is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

AV idol An or is a type of pornographic film actress in Japan. It is a sub-category of the idol culture in Japanese pop entertainment. AV idols work in the pornographic business, often both as an actress as well as a model as the video performances ...

and ''

pink film in its broadest sense includes almost any Japanese theatrical film that includes nudity (hence 'pink') or deals with sexual content. This encompasses everything from dramas to action thrillers and exploitation film features. The Western equiv ...

'' actress. She has appeared in award-winning ''pink films'', and was herself given a "Best Supporting Actress" award in two successive years for her work in this genre in 2006 and 2007.

Life and career

Kyōko Kazama was born in Tokyo on January 12, 1974. She first became known in the mid-1990s as an AV idol. In AV profiles, her birthday is reported as February 20, 1977, and the

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

used to spell her name is "". In the shift from focus on AV work to ''pink film'' theatrical releases she uses "". Both versions of her name are pronounced "Kazama Kyōko". Among the prominent AV studios at which Kazama has performed are

Alice Japan was established on April 5, 1986, as the adult video (AV) label for Japan Home Video (JHV). Company information The early AVs produced by JHV went under the Penguin (ぺんぎん) label, the first title being the 30-minute-long softcore ''Asobin ...

Dogma Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...

, and, more recently, the -specialist Madonna studio. Kazama was one of the early AV idols associated with the

Attackers is a Japanese adult video (AV) production company located in Tokyo, Japan. History Attackers started as an independent ("indie") studio but is now one of the companies that make up the large AV group, the Hokuto Corporation, which distributes A ...

studio, and has continued to appear in videos for the studio throughout her career. In September 2005 she appeared in the Attacker's AV ''Slave Island'' which won the Attackers Award at the 2005 Moodyz Awards. Kazama made her ''pink film'' debut in 1997, and has appeared in films directed by the most prominent filmmakers in the genre, including Satoru Kobayashi, the director of ''

Flesh Market is a 1962 Japanese film directed by Satoru Kobayashi and starring Tamaki Katori. It is generally recognized as the first movie in the '' pink film'' genre. ''Flesh Market'' opened at the Ueno Okura Theater in Tokyo, which was operated by the f ...

'' (1962), the first ''pink film''. She often plays "bad girl" roles in films, but the

Shintōhō Eiga is a Japanese pink film production company and film distributor located in Tokyo, Japan which has been among the most influential studios in the pink film genre since its beginnings. Foundation The first Shintōhō, or "New Toho", also known a ...

studio site describes her, in life, as "a shy, kind, and friendly woman." Besides several films with Kobayashi, Kazama has also worked with directors

Yutaka Ikejima is a Japanese film director, actor, and producer. Considered the most successful filmmaker in the ''pink film'' genre in the 2000s, his films are popular with traditional ''pink film'' audiences, fans of cinema, and with critics. Because of his ...

Tarō Araki is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. Including Yutaka Ikejima, Yumi Yoshiyuki and Minoru Kunizawa, Araki is one of the four top ''pink film'' directors of Ōkura Productions (OP) at the turn of the millennium. Life and career T ...

Tetsuya Takehora is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Life and career Tetsuya Takehora studied at the , founded by director Shōhei Imamura in 1975 as the Yokohama Vocational School of Broadcast and Film. He entered the film industry as an assistant ...

, and

Toshiki Satō a.k.a. , , ''and'' is a Japanese film director and screenwriter best known for his '' pink films'' of the 1990s. Along with fellow directors, Takahisa Zeze, Kazuhiro Sano and Hisayasu Satō, he is known as one of the . Life and career Toshiki S ...

. In Satō's satire of the ''pink film'' profession, ''Woman of the House: Going to the Class Reunion'' aka ''Tokyo Booty Nights'' (2004), ''pink'' veterans Yōta Kawase and Yumeka Sasaki were cast as a married couple of ''pink film'' performers. Kazama played the role of a sex-film actress, with director

Mitsuru Meike is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the group of prominent '' pink film'' directors known collectively as the which comprises Meike, Toshiya Ueno, Yūji Tajiri, Shinji Imaoka, Yoshitaka Kamata, Toshirō Enomo ...

in a cameo as her henpecked husband. During filming, Yōta Kawase's director demands that he perform "honban"—actual sex—with Kazama for a more realistic scene. Kawase demands to know why Kazama should be paid more than himself for the performance, and the director replies, "Because no one is looking at the guy." By 2002, known as a leading actress in the ''pink film'', the main feature of issue #93 of the ''pink film'' journal ''P*G'' was an interview with Kazama. Since 1994 ''P*G'' has been the leading journal on the ''pink film'', and is the host of the

Pink Grand Prix The or is an annual Japanese film award ceremony which recognizes excellence in the pink film genre. Referred to by Miho Toda as the "Academy Awards of the Pink Film", the ceremony attracts a diverse audience of industry personnel, film scholar ...

, the major awards ceremony for the genre. Kazama has also acted in films by female directors in the ''pink film'' genre,

Sachi Hamano a.k.a. ''and'' (born March 19, 1948), is a Japanese film director. She is the most prolific and written-about female '' pink film'' director. Life and career Sachi Hamano was born as Sachiko Suzuki in Tokushima Prefecture on March 19, 1948. W ...

Yumi Yoshiyuki is a Japanese film director, actress, and screenwriter best known for her work in the ''pink film'' genre. Early life and education Yoshiyuki studied economics at Dokkyo University. Career During her studies at Dokkyo University, Yoshiyuki deve ...

, and

Kyōko Aizome is a Japanese erotic actress, singer, writer, and AV and film director. She has been called "the first hard-core porn actress in Japan". Life and career Early life Kyōko Aizome was born in Noda Chiba Prefecture. She grew up in a troubled hou ...

. For the

studio, she appeared in '' Whore Hospital'', the first in a series of films also known as "Pink Salon Hospital", directed by Hamano credited as "Chise Matoba". The film was given Honorable Mention at the 1997 Pink Grand Prix awards. Kazama returned for the fourth film in the series, also directed by Hamano. In 2001 she appeared in director Hamano's ''

Lily Festival is a 2001 Japanese movie directed by Sachi Hamano, based on the novel ''Yurisai'' by Houko Momotani. The film focuses on the sexuality of older women and won the Jury Prize for "Best Feature - Lesbian" at the Philadelphia International Gay & Le ...

'' (2001), a film about sexuality among senior citizens. The film was given the Best Feature Film award at the

Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival Philadelphia QFest was founded in Philadelphia as the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival by TLA Entertainment Group in 1995. It was given its current name, QFest, in 2009. One of the festival's founders and current Artistic Director, Raymon ...

in 2003. Known for her prominent bustline, Kazama co-starred with the buxom

Sakurako Kaoru is a Japanese gravure model, AV idol and ''pink film'' actress. First coming to prominence as an AV actress, Kaoru successfully made the transition to the theatrically released softcore ''pink film'' genre. She has appeared in award-winning ''pi ...

in Yoshikawa's ''Big Tit Sisters: Blow Through the Valley'' (2006). The film was named the seventh best ''pink'' release of the year at the Pink Grand Prix, and the sixth best by walkerplus.com. At the

Kansai region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolita ...

Pinky Ribbon Awards The are a Japanese cinema awards ceremony which recognizes excellence in the '' pink film'' genre. The award is held by , a Kansai region paper covering the ''pink film'' industry. Readers of the paper elect the winners of the awards, which have ...

, Kazama was named Best Supporting Actress for her work in the ''pink film'' in 2006 and 2007. Kazama joined with actresses

Akiho Yoshizawa , often known simply as Acky (あっきー), is a Japanese former adult video (AV) actress, who also appeared in pink film and mainstream (non-erotic) film, as well as television. With a career spanning over more than 15 years and over 1,000 adu ...

Mihiro , real name , is a Japanese actress, singer, fiction writer, TV entertainer (notices artist) and former adult video (AV) actress. Life and career Mihiro was born in Niigata prefecture on May 19, 1982. She began a career as a softcore nude model ...

and

Lemon Hanazawa , a.k.a. Remon Hanazawa, is a Japanese ''pink film'' actress who has also performed in adult videos (AV). She has appeared in award-winning ''pink films'' such as '' Lunch Box'' (2004) and '' Molester's Train: Sensitive Fingers'' (2007). She was ...

for the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

historical costume drama, ''The Inner Palace: Indecent War'', in July 2006. A sequel ''The Inner Palace: Flower of War'' came out in August of the same year. Both videos were released by the AV studio

Max-A is a Japanese adult video (AV) studio which is especially known for videos made under its Samansa ("Samantha") and Calen ("Karen") labels which produced a number of innovative and quality AVs in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Company informatio ...

in hardcore versions under their DoraMax label and also as shorter softcore R-15 rated versions for the Pure Max label.

Bibliography

English

* * * *

Japanese

* * * *

External links

Kyoko Kazama
at Tokyo Topless

Notes

, - ! colspan="3" style="background: #DAA520;" ,

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kazama, Kyoko 1974 births Actresses from Tokyo Japanese pornographic film actresses Japanese female adult models Pink film actors Living people