Sora Aoi: the Japanese pornstar who taught a Chinese generation about sex

[Nergal]

 

Meet the pornstar who is famous in the Far East than both Taylor Swift and David Beckham. Introducing Sora Aoi, the 34-year-old pornstar is widely credited for educating a Chinese generation of men about sex. She recently announced her engagement to a Japanese musician DJ Non and to almost audible heart-breaking and laptop screen shattering sounds. She showed off her new ring to the more than 18 million followers on social media, and I can bet that eluded many broken hearts. But what is Sora all about?

Began her career in the early 2000s

Sora made her debut in the adult entertainment scene in the early 2000s during what can be referred to as Sexual Renaissance in China. Porn, though still illegal in the country, is regarded as a major source of sex education. Before her debut, she was doing odd jobs in sushi bars and pizza joints. She had dreams of becoming a pre-school teacher (can you imagine that) before a scout identified her ‘potential.’  Before long, she was signed by Kuki Inc, the biggest producer of Japanese porn at that time. She featured in dozens of porn movies which included “Lust of Nurse” and “Sexy Teacher.” The rest, as they say, is history.

‘Teacher Aoi’

It is rather ironical that Sara Aoi is widely adored in China considering the simmering tensions between Japan and China. Clearly, that has not stopped men from going crazy over her. She became a teacher to many men in their adolescents who couldn’t get a proper sexual education. They learned from her.  She was their ‘teacher.’

With her popularity in China coming at a time when Chinese internet was developing at a neck breaking speed, it didn’t take long bef0re she became a household name in the country. Online communities and streaming sites were coming up one after another, which facilitated the spread of all kind of information, porn included. It appears like Sora chose the right time to rise. She rose at a time when China was opening up to the rest of the world, including in matters sexuality. With sex being a taboo topic in China, coupled with limited sex education in school, porn assumed a key role in educating adolescents about sex and who else than Teacher Aoi was to do just that?

‘The night of Sora Aoi’

The rise of the internet has meant that porn is easily and readily available on various online platforms. One might, therefore, be forgiven for wondering what makes Ms. Aoi stand out amidst so much porn.

While sex is widely regarded as a taboo topic in most parts of Asia, Ms. Aoi never looked down upon herself. Far from it, she actually ‘enjoyed’ her job. Not because she got to ride cocks as much as she liked, but because porn gave her a platform to speak to so many young people in more languages than one. To demonstrate her popularity, the day she opened her Twitter account, on 11 April 2010, to be precise, the news spread through China like a bushfire. The fact that Twitter is banned in China did not deter droves of men from scaling the Great Firewall of government censorship by using VPNs to follow her. The Chinese later labeled that night ‘The Night of Sora Aoi.’ How about that for popularity?

Weibo account

A few months after opening her Twitter account, she went ahead and opened an account in the Chinese version of Twitter, Weibo. She has since garnered more than 18 million followers, which is unbelievably more than David Beckham and Taylor Swift. That in itself is a demonstration of her popularity in the Far East.

Being on social media gave her fans a chance to interact with her. It allowed them unprecedented access to the focal point of their fantasies. She became a fan favorite out of her willingness to openly discuss issues relating to sex and the porn industry. Even when faced with disparaging comments online, Ms. Aoi responds politely and with warmth and this openness and warm-heartedness endeared her to fans.

Sora Aoi belongs to the world

It would be unimaginable and unheard of for a pornstar to play a mitigating role in cooling tensions between two countries. After all, a pornstar is far from a significant member of any society. They just suck dicks for a living, right? Very wrong. Sora Aoi has managed to cool civil and political tensions between Japan and China. But how is it so?

Well, this is how it is. There was a popular phrase going around in the Chinese internet saying; ‘Diaoyu Islands belong to China, and Sora Aoi belongs to the world.’ The two countries have been involved in disputes over some islands known to China as the Diaoyu and to Japan as the Senkaku Islands. There is also a long-standing bitterness because of alleged Japanese brutality during World War 2.  The above phrase alone relieved the political and civil tensions, something the more celebrated members of the community were unable to do. Quite some achievement. It serves as a reminder to young people across Asia that they have more in common than they probably realize.

Engagement with japanese musician

This news must have broken thousands of Chinese hearts. Within 48 hours of her announcement that she was engaged with DJ Non, the post got more than 170,000 comments and 830,000 likes on Weibo. The comments ranged from sweet; “You were one of my teen superheroes” to the creepy; “I will imagine you for at least seven nights to celebrate your happy moment.”

To someone who lives outside the Far East, one thing becomes clear very quickly; to the Chinese men, Sora Aoi is not just another female pornstar. She is much, much more.