Sitting down with Shibuya Kaho about her life as a writer & cosplayer

Initially, I saw I'm writing a book maybe for my fans,

mainly men.

Editor told me that he saw feminism was growing in Japan.

Okay, so maybe I get to talk about the truth.

Initially, I thought about having a manager

because if they think of you as a young woman,

you might get some attitude that you don't deserve on Twitch.

You're like, there's no way these many people are paying attention

to me at the same time.

That's why I go to events to actually make sure they do exist.

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It helps us grow and bring you new stories from life in Japan.

All right, let's jump in.

Welcome to unpacking Japan.

I'm Toby, and today I have the pleasure

to welcome Shibuya Kaho.

Thank you so much for coming.

Thank you.

Your content creator, you have been a former journalist.

You are working as a cosplayer and at cosplay exhibitions

and many more projects.

So we have so many topics to talk about today.

And like with all our guests,

I usually like to ask like, what brought them to Japan?

But the question here doesn't really work.

My mother's womb, I guess.

I was born into your word in Tokyo.

My parents, well, you find out

but they're more like kind of snobbish kind of.

Yeah, it's not really the first word

that should come out of my mouth when you describe your parents.

But kind of snobbish, but I'm posh type.

And like they were proud of the fact

that Geodaku is kind of,

Geodau word is known to be kind of a rich area.

They often refer to that place,

our first location at Ichibancho.

That's very specific.

That's very close to Emperor's Palace.

I see.

That's like Emperor's neighborhood.

I think they were very proud of that.

Well, we didn't stay at that location.

And we moved to different locations

since my brother and I, I have a bigger brother

went to private school.

It didn't really matter going anywhere in Tokyo.

So I grew up in a small village in the south of France.

What's it like growing up like close to the Emperor's Palace

in downtown Tokyo?

I was a little.

There are so many people running around,

like the practice for Marathon.

Oh, yeah.

Running on the palace is probably like a convenient room to do.

A period they have the exact same length

at the full Marathon was a half.

But there are a lot of runners around there because of that.

And they do have a running competition around there too.

Do you run yourself?

No.

So for you growing up small, the first impression

of that, oh, many runners, many people moving, very busy.

But I don't remember much from my childhood.

I hardly dare.

If you retain too many memories,

then you cannot remember new things.

Oh, really?

So you kind of have to filter out the old things

so you just have to forget.

So when do you memories really start?

When do you first important memories,

maybe at school, kind of, that you still think back about

and like this was maybe a first turning point?

I remember I was praying with mud and looked at chocolate

and I thought about eating.

I didn't.

I didn't, but it looked very appetizing.

I always nap, praying by myself.

I like me time a lot.

I like some artistic time drawing too, just reading too.

It's not like I hated people,

but I really appreciate my me time still do.

And when you're growing up in downtown Tokyo,

I imagine as well, like this me time by yourself

and your room is kind of the safest space.

Like going out is a bit difficult

when you're like in the business district.

Yeah, well, even when you're walking and on a train,

but as long as I'm by myself,

like I don't have to engage in a conversation,

I just can do whatever, even on commute

and just day dreaming.

I really like that time.

Like I hated going to school or coming back to school

with my friend, with my craftmate.

I just needed to, I don't have to compose my sort of a,

I have to have my sorry, dude.

I'm just being your own world that I don't have to choose.

Yeah, that was so special.

You mentioned you went to private school,

is this relatively common in Japan or quite unique?

I mean, you can either go to public school,

private school, right?

Some people, I'm sure you might have guests

who went to international school, like in your school.

So mine was girls only.

Oh, okay.

I went to the same school for kindergarten to high school

and kindergarten, they had a few boys,

like a very small ratio.

And it was protestant school.

So Christian, but it's not Catholic.

So not at strict with that.

So yeah, I think that's something unique.

It was in the middle of like a little pongi.

That was very odd when I started going to school

or in the morning, you see some like a drunk adult

just walking around.

The left door is from the night before.

Actually one adult, I don't know how old he was

when I was poverty in middle school,

a guy who looked like who was in maybe 20, 30s,

screamed at me, like, you should study so hard.

Like in a good way, like encouraging,

or more like a school.

I think he got some anecdotal evidence there

unless you study hard enough

that you won't have good business life, or...

What was it like to be in an all-girl school,

all the way from kindergarten to high school,

where you kind of are in this,

a little bit chilled at away, I imagine,

from the rest of Tokyo kind of always

in the same environment.

I think so, you don't have to be afraid of,

or care too much about male gaze.

When you're actually start to develop,

and you start putting on makeup,

or you start caring about your looks more,

then, yeah, again, I don't know what it's like.

Well, I started to develop, especially around my chest,

you know, definitely bigger than other Asian girls.

So that could have been a factor that I could get.

It could have had a really hard time.

But just surrounded by girls,

like, a lot of things fell free,

and no gender roles.

I mean, we did have a drama crab,

and we did some girls.

It's kind of a Takarazuka acting.

You do like a male roles too, so that was kind of fun.

When I introduced you, I said like the many things

that you are doing today,

or have done so far in your career.

When you were in high school,

and so did you already have an idea

of what you wanted to do professionally?

No, like, even getting into courage,

like, I don't know which field I should,

and you cannot really change your measure,

like in some country in the United States, for example.

If you pick one, you have to stick to it

and kind of go all the way through it.

You have to choose a bunkie, or a decay.

So basically, a bunkie is more language,

from social order, and decay is more mathematics,

or physics, or something medicine.

So yeah, I was like, I, it's not like I was bad at math,

but at the same time, it's like I wanted to continue doing that.

And I like reading so, bunkie, property,

I just match the sort of that.

Be often, say that if you're a bunkie,

then it's just too broad, it should generalize.

So what are you gonna do to be there's no speciality?

It's interesting, because in France, it's kind of the same.

We have in high school already to kind of choose

if you want to do more like a scientific pass,

or more economy pass, or more like literature.

And there's always this image that people

that go more like the literature,

what are you gonna do after you're gonna find work?

I know exactly.

I've been told the same.

I had to see, like, what kind of job are you gonna get

from literature, and to stand there?

Well, at the same time, it sound fun,

and you're gonna take classes like for four years.

But you did get a job after, actually.

You started working from the Yomiyori Shimbun,

I believe, right?

Yomiyori Shimbun was actually internship.

Okay.

That was still when I was in college.

And so I got into media because I was too curious

about everything, and I couldn't decide

which field I wanted to focus on.

But if I become a journalist,

maybe I'll have a chance to interact with people

from all different fields.

So that was the idea.

And, well, the paper media was already kind of

more abandoned at the time.

However, I went to this, a job seminar,

when you're at a sort of gray force grade.

Shushu got to go.

Shushu got to go.

When you start doing that,

you have to go to those seminars in recruits suits.

Yeah, and just, hand out your resume

to each company and kind of introduce as well.

I'm like, okay, where should I,

I wasn't sure, which table I should go.

Then there was Asaki Shimbun seminar.

And another major newspaper company,

besides Yomuyo Shimbun.

They are not, well, they've been told,

well, everyone keeps saying,

like, they are more on the right side.

I'm gonna go more.

A little bit more conservative.

Yeah, conservative.

But Asaki Shimbun, the PR person had a speech

saying, like, we make a new product every day.

Got its newspaper.

And it sounded kind of cool.

So, okay, that makes sense.

Maybe I mean, just in newspaper,

old media, but classic and traditional.

Like, maybe I can train myself there.

Oh, so when you're just starting out,

it's not really about who you are

because you don't have any experience.

But it's more about your company name.

But then you can get credited.

And people are gonna trust you.

People are gonna feel like,

maybe I can't listen to you.

So it's more about gaining credibility, I guess.

So having those big names,

either Asaki Shimbun or Yomuyo Shimbun,

kind of helps with resume.

Hapa, I went to internship at Yomuyo.

And some other students, they were like,

I want to change the world.

I want to change the society with my power of journalism.

Just writing an article that will have an impact.

I was like, okay, that's very respectful.

But that sounded too much in a way.

I wanted more of something fun and could be,

I wanted to write something, maybe comedic.

And it's not just, I never felt like

I want to change the world.

That would almost feel kind of conceited.

That's like, you have the power, that's great.

But it's something you are in.

And I think the more I can see the change of the world,

see the change of society.

I want to experience life and life outside of my own life too.

So why decided to just get into a company that's more casual

and hence the last destination for me

as a media trainee was Tokyo sports.

And the name Tokyo sports

sounds very legit, right?

In English.

They actually got a really good spot, I heard.

Not Tokyo, but Olympics, I don't think so.

Because Olympic Committee probably assign

where each media sits.

And then when you hear the word,

you're really shinbu, it doesn't make sense

because it's old Japanese.

You don't know how big they are.

It's like, you hear New York Times and,

okay, New York is big city.

Or if you're in New York Times now.

It's not like the Tokyo Times or the Osaka Times.

So you're really, what's the message?

You're very sad, unless you know

where you live in Japan, you don't know how big they are.

So they got assigned a really bad seat

and somehow Tokyo sports,

they got assigned a good seat at the Olympics.

So you got to cover sports.

Did you have like a prior interest?

You mentioned you were not particularly a runner

where you interested in,

because you ended up at the baseball desk, I think, right?

I never watched baseball before that.

So how do you approach such a job

when you're like, oh, you have to write about this.

First, you need to learn all the rules, I am right.

I know exactly.

I learned how to write a scorebook too.

I felt bad, honestly,

because this is the job that very coveted job.

Someone who died for that is one of the most popular sports

in Japan.

And it has been so for such a long time.

And actually, I interviewed Shohei Ohtani,

who was already a star at the time in Japan.

He was just graduating high school

and he initially wanted to just go straight to Majority.

You know, America, he wanted to try out.

And then the old other Japanese,

I guess, managers at the time, they try to stop

and they at least train.

They should just have more experience in Japan first

and then move to the United States.

But I just felt bad for giving such a good role

and a good opportunity because I was not interested

in baseball, not even at the hobby

or just felt like I shouldn't be the one.

Like I felt like I was just doing some of his job.

I imagine as well, a lot of the people that are in that world

probably very male dominated

and a lot of people that are like maybe hardcore friends

of baseball.

And then there's you and you kind of struggle.

You do that for two years, right?

Almost, yeah.

I think maybe with more one a year,

because you have to learn other jobs

at the company, a newspaper company,

how the newspaper is made.

You get involved in the editing,

check the sparing.

Also, like for your first year,

you go from station to station to where you're interested.

Just for actual time, right?

Did you overall, did you still enjoy

that experience working as a journalist

to kind of see the inner workings of such a big paper

and kind of, oh, how do these articles actually come out

every morning?

Definitely.

If I could actually use my strengths more,

my strengths more,

but baseball is somewhere that I cannot,

I'm going to have any knowledge.

First of all, I don't have any interest.

The kind of ball is like the only thing they like

with what I could speak English,

but that's pretty much it.

There are no stars from overseas at the time, much.

Do you get to choose a request

or I would like to focus on this part of this

or is it just like, no, no, you do baseball?

But, you know, it's Japan.

You can't say, but it's not like they're going to listen to you.

You don't have to.

Eventually for you, that meant like moving on a little bit

and kind of leaving the newspaper and trying something new.

Definitely.

It was thinking about leaving a newspaper

or leaving any company I was going to join eventually

because I wanted to be on my own.

I wanted to be known as writer, author.

I, it's not really about the topic you write about.

It's more about what you are getting

to experience different things, you know.

I wanted to title a former Tokyo sports newspaper,

the Dijonris or a reporter,

freelance, freelancer because being a woman

in the Tokyo sports or any sports newspaper company

you kind of get to stand out.

Well, you also get, not criticism,

but because, like I said, it's very male dominated

or also they can just hate you while being a woman

or they think you're getting that key because a woman.

Was it even, you mentioned earlier when I asked you

about kind of having your, your, your scholarship

in an old girl's school that you feel very protected

and that you don't have to deal with the male gaze

and that after you finish this,

you're suddenly projected into this very male domain.

Is that even more of a challenge

because you haven't necessarily dealt

with some of these reactions or sexism

that they are kind of like projecting onto you?

That was definitely hard.

That you are being judged just based on your sex

that you cannot change.

And you're not, like a male geracy,

they just feel, well, peanut butter and Jerry,

just be called your girl and they think that it's a cheating,

you're cheating because you're a woman.

And when you dress nicely, like I, like closing,

and I was just wearing like a nice trench coat,

it was not even like, I never want to chanel anything.

I think it was like maybe bobbery at most, but then,

I get comments from my male sympathies.

I think, oh, you dress nicely to,

I don't know, like entice baseball players

or they just give me like those night comments.

Like directly, like walking past you and they go,

you're a trial.

What are you here for if you're trying to get married

to a baseball player?

I don't even know any of them.

How do you deal with that in a moment?

Do you just have to be quiet and focus on your job

or do you take that and transform it into some energy

to like, no, I'm gonna show them that I can do better?

I just have to focus on work.

So, like, if I'm doing work so well

and still get comments like that,

but I was like, okay, I don't care.

Those, most of the male sympathies

who give me comments like that, they look really bad.

Like literally, it's like they have holes

in your jacket kind of things, okay?

So, okay, yeah, I don't want to look like you.

I didn't say that, just in my head.

Well, okay, compared to looking like that,

I'd rather look nice and they might think

like I'm dressing nice for somebody,

but I'm just dressing nice for myself.

And so you took yourself out of that world

and kind of continued your own path.

You wanted to be an author.

Did you know or think about what you wanted to write

about at the time?

Oh, it was just experience something interesting.

And I get to write about it with my own words.

So eventually, you entered the AV industry

a few years later.

You had a career there for I think around four years.

And you did, oh yeah, this isn't four years, but.

And then you did write a book about it.

Yes.

You did an experience and you turned that experience

into your first published book.

Exactly.

The topic everyone wants to read about.

It's like, okay, it works.

Many girls and men as well,

go into that industry.

Very few write books about it.

What was the motivation for you

to write that book in music?

Oh, so I got my book translated into another language.

And maybe one more language in the future.

Oh.

I mean, told Vietnamese Harishur approach me.

Interesting.

He hasn't, well, we, I don't know how far

they're into translating though.

But yeah, if it's going to be the second language,

that'll be fantastic.

That's awesome.

Why writing that book?

What was important for you when you, when you,

when did you decide I need to write a book that is when I was

joining the industry?

Of course, I wasn't right about it.

No.

From the beginning, I was curious.

Interesting.

The way you titled the book in Japanese

is a little bit different than the English title that it got.

Definitely.

I think the literal translation from the Japanese version

is what girls should know before entering the AV industry.

It sounds a little bit like you had those experience.

There are good things and bad things that you've experienced.

But before any girl thinks about joining,

they need to know this because you want to prevent them

from entering maybe some difficult situations.

What are those important messages that you kind of wanted

to transmit?

For a Japanese book, some, there are some books

published by written, I don't know if they actually

write or maybe the thing about some books

by Tarantain Japan, sometimes they talk.

And then they are recording it.

And there is Journalist Ritor, who is like a writing for them.

So I don't know how much.

Look at the night.

Go for as many details as you want.

I'm curious about the process.

So yeah, I've been praised for just actually writing by myself.

That's kind of weird.

Like, oh, wow, you actually write the book, right?

So not using goals Friday that you kind of tell the story to

and they write for you?

Yeah, actually my father told me that he's a physician.

He's a doctor, but he's written 20 books,

but he didn't write it because I never seen him write.

Well, he said that somebody was recording it

and listening to him.

And then hence he wrote a book.

I see, but you actually saw that your computer

or even you wrote the entire book.

So somehow it's an accomplishment.

How long did it take you?

It took a while.

I'm not a fast writer, right?

Yeah, I am working on my second book.

That's not about industry.

But I'd take in time and just making sure every word I mean it.

Yeah, it took almost a year.

I think right after I was, I started writing a little bit

before the retirement.

It was just coincidence that I got approached by publisher

and the editor.

I thought I have to get it into a book as soon as possible

because the information is still fresh.

My memories are still fresh too.

And yeah, I appreciate it.

It's been still read even in another language

and I think the professor or teacher that university

also wrote and wrote about it on a school paper or something.

It's kind of becoming a reference as well

from an understanding of the industry.

You mentioned that you were approached by the editor

and the publisher.

Is this how it normally works in Japan or?

Yes, when you try to write a proposal and submit

more so time, they reject you or papers don't sell these days.

They'll book stuff right now.

Some people might try to sell publisher

and just put it on your coffee table and feel satisfied

and that could be good too.

But that's not what you want it.

Look to be out there.

No.

Oh yeah, you mentioned like the Japanese book is four girls.

That was editor's idea.

Initially, I thought I'm writing a book maybe for my fans

or people who are interested in the industry

that's mainly men.

So I thought I should talk about something more happy

and think, oh, the good thing.

And maybe the contest bad things

or talk about it in a joking way

so that it wouldn't sound too serious or depressing.

But as soon as he told me, the editor told me,

okay, let's write a book for women

because he saw feminism was growing in Japan.

Okay, so maybe I get to talk about the truth

like it can be more like expedited.

Yeah, that was an interesting turn.

So actually initially I was writing more for male fans.

So the tone is actually very different

from this chapter to another.

So throughout the book, the direction changed a little bit

and how you wrote it.

And I think they also changed the order.

So I can't really tell.

But when I'm reading, I can tell,

okay, this part I wrote more for men.

Hence it's more even like hard emojis or.

Because there's so few people

that are able to write with insider knowledge.

Do you feel like, or did you have an opportunity

to exchange with other colleagues that you had during your career

where they curious about why you're writing

or what you're writing about?

Definitely are not people in industry right there.

And I'm pretty sure I guess some were probably furious, right?

Or not hard, but maybe offended.

Or you shouldn't talk about this

because it's gonna break both fantasies too.

Well, that was not the point.

Wait, you know, just keeping preserving the fantasies,

your job, right?

I already retired.

So I don't have to.

I can exemplify it or I.

And yeah, I was talking to, I didn't go into interview.

The can I interview you?

I'm writing a book, not something like that.

Just a lot of information I took

from just regular conversation behind the scenes

or even from events.

So I don't really name names unless like,

I got the info from the talk show

because we are both there.

And it's public, yeah.

It's public information otherwise.

Like I don't really name names.

You mentioned it might make some people angry,

but eventually you went all the way.

You wanted to write your book, you did.

And then it was even translated.

Was this planned from the start

or did kind of someone come up with the idea?

Of course, it was nice if it could get translated,

but I also knew that's not, that's out of your control.

When I got a lot of the people, Terry Medical,

I wish I could read this book in English.

So I'm glad it happened.

I saw maybe they could write more

that some of the parts I took out

because I was afraid that a lot of people

in the industry was gonna read and they did.

So I was kind of happy that I didn't write it.

Some of the shocking staff,

and I was not trying to hard anybody.

So some of the story I felt like,

oh, maybe I shouldn't mention, right?

Because the one big story I took out was director

who actually filled my debut movie.

He ran away completely, not from me,

but just disappeared.

He disappeared, yeah, he just disappeared one day,

but he was a veteran already.

He disappeared one day and he actually

had a lot of pets from now.

I never been to his place, but he explained to me,

he was a guy who talked a lot,

like during breaks, he even had a really weird chatting time

after his shoot.

He was called, well, his name and time, okay.

Like it's like a cow time, right?

And somehow he tried to have like a one-on-one conversation

with the actress at the end of the shoot.

And maybe some spiritual talk, whatever.

It just felt very funny to me.

I think, as a rumor, he was dating a lot of actresses.

That's kind of taboo.

But maybe he was trying to assess who could be easily.

This girl, I can find her emotionally manipulative.

I think he was trying to find somebody

he could emotionally manipulate.

That's why he was trying to have like talk, talk,

like hard-to-hard kind of conversation.

And he was tearing me out to have a long career

in the industry when he just disappeared,

but that's kind of funny.

Did he reappear or is he still like gone?

Honestly, I think he might have gotten killed.

I don't know, it's like it's just a guess.

He disappeared, never reappeared.

Perry, he had a lot of debt.

He was in debt.

And he didn't pay a lot of people.

He had his own company, but he took all the money

or he couldn't pay.

There was also some actress who got emotionally hurt by him.

I don't know how much is it true,

but I saw it on social media.

Some girl was tweeting.

I was like, I see a former or actress at the time.

Oh, I was gonna get married or have a knife with him.

And I went to the new property that we were gonna sign,

some kind of apartment.

Yeah, it was just empty.

And he left me something like that.

The story like this, you were like, as a writer,

maybe I should not put that in the book

because my thing is that that pretty still

was just drama.

But I, okay, so right after he disappeared

are not of videos like uncrossed or unedited.

But it's that he took as a director.

Like nothing edited at all.

Just like a row content.

And you know, you have to be mosaic in foreign in Japan.

The nothing, nothing has been edited.

That's like a total illegal content.

Just got exposed like a leak on the internet.

Suddenly.

Yeah, it's just water.

Oh, it's water.

It's such a conundrum, but we all assumed

that maybe he did it for money.

And when you sell such content,

those are also retired actresses.

You know, they were gone from the industry

and they were just trying to have a new image

or just move on in their lives.

And they're famous ones from famous agencies.

And you know, some agency that connected to Yakuza

or scary people.

That was my guess.

Like maybe he got finished or do we have to do it now?

Some shady things happening and some affecting you

as well with those videos being leaked.

You actually took action against it.

Because I always thought,

well, if somebody exposed that

and that's like a legal content,

that's not you agreed on.

If you agreed to be on it and like took money,

that's crime and some actress

got arrested for that.

But not just actresses like all the actors,

those staff members.

But then somebody doing that

and somebody is making money for it, whatever.

It feels maracious.

So I always wondered,

why don't they see what somebody should make a dose

with about it?

And you were the one.

You were the one.

Yeah, so okay.

So it happened to me.

Let's do it.

So about a year ago,

I think you did an interview at the foreign...

Yeah, if C.C.J.

Foreign correspondents.

Club of Japan.

Exactly.

And you talked about the last.

But at the time, it wasn't finished.

And you were telling me that this has now kind of concluded.

But one thing that was interesting during that interview

is, as you just said,

nobody ever really sued the industry

and you were the first one

and you were explaining that in a Japanese long system,

your case would set a precedent.

It wasn't about the money.

It wasn't about what it was about that.

Okay, there needs to be a new rule

that helps to protect the actresses

even after they retire.

So how did this case end and how did it become a precedent?

No, it ended.

Well, the legal term in Japanese is guakai.

So like agreement.

And I was offered to get paid little

just a minuscule amount.

Yes, peanuts.

Like that wouldn't even cover my legal fees.

And then instead of paying me,

it was not a compensation.

It was like just for too of the size.

They get a agree on.

They were waiting to pay me a little bit.

But because we are paying,

we don't want to talk about it.

Never talk about the topic.

Well, the reason why I'm doing this

to talk about it is I don't need that money.

So forget that money.

How much was it?

Maybe you're on too long.

That's not a half a million.

So like what, $2,500 or something?

Don't go.

At that time, I think USD was not that strong.

But something like that.

Wow.

And I paid much more for the reaction.

So it doesn't really cover anything.

But for you, it was important to make a statement

to kind of conclude this story.

And now the legal system has a precedent

and a case that kind of has been evaluated.

My case is unique because you don't know who did it.

But it is still with,

is the human company still responsible or not?

Because they hired this director.

They hired a camera man.

They hired a crew.

So it's kind of their responsibility to protect that.

So yeah, if we could figure out who did it,

that would be quite different.

But at the same time, I felt like I had a,

I joined a Zoom call too.

That was still during COVID.

So I could talk to the judge too,

not in person, but for a jury.

He felt like he said he cannot really make

the human company that responsible

because he hasn't been proven

that they are the one who did it.

However, he didn't say it, but he,

it's not going to look good if I lost, right?

If I lose, that's not going to look more good.

They kind of have to agree on settlement.

They have to accept.

Do you feel like this was an okay conclusion to the case?

Was this kind of like a small victory for you?

I mean, yes, I think it's still fine.

The worst case is like I lose.

That's going to be bad for the future,

not just with me.

That's good.

I felt kind of really, they didn't want me to lose.

So the conclusion of this law case,

the publication of your book about the industry,

in a way it's kind of like closing the chapter for you, all right?

Yes.

And kind of stepping away from that industry

and experience you had in your life.

And after that, you kind of start exploring

a lot of new things.

One of them was a cross-playing.

You know, very big in a cross-play scene.

Oh.

How did you get started into that?

I think it's because on social media,

you try to get past something every day as a parent,

especially from the industry,

you're supposed to take your selfies.

It's more about your photos than to go what you write.

But then you always look the same.

You do the same makeup, safe makeup,

unless you have a photo shoot,

like you don't look that different.

Well, I enjoy that looking different each time,

looking in photos.

I like having like a different kind of photos.

So when I started doing cross-play because of work,

initially I just got a sign of,

can you wear this costume?

And like, oh, it looks nice

and you get professional help too.

Now, I end up looking so different.

Also, I have been interested, of course,

manga and anime as,

or just Queen's Fincial Japanese, I guess.

And it can be a great conversational starter.

Well, you get to embrace what you like

and then you get to look different.

It's just very refreshing.

Did you have any particular anime

that you were interested in making a cross-play off

at the beginning?

Or was it just anything that is possible and available?

Anything.

I don't wanna be known as, let's say,

oh, you're doing supersonic cosplay.

So you're supersonic cosplayer.

Like if you're official cosplayer at the company,

you know, with IP, that's something.

But you don't wanna be just not associated with a character

that you don't own IP for.

So I like trying different ones.

And I also found it very therapeutic that you get

to use this unique body shape and,

well, my face is praying.

Again, there's no characteristics.

But because of that,

I get to be done on makeup and I can look totally different.

I don't have a lot of strong features on my face.

That's why makeup can make so many differences.

So it's actually great for cosplay.

And I'm kind of short in stack.

But not an anime character that are.

So you kind of had the perfect body type for a cross-play.

Well, not of a naturally well-in-depth women,

they're kind of embarrassed.

Like we get to have a kind of a hunchback style

to hide it so that they won't talk about it.

A lot of girls get into, even a grabier, for example,

so that they can appreciate and embrace their body.

They don't have to hide it all the time.

Even when I was a journalist,

or even when I was a card student,

I got a nickname like Oppaichan,

or that was like really like embarrassing.

But they think it's always just your personality.

It's not personality, it's just body trait.

You know, like a fat kid get cold, I go and you go meet.

Something like that.

They think it's just physical oddity.

And the physical anomaly is easy to focus on.

And you can actually use it as your personality.

But if you're nobody, you're not talented or anything.

You're not a social media content creator,

then you just feel embarrassed about your constant gaze.

People are referring to your body parts,

especially to your sexual parts.

So in that sense, kind of starting the cosplay

and taking advantage and embracing who you were

was kind of freeing and freeing.

Oh, I like being me because I get to do this character.

And here I come depicting this character well.

You mentioned that you kind of started for fun

to post on social media as part of your previous work

to kind of show diversity of cells

as opposed to just have the same photo every day.

At what point did it be on a potential new kind of career

direction as well through content creation, but also.

And I think you now are judged on cosplay competitions too.

And well, I still enjoyed for fun.

Honestly, you get asked by company sometime

in the commission and cost bill.

They make costumes on their own.

But then you don't get to say any opinions, right?

But if you are commissioning cosplay on your own,

and I can say, can you use this fabric

or can you make this in that?

Yeah, sometimes when I'm asked to do cosplay

and the company visit me to cosplay,

like they prepare to cosplay.

And I don't like the quality.

That happens.

So I really like it to do everything for fun more so time.

So that I get to have some kind of control.

Being a judge, I was honored, but I, well,

I feel humbled right there.

Amazing.

I like the commission and cost, but I like to find people

who specialize in each thing and like order them

and pay for their time.

I have ideas, but I don't have skills to make the cosplay

yourself.

How does it work as a judge on a cosplay competition?

We've talked to a couple of cosplayers in the podcast as well.

And so much work goes into each and every one of those.

And they look awesome.

And they have like so many different kinds.

When you're there and you have to judge and tell

you're the winner, you are not.

I know what I go, what am I to just assess

and like put number on their effort?

It's just, I like talking to them and like asking them

questions, like, oh, what's the part

that you're most proud of?

What do they tell me about the cosplay story?

I like hearing their stories, but to judge them,

I feel like, I feel like I shouldn't be the one.

Is there a system in place?

Like a point system?

Like five points for the overall design, five points

for the attitude or?

Yeah, definitely.

It depends on the competition, honestly.

Some competition, they just throw judges into a room.

Sorry.

And yeah, go ahead and assess them.

Like, they don't do anything.

Some competition, they have like a spreadsheet.

And like, this is the quality we're going to look into.

And they're a different cosplay.

It's not always just fabric.

Sometimes they have form or a sweetie printer.

And we look into wigs too, like if they actually

handmade the wig and makeup too.

And of course, the attitude performance.

So everyone got different strengths.

So yeah, to be actually in close proximity,

when it's those cosplayers and take a look,

you can actually touch the fabric too.

And then it's amazing.

Like, you only get to see them on stage

more of the time, like from afar.

You don't get paid attention to those details.

I feel very privileged.

Or nowadays, well, I felt not bad.

I just feel too humble.

I enjoy cosplay, but I'm doing more hosting now

for those cosplay contests.

So not the judge, but just kind of getting people

in the right mood.

What are some of your favorite cosplay events?

Because you travel a little internationally too, right?

You don't just do events in Japan.

And actually, the game is caught in Germany.

That was like a biggest stage, fantastic.

Amazing cosplays too.

Yeah, the stage was a little bit too big.

And I could tell some contestant got intimidated.

Like, oh, I didn't know the stage was this big.

And they didn't get to use the stage there, Brody.

They got so many different cameras too.

Right now, I'm involved with EVO.

EVO is short for evolution.

And it's actually pronounced evo in Japanese,

so a little bit complicated.

It's a fighting game competition,

biggest fighting game competition.

So I street fighter?

Yeah, street fighter six is like,

by far the most popular one.

So it's a fighting game theme for cosplay contests

or just cosplay in general.

Well, some people do game or well,

smash brothers not in the tournament anymore,

but you can do Pokemon cosplay.

The great thing about FGC fighting game community

is everyone knows which character you're doing.

That's so rare, do you say?

Because anime, I'm a huge anime fan.

So I'm so glad that anime has been

disnormalized and popular and ubiquitous in the world.

However, even when you're doing one piece of cosplay,

unless you're doing doofy,

there's always someone asking,

what's the cosplay you're doing?

I see.

There's too many characters.

Too many characters.

Too many shows.

It's kind of hard to follow.

Initially, it was a way to share a conversation like,

oh, you're like this character too,

you're like this show too.

Well, there's too many shows out there.

But in EVO, everyone kind of knows.

Mm-hmm.

Like, oh wow, I made this character

or I love this character, I use this character.

Or everyone knows this show, this character,

this equipment, like even different skins

that you can get from each DLC.

What do you do exactly with EVO?

So, yeah, so I'm hosting cosplay contest

in Japan and also Vegas this year.

Oh.

Well, he went doing this bilingualingery.

Also, I actually brought a new idea to EVO.

I like the museum part.

They had fighting game stick, you know,

the fighting game stick controller, museum

and art museum for each show.

And I end up the museum part

because I don't really compete.

I'm not that good at fighting games.

And I spend way too many times doing the RPG

and other genre, so I can't train enough.

The thing is, now it's becoming more like event

not just tournament.

We need more space for people who might be there

just for different friends or family.

Like rooting for different of family,

but not really competing.

So just kill some time or just enjoy the event

and walk around.

The museum has been really great part

and I end up staying there at the EVO in Vegas

that was in summer last year.

So I asked him, can we expand the museum part?

Like maybe some figuring statues

that would be perfect for museum.

It's becoming a first-ever, correctable exhibit at EVO.

Wow, and so that is all on your initiative?

Yes, I actually made proposals in Japanese

and I approached to Kotobuki and Amiyami.

They are the retailers and they make figurings in Japan.

And yeah, I asked them,

make sure I get credit today.

It's my idea.

I'm making this happen.

Then they assign me as manager.

It sounds more responsible.

So I'm a little bit nervous about that.

So when is this going to happen?

In Japan, that's the first weekend of May,

Golden Week, May 1st, 2nd, the start.

That's EVO Japan.

And EVO Vegas is the end of June.

So what did it actually take for you

to make that from an idea to reality?

Because these are big, I imagine,

that traditional companies do a lot of stakeholders.

The idea is expand the museum exhibit and add figures.

But to get that sign and actually establish

you made a new one to make proposals,

what kind of loot did you have to go through

to make that reality?

Yeah, I couldn't think of making that happen.

Back in, let's say, like a JV years

because you work with agency.

You're just hired by agency

and they tell you to do this work and that.

But now have become free downs.

And I have been coordinating videos

or appearing on videos from YouTubers.

And during that process,

sometimes I get asked to make a proposal

like Kikakusho in Japanese.

Got to just do a pitch with any Japanese company.

They want to see, they want to take a look at Kikakusho

and it just looks more legit that you do that.

Not just like throwing an email and like,

hey, can we shoot on that day?

And whatever, they don't like the style.

They like a more structured fan.

And so I started kind of getting used to that kind of style,

having proposals using not PDF,

PPF without a youth PowerPoint.

So I forgot the point.

Yeah, like Google Slides.

Yeah, I actually like making slides.

Now I hate it making excels.

But I do that creative work.

So I do enjoy making proposals actually.

And then by doing so,

and you are being the one connecting approaching each companies

and approaching each cafe or another YouTuber,

then you get to have more and more contact.

So that gradually,

I was like, oh, maybe I can make this happen, right?

It didn't happen, of course, over day.

And because I had been a free downs

and I'm taking control,

actually I have hired managers before.

And I can let them call themselves managers,

even though they just reprived back the emails.

I do the one that I approved.

Yeah, it's not really.

Should we have a whole content manager,

but actually just kind of sending a few emails

right then left in the show.

I hated it because they tried to take credit

for things they didn't do or your clients

would assume that, oh, you're getting all these appearances

that say, oh, you appeared on this famous podcast.

Maybe your manager got you the job.

They just assumed.

And I saw my former manager just didn't deny.

And they're like, I'm full of it.

And I was like,

what the fuck are you doing?

I got the job, look, I got approached by them.

And I just let you hand,

well, that one didn't even handle emails, my God.

I just did everything.

But because I need somebody to help

when I appear at a booth,

ask them money, events, or just even at the bodyguard,

it was just easy to let them call themselves manager.

And then suddenly we are,

they're taking over the credit for my accomplishment.

That really got me infuriated, but it's really good.

I can imagine.

Yeah.

You said that you couldn't imagine yourself

doing this and kind of approaching these big companies

with the Kikaku show during your JV years.

But now as a freelancer, you are able to.

Yeah, because you're not supposed to exchange contact

with them as a talent in Japan.

So when you're still in the industry,

you just perform, but you cannot really contact them.

Interesting.

I think almost in talent agencies, not just JV.

So now you certainly reclaim yourself the way

and you can.

But it's also intimidating, I imagine,

when you start on your own, you have to contact those.

Why are you sure you thought about having a manager?

Because you can get underestimated or I'm not that young,

but if they think of you as like a young woman,

and you might get some attitude that you don't deserve.

I'm how it's an ad situation, but you cannot really change that.

So I thought if you have a big scary looking guy

as a manager, that might help, but actually like talking,

I don't want to have any miscommunication

because of the middleman.

Of course.

And you know what, the manager, I fired eventually,

they started approaching my client

and I actually got a job.

It's my client.

Like that was like, yeah.

I think that it was a good decision

to kind of distance yourself.

One day, I was just having a Zoom call with them,

but they're not based in Japan.

Yeah, also I thought it was a good idea to have

somebody native English speaker

or somebody who is based in the United States.

Because you're doing a lot of engineering work, yeah.

But yeah, I was just saying, Zoom call.

Oh, cow, I have a good news.

I just started working at this client of mine.

Like, what?

Interesting.

And because of that time,

they're friends they went in the morning.

So I was, I had to sleep in and actually wake up

and like, okay, that actually happened.

Like that was not a dream.

I was, I was speechless.

Like, what, what that?

So many conflict of interest.

And eventually, that person didn't tell me right away,

but they got fired by the client.

Yeah, and I didn't know about it.

Email, initially, they told me like,

oh, it's just differences.

And then like, oh, I decided to leave

or it didn't work out.

So I'm no longer working there.

But I still work with the client.

And they don't want to find out.

Oh, yeah, I fired, we had to fire him like,

wait, so it's firing.

So like, he made it, the person actually made it sound like

it was a mutual thing.

So, okay, wow, yeah.

Yeah.

You mentioned that you kind of hired a manager

in the first place because you were not sure

if as a woman you would be able to kind of get your point

across and if people would take you seriously.

Did you also kind of have to be a foreigner for my client?

Oh, okay.

So like the image of the foreigner.

Yeah.

Also, especially in Japan, a sort of like stigma

because of having worked in JAV before that people are like,

oh, she's a former actress.

I don't know if I want to work with her.

Oh, was this actually not enough to me?

Yeah, I don't think it's nothing to JAV.

It's more about just a young woman working by herself.

Might be.

Not being taken seriously.

Yeah.

Has this changed since now that you kind of have worked

on these big collaborations and have appeared

and have made a name for yourself?

Now that they know what I actually do get involved

and I do that work.

But I don't just do that work.

I actually do stay on camera too.

And it actually works that you are pranning

and you're gonna be on the camera

taking control on camera too.

So it actually works very well.

So producer presenter, you know.

Yeah, exactly.

So I think they appreciate more.

So yeah, I think you just have to prove yourself.

So work your way through this big world of content creation

approach companies with Kikaku Show

that was kind of one of the first steps to get through.

Once the company is interested in your idea,

how long does it actually take for you

to kind of make the museum happen?

If you go back to the work you're doing for EVO,

was this something that took like a few months, a year or?

Oh, I'm still in the opposite.

It hasn't happened yet.

And we are just discussing designs.

And it's very exciting.

I got some ideas and I want this particular theme.

I just have to make sure

you can't happen with some contractional help.

And yeah, it's just super exciting.

I'm I now doing new things.

I like finding something that they'll untouched by me

and that want to challenge myself.

I don't want to feel too comfortable anywhere.

So to get excited and exerated,

like to fresh.

One of the things you've also started recently, I think,

is streaming on Twitch a while back.

Well, there's also one of those.

Like, oh, this looks interesting.

There's this new live streaming.

Maybe I can kind of have some fun there and explore.

I wasn't actually scared to do it first.

I didn't want to, like live streaming sounded kind of scary

because you cannot edit it.

It just happened right there about COVID hit.

That was pandemic.

And I wanted to go to more events at the time.

And then it's, okay, impossible.

So you've got to do something instead

and start a live streaming.

You know what?

Because it's just happened right there.

You get to share a moment, like a row moment

with the viewers.

That's fantastic.

And because you don't have to edit or it's impossible

for you to edit.

You don't have to edit.

What happens in camera is exactly what people ask you.

Okay, stream done.

I don't have to make vod, vod or just there.

And you don't have to do anything with it.

It's just automatically published.

So you don't have to have content

that's sitting for months.

Because I don't have time to edit.

I don't have time to put some titles, right?

I'm pretty sure that could happen

sometime with a YouTube production.

Yeah, sometimes that happens.

So you started out making content on Instagram

and you posted the photos of you doing cosplay

and maybe some reels, you attended the events.

With all of those, there's a little bit this kind of distance

as well as the audience where you are on stage presenting

or you post an Instagram and maybe you see the comments later.

But when you're on Twitch, it's live.

So you get to interact with your audience like in the moment.

Was this kind of a new way for you to connect with your fans as well?

Definitely.

It's more my own cozy space, but I'm sharing this with people.

First, I didn't believe they do exist.

I thought maybe they're super fan making different accounts

and talking to me from a different account.

Because there's no way these many people are listening to me

and being attention to me at the same time.

Yeah, it was hard to believe.

So that's why I go to events to actually make sure they do exist.

The votes actually integrate really well.

Yeah, it's just irreplaceable,

but I don't really consider it as job as work.

It's just me taking a break from work.

Oh, interesting.

Yeah, but it actually worked for work too.

My clients, they can get impressed by the number

then sometimes I get like promotional offers.

Or can you do this on Twitch?

Or I could get more jobs because I have the platform.

Because if you're freelance, you have to kind of keep doing things.

Well, keep putting yourself out there.

You mentioned that you don't want to get too comfortable.

You like to try new things.

What are some of the things that you kind of would like to try

or would like to get into?

You've done a lot of cosplay

and you're still very active in the scene also with the evil.

You do streaming on Twitch.

What are some of the things that you kind of felt like,

oh, that would be cool to try to get into?

I have been taking kimono classes, kimono lessons.

Oh, okay.

I actually getting a certificate soon.

Wow.

Soon after that, I am one of the third learning

how to do my hair.

Yes, I actually called my hair today.

I've been trying to practice.

I don't know how to weave my hair.

Not even Mitsumi or Tatsumi.

Okay.

I can't do that at all.

Me neither.

Me neither.

Oh, you have such a nice hair.

It's very long, probably long enough to do all of these.

How do you make the bun?

That looks so nice.

It's, I don't know, just like wrap it and turn it.

Refrigerate.

Yeah.

It doesn't take very long,

but I'm not able to do anything else with my hair beside the bun.

Wow, I'm so impressed.

I never know.

Yeah, I don't know how to do my hair,

but I want to be able to take care of myself, right?

Sometimes you get asked,

oh, would you like to make up artists?

Like, oh, I can do makeup,

but oh, I don't know how to do my hair that I used to say,

but I really want to be more, you know,

high-functioning or multi-functioning person

that I get to offer so many different things.

Where did the interest for learning the proper way

of kimono come from?

That's definitely from being the Japanese,

but going to the international scenes that you acknowledge,

like, oh, I am Japanese.

Also, when you perform overseas and present overseas,

is this association in your Japanese

or maybe if you were kimono, it's even more visible?

Oh, or it's just like you get to appreciate being Japanese.

Not like, you know, snobbish, or, you know,

it's not a feature rhythm.

Yeah, I know, it's not even a good feature rhythm.

Well, it's, yeah, not even enough to sound at all.

It's just, oh, wow.

Like, Japan can be special.

Like, you just take everything for granted,

you know, born and raised in Japan.

It's just there.

Like, everything is there for you,

and you didn't know, oh, wow, the people say,

when you were doing a gyro stream, for example,

and just showing the street in Japan,

and your viewers gonna say, oh, it's so clean in Japan.

Like, do you think that it's green?

Like, you don't know.

It's just, you look at it every day,

and you don't particularly think it's green.

You don't find that way,

but you just notice so many new parties

through other people's eyes.

And you get to just grow more appreciation

towards your own country culture.

And the kimono is something that is popular

in tourist areas of traditional events,

but otherwise also kind of getting lost a little bit.

What was it like to kind of relearn

and rediscover this for you?

Yeah, so I'm wearing kimono, but I didn't know how to wear it.

And if I go to international event, I wanna wear it,

but no one can dress me there, so I have to learn.

Interesting.

And I started buying some kimono.

Some can be overexpensive.

You can imagine.

Yeah, it must be hard for the business, too.

You mentioned getting a certificate.

How long does it take?

This kind of learning process for you to kind of learn?

It's been almost two years.

Wow.

Just little by little, I didn't have time

to take too many classes.

So he has been, though, I am getting this wooden,

it's nice looking wooden board.

As to my name, that I can actually put it as Kamba.

I'm gonna get a huge sign that if I wanted to,

like, at the entrance of my apartment,

then start my own kimono school.

Wow.

No problem, dude.

So really, like, all the way to your,

could be a teacher after, interesting.

So we might see you more and more

wearing your kimonos overseas.

I have to, it definitely makes you feel special.

Kind of like cosplay.

It takes so much effort and time, right?

You don't wanna do that every day.

You don't have time or energy to do that every day,

but once you are in it,

it's just so special.

You get complimented and you feel proud.

It just looks so beautiful.

You wanna show off.

I'm looking forward to seeing you.

Thank you.

You mentioned earlier in our conversation as well,

that you're writing a second book.

Is this something you wanna talk about already,

or is this something you wanna kind of keep a little bit

until you've made more progress in it?

I just hope, whoa, they have to make progress.

I've written my part.

So the publisher editor, they have to.

So I have to pinch them.

I guess maybe right after taxis in Japan,

I'll pinch them in emails.

It's about English.

I get asked a lot of questions,

especially from Japanese people.

How did you study English and how did you learn English?

And yeah, of course, we learn basic alphabet

and basic grammar and syntax at school,

but you'd be fluent unless you have particular

self-constance, you really need to practice,

you really need to put a lot of effort,

not you have to dedicate.

So they wanna know how,

and you can only just put it in one sentence,

it's impossible, right?

So okay, I have to write a book about it.

You said also earlier that when you were working

for Tokyo sports, one of the reasons I kind of put you there

was you spoke English,

even though they were no foreign players at the time.

So you did already back then kind of have a great level,

but were some of the early things that you did

to get to the level of English you have now?

I like heavy shows.

And sometimes I even just took audio from my favorite episode

that I can just easily just remember the visuals in my head.

So I don't really need to watch it,

but I get to listen to them.

And it might like, I part at the time.

And when I was going to see it,

I just keep listening to it.

We're even when I'm walking in the street.

And that actually helped,

because you learn a natural verbal conversation,

especially shows like friends,

they don't always talk about

something meaning recital romance.

Sometimes they talk about lifestyle.

And they have a great rhythm of conversation and you learn,

oh, that's how you make jokes in English,

like from Chandler.

Like he can be very cynical.

And you don't have the same sense of humor in Japan, right?

We never cynical, it can be maltranslated in a way.

So you actually get to learn a natural conversation,

but also, no, it's not as broken

as like actual conversations on the street.

So watching a lot of TV shows, listening to the audio

a little bit and now writing a book

about kind of your experience going through this,

where I imagine you're going to not necessarily talk about

how it's done in schools,

because obviously writing a book about it

means you don't necessarily agree so much

with some of the ways that I don't in school.

Sometimes on a train here in the morning or in the evening,

I see someone next to me that has a book

with this red kind of see-through thing,

where they can go over vocabulary by vocabulary.

Is this still the method?

Like is this something that was frustrating for you

that you wanted to learn English,

but you kind of had to just repeat the words?

Oh, if other people in English was bad in Japan,

then I could get benefit more from their bad skills.

So I wouldn't mind if other Japanese people

could not speak Japanese, but having said that.

For the key to get interested in English,

I know we all know that you need English

to survive this world.

Maybe just in Japan, it's no problem though,

but you definitely need English.

You just cannot bring yourself to study,

work hard for it, which I totally understand.

I hate studying English back in middle school,

because in elementary school, you just memorize stuff.

You forgot your at school.

I sometimes forgot my notebook

and my teacher told me, okay, so repeat after me.

I forgot my notebook and I just have to memorize it

and repeat, I forgot my notebook.

And I don't even know what that means.

I could tell like they were saying notebook

but other particles, what forget means, you know.

You never know.

You just repeat, dog, in the dog, Neko-Kat,

and you just see the picture and say cat and dog

and those edible cavalry.

You don't really have to make a sentence in a structural way.

And then suddenly in middle school,

you have to learn this sort of present taste,

this is the past tense.

And all those tense, like you never even heard of that word

in Japanese and have to understand what's going on

and its structure is like really convoluted puzzle,

such a dichotomy.

You can't just have fun anymore, right?

And that's a big thing to break up in your book as well.

Like how do you kind of translate this?

I imagine people have to wait a little bit

to see when the book is released.

What was important for you in writing this book

besides answering people's kind of questions

of learning English?

You definitely make it fun and more informative.

There are some words I learned once they became a streamer

because some of the internet didn't go.

I was not familiar with, and there are new ones coming out

every year.

The trends are changing.

Yes, definitely.

So to explain that, I guess that could be interesting

for some viewers, but also because of my or character

in the image, I saw it might be fun to refer

to some, not like itchy topic in a way,

to explain the difference of a sudden,

let's say present tense,

and what's the ginseng goke present perfect tense?

Something like that.

That's the, what's the difference between it?

I'm going to school and I go to school, right?

Like I go to school, it's like I go to school every day,

that's more perfectual thing, that's more your custom.

And I'm going to school is something happening right now.

It's hard to differentiate sometimes.

Depending on the sentence, the way I bring up,

let's say if a guy said I use a condom,

then that means that he used condom regularly,

like every day based or every time basis,

and then depending on how often they use,

if he's saying like I'm using condom,

you might not be trustable,

you might be just using this time.

And not because like to be nice to you,

but maybe I don't know, for whatever reasons,

you might be afraid of catching something from you.

That's like a difference, right?

The topic to get you interested in like four conversations

and for comparisons of some English sentences,

because this is the pen whoever says that, right?

You never have to say this to the pen,

because it's so obvious,

you're just learning a sentence that you never have to use.

And just what are you getting from it?

Making learning English fun and interesting

and making people smile,

because you probably won't expect all the examples

you put in a book.

So this is going to be in Japanese for a Japanese audience,

I imagine.

Second book already, so you definitely reached your goals

of becoming an author,

but maybe there will be more books in the future

who knows and translate it into more languages.

Is this something you are kind of actively working on,

trying to get your books translated more?

You said potentially the first one might be in Vietnamese too.

Would you like it to be also shared with more countries?

Or is it not necessarily something you have on your mind?

Yeah, the more, definitely.

I wanted to have more books,

not just in different languages.

So that I get to talk about different topics.

I don't want to be just known for JV, for example.

I want to do so many different things,

and I can, you only need once.

Yeah.

I feel that some total of different experiences, I believe.

Oh, we talked about so many different topics today.

Is there one topic that was dear to you

that you would have like to bring up

that maybe I didn't ask you about?

And there are any things you always ask your guests

on this show?

That question.

I always like to ask it at the end,

because it's usually maybe something that I forgot

or something that you kind of came to the show for.

And like, I'd love to talk about this today,

and maybe I don't know about it,

or maybe I forget about it.

But that question is kind of usually the one

that I asked everyone at the end.

Did they often mention their career

or is just so many different topics?

Sometimes there's one thing that I really wanted to bring

something up, and we go back to that topic.

And sometimes there's nothing as well.

It really depends.

And if you have nothing, that's totally fine.

But maybe there was some,

you mentioned you want to kind of not be known

just as a JV actress,

so you're working on all these other exciting projects.

How would you like people to remember you?

Oh, they can find me from anywhere, honestly.

Well, one thing, it just came to me.

I guess because of their image from the past,

people probably, some people,

especially if they find me from there,

if they just remember me from there,

they probably expect me to be,

and come like a new from maniac,

or just, oh, she might be into boys.

So initially, when I started appearing on some

that YouTube videos,

and especially if the YouTuber is a boy guy,

then there was some comment like,

oh, they might be getting it or,

then, you know, actually,

I haven't been on a date

or I haven't even kissed anybody since 2019, September.

September 9th, September 9th, 2019.

So like, three nine, that's why I remember.

Initially, I thought it was fun to just stop it,

and that could be another topic to write about, right?

I saw it could be interesting.

Somebody who was doing it professionally,

or having a lot of it,

a dude like a nesting,

that could be interesting to talk to them right about,

and then COVID hit.

Like, okay, so nobody's getting it.

Like, it's not safe anymore.

So let's just continue doing that.

Then, okay, you know what?

I'm not interested, right?

So I'm actually loving it.

The fact that I'm no longer involved in that,

gonna, well, I shouldn't say shit,

but it's going, it is what it is.

Yeah, and sometimes I get frustrated

when people immediately think,

oh, you're single, it's okay,

you can find somebody like,

as if I want somebody, my life.

Is that then the stigma of like,

oh, you need to get married by this age,

or kind of have a child at this age,

and that is more common in Japan still?

I don't know if the Japanese thing,

I get that from like almost everybody.

I think a lot of people believe that you should find somebody,

or everyone has the one,

kind of I think that's the concept that's shared,

and that's wonderful, right?

If I were the partition in any countries,

I definitely want to encourage,

or even a brain wash my students to believe that,

having a family food is good.

And that's all that, you know,

family food, not just a couple food,

but also family, so that next generation

is going to be there.

But I definitely want to encourage that.

So I'm graphic, I'm not the norm, right?

And the fact that I'm not interested in getting married,

or having kids, I don't think it should be the norm,

for the society, but I get frustrated

that people don't think that there's choice like that,

or some people prefer that.

So for everyone out there that is listening to this,

and seeing a video of you somewhere on YouTube

with another content creator and such,

no, you're not dating them,

you're just kind of having fun making a video,

and kind of exploring new experiences.

And I really enjoy that having myself,

old to myself actually, people say that,

oh, especially if you're doing like a grab view,

or anything that remotely sexual,

oh, you should take care of your,

you should cherish your body,

and don't share with everybody.

Like, I'm enjoying it more.

I'm sharing my photos, like cosplay photos,

and even sometimes I can look in sexy cosplay photos,

but I get to keep my body,

like, I'm the only one who can touch my body.

That kind of, that kind of turns me on, I see.

You kind of reclaim yourself.

We claim your body, we claim your narrative,

we claim your story, and you decide how you've write it.

Now, not by an agency, not by a manager,

not by another company, but it's all yours.

Yeah, my get to grow more self-nob, to myself.

It's, yeah, I hope I'm gonna,

as a concept, I guess, naturally you fall

in an atom-nob with yourself.

That has happened to me before,

but I wanna be able to continue loving myself.

Like, I have to cherish myself, like, in any way.

I hope I get to grow more love towards myself.

And I think this is a beautiful message, not only for you,

but for everyone listening,

that it's important to love yourself,

and to kind of take care of yourself as well,

your body and your life.

Oh, thank you so much for coming and being so open,

and kind of sharing your stories, your experiences.

And also, the exciting projects you're working on,

so I hope that some of our listeners

will get to experience your work with Ivo

and events coming this year,

and maybe your upcoming book and more projects that we'll see.

Thank you for making time to see us.

Thank you.

Thank you everyone for listening and watching.

This was Unpacking Japan,

and we'll see you in the next episode.

Bye.

Bye.

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