Miyuki Asou, Gravure Idol Turned Japanese Porn Star Commits Suicide

Mikuki Asou was a stage actress as a teenager, and as a young adult became a gravure idol. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, a gravure idol is a young Japanese model who poses for sexually provocative photo shoots. The models are never nude, but mostly pose in bikinis or scant clothing, in a sexually suggestive manner. Basically it’s softcore porn without nudity, think Barely Legal magazine with clothes on.

Unhappy with the level of success she was achieving as a gravure girl, Asou made the transition into performing hardcore Japanese porn in February of 2008. She believed that she would be a much more popular porn star, and would be in higher demand, having worked previously as a model. She was poorly represented, and was immediately thrust into the dirtier side of Japanese video, filming a gang bang rape scene in only her second appearance.

In Japan ex-gravure girls often become famous stars. Many of Asou’s fans were upset about her decision to do hardcore, as she more-or-less ended her chances of ever being a respectable mainstream star. Apparently the career move and the backlash caused her some shame, and she committed suicide a month after filming her first hardcore scene. Police found her in her bathroom, dead from intentional inhalation of hydrogen sulfide gas. The method of suicide Asou used is a growing practice among young people in Japan. By mixing certain detergents and bathroom cleaners, a chemical reaction occurs which produces the hydrogen sulfide gas which is then inhaled.

Asou was 22 years old at the time of her death.

http://gaijinheart.blog100.fc2.com/blog-entry-99.html

http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=4456