private schoolboys like me it is really nice). The Office Lady (which can be sales women or secretaries, apparently any job where you wear pantyhose) theme is a strong second. There are also nurses, "race queens," meter maids, flight attendants, brides . . . this is called kosupure, or costume play, and is as popular in straight vids as in lesbian.

Vibrators are used more often in JAV than in US vids. This goes for both b/g and g/g. They aren't of the variety you've come to expect through the extreme US stuff with giant three foot long, six inch wide dildos and double penetrations. They are usually tiny pocket rockets for direct clitoral stimulation. So even if the girls aren't really into the lesbian sex, you will be guaranteed someone will orgasm, which can kind of make up for a lackluster performance. Some companies insist on the "no orgasm without penetration" theme catering perhaps to the male ego so it will be rare to see a video from some companies where the women don't use sex toys of some kind.

III. Who Does What?

These are just a few of the many many companies out there. These are the companies I am familiar with or that have a reputation regarding lesbian video. I'll list a web site if available. These sites will not be in English, but perhaps you can find some nice eye candy. The product is rotated often so they wont have their entire catalogue on line sometimes. We will begin carrying all of these lines as we expand our inventory here on LezloveVideo.

Dream Mill Makers distributes a great number of Indie productions and the glut of the lesbian theme AV. Their product has ranged from lesbian gang bang to a series where a woman wears a male wig and a suit to incest. They really specialize in the "first time amateur" style, though they do release some storyline vids.

Janes-JMS specializes in lesbian vids. It is mostly schoolgirl and office lady stuff with seduction themes. They seem to be quite successful, though I haven't seen any.

Cinemagic (they have a site which is near impossible to navigate for the kanji challenged) produces several lesbian vids under the Lilies label. Storylines and high quality videography are their strengths. Idoru like Junko Asamiya, Yuki Tsukamoto and Shinobu Hosokawa have worked for CineMagic. They also specialize in SM and bondage and of course some of their lesbian themes are SM.

Kuki Japan ( is increasing the number of lesbian vids and has an all girl series called Finger Lesbian that is supposed to star "real" lesbians. I've only seen clips from this one and I would like to see others since the company is the biggest in the business in Japan. The famous, long time AV star "Eve" has also done some good lesbian tapes for Kuki. The almost all the big names in JAV have worked for KUKI or one of their subsidiaries. Kuki's Tank produced Lesbian Flea Market which is available at lezlove.com. Within their major productions they do sometimes include random lesbian scenes. They also did one of the early all girl tapes by a major company. The series was called Triangle Lesbian, and featured Ryo Hitomi, who was very big in the mid/late 90's. Here's hoping they do some compilation DVDs as Cinemagic has done. They do have an English language subscription site that offers streaming video. It's worth the heavy price for a month or two with high band Internet connection, but you'd probably rather spend your money here. As far as providing information on new releases goes it is weak as the English site is about five months behind the main site.

U&K has two long running lesbian series, Deep Lesbian and Sempai's Request. They used to have a site but it seems they've changed providers. I know they're still in business because they released a few new videos last month.

Soft On Demand ( has two directors that do lesbian themes, Tohjiro, who does SM/bondage/style, and Chie Sugiwara, a real cute girl who did the Deep Kiss series and the later parts of the First Time Lesbian series (some of which are available at this site). SOD may be the second most successful in JAV. Their big star Kurumi Morishita has done a lesbian/SM tape for them. Warning, she lets another woman urinate in her mouth in this one. I've seen clips, though, and it looks good. Chie-san also directed a video shot in Hawaii probably while filming a Deep Kiss vid . . . it was available then it disappeared. It looked really good and it was supposed to introduce a really cute B-level AV girl Rumi Shirakawa to lesbian sex.

Flying Dragon takes JAV idols of waning popularity and gets them to do a lesbian tape in their Love X Love Lesbian series. I'm dying to see my favorite Yuri Komuro in her version. It is directed by another AV actress who is bisexual.

Aroma has done a lot of tapes in their "Yuri" line that I would like to see but their stuff is not available here and is expensive. They also do the extreme fetishes like scat and enemas. They also do some "first timers" stuff and from what I can make out of their web site they really are first timers paired with an experienced woman. If I am not mistaken they even have a woman who picks up a "paydate" girl! Interesting to say the least. Now they have their own version of Deep Kiss style videos except that the action is not spontaneous and is focused on one couple.

Most of the stuff I've seen is from DMM, Cinemagic, U&K and Kuki. I've also got some stuff from Momotaro and V&R Planning, which used to have the Hardcore Lesbian from Head to Foot series.

Good stuff: U&K's Sempai's Request was the first and IMO one of the best. The girls are almost always cute, too cute, and the sex is great, no vibrators or toys in the volumes I've seen, lots of kissing.

DMM released Apenza, which is an OL/seduction theme was a winner. There are 8 in the series, I've seen four, and three were really good. Their E Cup Lesbian and Lesbian Maker series are of the "first timer" type and are really nice even though a few aren't first timers. Both of these were edited and released uncensored as part of Samurai video's Pearl Diver's series. The indie stuff can be a little formulaic. The two girls will be interviewed, each will have a masturbation scene, then kiss, a little oral, vibrator play, double headed vibrator ride, the end. Even in tapes that call for "acting" and no interview or masturbation, this pattern will sometimes be followed. It can get a little boring if you see one after the other of these kind of tapes.

Cinemagic's stuff is high quality and of what I've seen the sex is good as well. It can get a little weird at times, but that's what makes the company stand out.

There's so much other stuff that looks as if it might be great, but not being in Japan and not being able to rent makes it difficult to judge by covers. If you have limited resources you might not want to risk paying big for something and being disappointed. But this is what I want to save you from!

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