The Biggest Dick Festival in Japan

Kelly Shibari, of BBW porn fame happened to be visiting Japan in April and she told me that she was spending her day at Kanamara Matsuri, which isn't the only festival of its kind in Japan but it is the most well known, especially to tourists and resident foreigners as another Japonistic ecleticism. 

I was already aware of the spiritual ritual associated with fertility in Japan as Uwajima, next to my mothers hometown also has not only a similar festival in August but an entire sexuality museum that i had already visited with my Aunt, no less. (another blog, another day). I was heavily jet lagged from just coming back from Los Angeles 2 days before and I also caught a cold from the airplane so nothing, not even dicks everywhere could cheer me up but I definitely wanted to see the event "in the flesh."  I caught the subway from Tokyo 45 minutes to Kanagawa.  I already missed the best parts of the event it seemed, but being sick and tired and far away by public transportation, i was glad i made it.  The parade starts at 10am and then there are fun festivities such as the daikon radish carving contest that i missed! I roamed around in a head cold jet lagged haze and was so surprised at how many male bodied foreigners there were. Perhaps every male gaijin in Kanto was at this event it seemed.  It was very interesting to see Japanese girls and some guys sucking on dick shaped lollipops out in broad daylight since Japanese sexuality is usually reserved for private and specific times and places, perhaps this was one of those acceptable ones.  I got 2 pink penis candles and they are sitting on my altar, next to all things sacred at my home in Tokyo.  I have a fantasy placed by porn conditioning of having 2 dicks in my mouth so placing them on the altar helps to send that message to the Universe so i might be able to manifest that reality!  You would think it might be easy but, like many things seen and only done in porn it is a lot harder for any real dick owners i have ever known to simultaneously penetrate my mouth.  Ive asked! I promise i have.

There was just a lot of beer drinking and hanging out, a Kawasaki wedding type band was on stage playing their hits.  I couldn't drink and it was extremely crowded and hot.  The Japanese people were so excited that they could view and worship a natural part of the human body without GOVERNMENT SANCTIONED PIXELIZATION covering its beautiful shape for once. Indeed, this festival and ritual has beem part of Japans history for many centuries since Edo.   

During this period, the river town of Kanagawa was a port town that was well known for tea house brothels.  The prostitutes of the area would pray at the local temple to be protected from venereal diseases as well as fertility for hopeful mothers. 

Today, the large pink phallus has a name (Elizabeth) and a purpose (to highlight LGBT awareness by having the mikoshi (penis pallaquin) carried by male to female transwomen. Elizabeth is donated by the local queer bar so this part serves as a mini queer pride parade element in a sea of heteronormativity.  Luckily, sex workers in Japan today can use much more than prayer to protect themselves from STI/AIDS but the contemporary festivities seem to overshadow the spiritual and historical origins. But, sho ga nai (it cannot be helped). As i said, as a foreign Japanese American its great to see any sex positivity out in the open. 

Selling Used Panties to Grandpa p2

He asked to see my ass and made a grimace of pure disgust when I showed him. He grabbed his own belly roll to indicate that I was chubby.  He asked me my age and because I told him the truth which wasn't within the 12-30 age range that his clientele fantasized, and upon hearing the actual number which for some reason, I didn't lie about, I was even more disqualified.  Contrary to the blog post I had read, being of mixed race Japanese descent set me kilometers behind the true Japanese school girl in the panty selling race.  This exchange was definitely about me being a strong American diva who stood in stark opposition to the culture of the fantasized Japanese girl panty wearer. Sex work had evolved me into a diva warrior and I would never take it back for the days of living in a powerless world of feeling abused and victimized by the licentious garbage men who would whistle at me as a teenager.  Tales of empowered teenagers in Japan (ko-gals) who sold their panties to places like this and went on genki non sexual dates (engeiki-jo) with older men reached us in the U.S and I knew better than to think that the opportunistic diva spirit didn't reside under the skirt of some of the super kawaii girls too.

I came here for the experience of selling my used panties and I was not going to leave until I had completed that sale.  Grandpa let me take photos of the shop, which was a small room packed with school uniforms from different schools, some known as more elite than others, a large box of used underwear, and clotheslines with women's polaroids next to their associated pairs of underwear.  The blog post said bloody period underwear would sell, but the grandpa on shift told me otherwise.  I was so intrigued that blood stained underwear would sell according to blood type that i posted about this on my Facebook with quite a stir. In Asian countries blood type seems to be a determinant for dating matches because they believe it is something like horoscopes.  In Western countries, even if we blood test often for STDs none of us are ever told what our blood type is, I even checked to see if it was listed on my birth certificate and it wasn’t on there. This was another unfortunate thing for me as the seller because I had plenty of blood stained pairs of used underwear I'd love to off to the grandpas of Japan.  I went to one of the hugest comic cons in Tokyo recently with one of my friends and we observed so much of this school girl fascination in different illustrations it seemed like not being into underage girls was the true crime. “I'm just not interested in 12 year old lesbians,” my fellow American male said to me while we passed a poster of two anime girls in a wide eyed naked embrace fresh out of a bathroom together. “I bet this stuff would actually be confiscated if you tried to bring it back to the U.S as child porn.” It made me laugh to hear something so matter of fact in a non primal direction from a male.  He actually pointed out the fact that TSA inspectors are trained to confiscate material that pictured this scene exactly. But, to the Japanese viewer it was normal.  I had enough to write my blog piece and I was ready to leave and not return to this joint. The final selling process was similar to selling CDs in that it required your address and signature. When I finally received my 1500 yen I promptly headed down the stairs to look for a nearby bar to have a drink and message friends about the crazy and somewhat humiliating cultural experience. I assured myself that I got something more than a little cash out of the experience, I had some fun and definitely learned something new and strange.

Selling Used Panties to Tokyo Grandpa part 1

It was half out of curiosity and half out of financial necessity, because sometimes even tsking the train in Tokyo was expensive without clients. I had heard about Shinjuku Ropes from this cute European guy who was a guest at the same Asakusa hostel I stayed at for a couple weeks.  On his last day in Japan, he happily shared that his last stop in town was to buy a couple pairs of used panties from this notorious used panty and fetish place that, he suggested was a place I could also sell my used undies if I wanted.  He warned that it wasn't for a lot of money since he had bought 2 pairs for USD $7 but it might be worth checking out if I was in town.  I heard him say the compensation was something close to USD $15, which would barely cover the cost of replacing the sold underwear. He did warn me that the kinds they wanted were the big white brief styles, which were the kinds that were popular for upskirt peeking under a schoolgirl uniform, but on the day that I happened to wake up in Shinjuku with nicely worn underwear I was wearing thongs. When I asked him for the address of the place, he sent me this very detailed blogpost written by a Japanese Australian woman, which sounded a lot like a piece that could have been written by me, except I didn't fit grandpas fetish so my experience couldnt have been more different! The blog said that I could earn up to $40 per pair for showing my face, $30 if I hid my face and the maximum if i let him photograph me peeing in my underwear around my ankles. Of course, having had so many years as a pro I was down to maximize my experience there and ready to show grandpa what he wanted (even though in the U.S this kind of sex work would get me $150-200, i was there for the cultural experience and content for this blog, so I had already knew I wasnt in it for the money).

Upon arrival into the 2nd floor of Ropes, grandpa looks at my tattooed arms and says I don't qualify to even do the photos because Japanese schoolgirls don’t have tattoo sleeves, so the most he could offer without photos was $15 a pair. In Japan, having tattoos is a serious taboo but this place wasn't capitalizing on THAT taboo. Ropes specialized in the taboo that Westerners found hard to process because for us sexualization of minors is not only illegal but also disgusting and wrong and not in that kinky taboo way. In fact, most of the anime porn featuring underage school girls can't even be sold in the U.S. But, at Ropes, you can browse through entire racks of school girl uniforms from different schools, PE short sets, swimsuits, white sneakers and various other authentic apparel.

Grandpa is hesitant and slow moving, but not because of age. He's probably in his 50s but looks in his 40s like an Asian retired man typically does. He doesnt look like a Hollywood "Grumpy Old Man" type. I have to negotiate hard to make this 1500 yen. At first he wanted to offer only 1300. i had to use all my Japanese language skills to hustle this sale. it felt like my stripper days when Id have to work so hard to get that $20 dance on a slow $80 nite. And that is the thing that truly distinguishes me from being Japanese. I’m not shy, unsure, giggly and soft spoken. i've been a pro for over 15 yrs, travelled around the U.S and beyond doing various types of sex work. I knew what people have paid to experience my sexuality and I wasn't going to leave there without 1500 yen at least.  The entire negotiation took about 30 minutes of hard hustling for the sale. It wasn't entirely humiliating even though it could have been. I tried to make it fun, just like I did in the days doing lap dance sales.

MANGA KISSA THIS!!

What is "MANGA-KISSA?" (short for Manga kissaten--comic book cafe) It's a distinctly Japanese convenience, open 24 hrs with private computer workstations, showers, vending machine food and underwear/toiletries to buy and other conveniences designed for when you are stuck after last train or can’t go home for whatever reason. Unlike the male only capsule hotels, manga kisa are welcome environments for men and women.  Comfy office chairs designed to pass out in, headphones of course, gigantic screen I haven't used anywhere to work in MONTHS. i've been doing EVERYTHING by smart phone including writing these blogs so when I got in front of the 24” screen I was having the opposite of withdrawal!  I got the tip off from my new J roommate when i needed to find a place to print paperwork for my visa application and talking about missing Japanese 12am train curfew and what options there were aside from getting a LOVE HOTEL for $65 for yourself.  After drinking and dancing in nearby gay Shibuya (which was a red light district in Edo era Japan) I rented a cube for 6 hrs for 2400 yen ($12) took a 90 min nap in my underwear and then woke up and started to watch Beyonce videos while printing! Such amazing convenience I've discovered. If only i knew about this when I was looking for a room in Okayama. It's not a bed but it's not bad for the price, they do have other rooms that are only slightly more with a couch or tatami mat area that one could lay down and nap for a few hours. I still haven't got my laptop shipped to me so this is going to be a place I come back to work in the future even if I'm not needing timekiller til first train in Japan.  Things you learn only after being here or until someone local gives you a tip off that it even exists. Id seen some signs for these places and i swore they were for men only to jack off in the showers reading porn comics.  Why on earth else would you need a computer with internet and a shower in the same place? But once settling into my private cubicle, i noticed it was a safe and female friendly environment.  They have a makeup room mirror vanity with nice lighting, flat irons and blow dryers. So many things in Japan I so wish we had in the U.S! When I get a client call in the middle of something else I might be doing I would have to go dive into what I use to call my HOE BAG which had a wrinkle free summer dress, some platforms I hardly wear and extra make up so if I happen to be out sweaty and biking across town or hanging out with family I could do a Clark Kent maneuver into a local mall bathroom and come out ready for client work.  Having a hoe bag requires having a vehicle to store such a bag in however, and hardly anyone in Japan, including me has one of those so that's why these places are so great. Sometimes I want to dress up super sexy like I am used to back in LA, but its not like I have a car to park and make my grand entrance into where Im needing to go in Japan. I have to walk 20 min to my local station, ride an hour worth of trains usually just to get to the happening part of town. And after i walking back in mid afternoon wearing a Marilyn Monroe dress in small town Japan definitely stands out as the super long walk of shame.  Lucky my ego is pretty strong, but still Id rather have a change of clothes for the unexpected overnighter.  Manga Kissa is one of these things not marketed to foreigners. No English staff or signage.  If you need help, you better have a decent command of Japanese so you can get the help you need. I have a 50% competency in the language, but technical help can sometimes be difficult even in English at Kinkos right?

Turns out that since the manga kissa is designed for people to crash who miss last train, like everything else in Japan, you've got to BE QUIET!! Audio on headphones, phone on silent. So can you jack off under your computer desk silently? I suppose so, if you learned that skill as a young boy hiding from your parents or something but I guess If I were a dude, I'd head to a shower instead. Ears like mine are adept at hearing sex sounds and I'd be able to tell if the guy next to me were rubbing one out probably.  You definitely couldn't have sex with another person in your cube or in the shower here. Its heavily staffed and camera monitored. I've been told that lots of poor people live in the manga kissas, and I'd imagine it's a saving grace for many transient or drug using folks, tho Im sure if you looked too scraggly they would not allow you in.  You can hear people snoring loudly so luckily I carry ear plugs in my wallet so I was able to crash for a couple hours in my chair.

Jenna does doggy with anime school girls (VR PORN JAPAN DEMO NIGHT!! )

Japan's porn industry is reported as being double the business profit of the U.S (20 billion annually), all within a country that boasts HALF the population and porn that by Japanese law requires ALL GENITAL/PENETRATION be pixelated, including the genitals of animated characters! This across the board treatment being the most noticeable difference between the U.S and Japan, because in America cartoons like The Simpsons and Southpark somehow use the fact that they are "just a cartoon" as some kind of pass through the politically correct loophole; and they are able to present blatantly racist, sexist and otherly inappropriate for kids humor in a variety of ways.

In July of this year, a VR PORN event in Tokyo had to be cancelled due to overcrowding so when I an invite to try out the headgear needed to create the VR PORN experience, I decided I'd pay the $25 entry fee and brave the Japanese only presentation (i am only 50% fluent) just to get photos for blogging and see what all the uproar was about. Of course, if you have been in Japan for more than a couple weeks, you notice that they love to line up for promotions and and make a perfect fan base for early releases because they are so used to waiting in long lines to get access to what they want.  To truly create the ultimate VR porn experience, you would probably want more than just the visuals to embark on a truly stimulated journey. You could invest in the headgear and a full body suit or just separate elements that cover the genitals and gloves for the touching/fondling portion of your VR porn experience to be complete.  At the event I went to, there was only head gear. Each person was able to experience about 15 minutes of VR porn with an anime school girl wearing the VR headgear in front of a small room of about 25 other guys.  Options included choosing her to be naked, with school uniform or panties only however in accordance with Japanese law, her naked pussy was pixelated. She would repeat the same phrases over and over like a robot. “I'm scared” and “It feels good.” You could choose from a few standard positions: cowgirl, reverse cowgirl and doggy.  But, repetition doesnt seem to bother anyone in Japan, as the same train and city announcements get burned into your brain daily and eventually you don't even get annoyed by it!

If you tried to do your own thing with VR Nya Nya chyan all you would see was a mess of pixels on your VR screen. Since our demo didn't have the VR gloves or VR genital connector, the amount of stimulation received had to do with the skill of the viewer's imagination sensory skills. Having studied Tantric energy sex made me adept in getting sensation without direct stimulation. I found the doggy style position the most satisfying and realistic of the 3, however doing anything aside from a simple bouncing of the mannequin body was the only option that cued the VR models “fuck response.” I liked looking down at her ass bouncing back on my genitals. That may have been the best, most realistic part. Grabbing her hair and slapping her ass from behind, mainly a Western variation standard of doggy and not really done too much in Japan (being scared and resistant are more the standards here) were the little details viewers could not indulge in to personalize the experience.  Overall, I felt like the whole thing could use a lot of improvement.  You might play the 3D snowboarding game at the arcade and feel more virtual reality thrills actually. That game achieves the speed thrill, fear AND vertigo experienced in actual snowboarding.  Once the rider steps up onto the board you feel a virtual speed and weightlessness. You could probably smash your cock against a monitor at just the right height in a POV 2 girl blow job scene and get the same affect as the VR porn technology as it is now.  Sorry to burst your virtual hopes, but I'd advise you to wait for the 2.0 upgrade before stampeding any other otaku to get a glimpse.

PAUL MCCARTNEY AND A GOOD TAIMA (cannabis in Japanese)

Paul McCartney learned in the summer of 79 when he tried to bring a half pound of marijuana into Tokyo that Japan doesn't fuck around with their drug laws. Even if it was the U.S post war treaty that was the cause of the imposed ban, Japan STRICTLY imposes punishment to any growth, sale, distribution and research of the hemp plant in Japan. Not even famous celebrities, like Mccartney, former member of the greatest band of all time gets a pass.  In 2010, Paris Hilton, one of the wealthiest brand ambassadors whose family name has business interests in hotels all over major cities in Japan also did not get a pass, as she was denied an entry visa because of her recent drug convictions in Vegas. She didn't even have drugs in her suitcase like McCartney did.  Japan, like Canada and their DUI ban turns away those that have prior convictions from the privilege of touring, entertaining, branding or leisure visiting. Unlike America, fame and money do not equal power. Law and treaties seem to speak louder than ALL.

After WW2, all hemp plants were destroyed and the brainwashing negating any positive or spiritual uses of marijuana in Japan began circa 1945 and still remains. There are chants and temples dedicated to cannabis in Japan, part of the Shinto religion that is the second most influential religion aside from Buddhism that speaks of the cannabis plant as a spiritual entity. Bob Marley and I and many others would concur.  Cannabis helps to open pathways of energy used in ritual and meditation for Rastas and Hindus as well.   VICE did a great piece on the history of cannabis in Japan, how the blatant refusal to see the plant as medicine has limited them in the place of modern scientists all proving that cancer and cannabis have a beneficial healing link and how the current position of marijuana as a dangerous drug is laughable considering how much Japanese use and abuse alcohol and tobacco. Before the war, hemp was used to make strong rope which was used to laboriously pull giant stones to create the great samurai castles destroyed  by Allied forces during the war. Hemp rope was replaced by U.S imported nylon rope. And what we see in Japan today, like the castles themselves are replicated replacements of what was destroyed before.

My desire to live in Japan was stronger than my need to stay stoned in LA so i miraculously proved to myself that I could actually go longer than 2 months (my previous record) without smoking weed and going crazy. Although I often considered myself addicted to the substance, I have been surviving without it for nearly 3 months.  I was well aware that smoking weed was a buffer and an escape from the daily stresses of being a sex worker, for creativity as an artist and intensifying sex and food. Despite the stereotypes of being unproductive, which might be true for some stoners, for me, it made me numb out the pain of working so hard, long and late hours, bad clients and non payment...and sometimes, it was just used as a really FUCKING good time! Like Paul McCartney, I would take risks which sometimes ended up being stupid mistakes so I wouldn't have to fear being without my cannabis comfort companion for any amount of time.  I did not always (but usually I would) get away with it and would have to face the consequences of my actions. I was questioned for 5 hrs by Canadian immigration trying to drive thru with a pipe and then finally turned away from a visit to Vancouver the way Paris was turned away from Tokyo.  A friend of mine spent 2 months in Japanese jail recently trying to bring 10 grams into the country. 9 days for Paul and he brought half a pound in the 80s so I suppose fame and fortune did offer him a little bit of leeway.  My friend was in a Nagoya jail for 2 months! I've heard of it being around for sale here. But its $70 for ONE GRAM. So it is pretty much the same as quitting for me.  If Im going to pay cocaine prices, id rather be doing cocaine or nothing at all. I'll wait til I return back to LA. I try not think about it much, my brain has honestly adjusted. It's like having sex without a condom, it may feel amazing but its just usually not an option so, despite any stubbornness that some want to retain, your brain can and will adjust to get what it can out of this life. Humans are pleasure seeking survivors that way.

ANONYMOUS LOVE and Pixelated Genitalia

I had a client meet me in Yokohoma so both of us could experience our first Japanese LOVE HOTEL.  In Japan LOVE HOTELS are hotels designed and designated for sexual activity. Many Japanese live at home with their parents or family members til way into their 30-40s OR sometimes have roommates that they may not want to share their cross dressing or sex worker habits with. Japan is a very quiet place as far as the people go. The city itself with its lights and announcements and blaring of ad jingles and various other senses is LOUD but the Japanese who have been born and raised here have learned the rules of QUIET.   They don't talk on the trains. They hardly walk and talk on their phones when they are in public. Some break the rules and act normal and have an audible conversation and others will pass messages to each other using LINE even when they're sitting next to each other.  Japan has made me a much much more quieter person in every way.

Most homes, even with young people observe the LITERALLY UNSPOKEN social order of quiet after 10pm, loud music in headphones only and do not disturb those that are usually in close proximity to you.  Japan may be the home of the Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift, but I have yet to hear a lowered flashy fixed up car with a booming bass system that shakes the hairs and nerves of everyone it passes, spinning in a screeching donut for no reason but to get attention.  This happens daily in the big American cities, like LA where I come from. Sound is an extension of masculinity/ego and the louder the ride, the more neck breaking you do as you cruise, the better for you (the opposite is true in Japan).   The only reason why I can follow some of the rules here is because I didn't bring my home stereo system and the only speaker I have is the one on the back of my Android phone.  I did bring my guitar and I sing and strum before 9pm but then I stop because someone, a housemate usually will come downstairs and tell me to stop.  I just moved into a house with 4 other guys a couple weeks ago and I haven't had the inkling to bring anyone home yet but if I did...the way I have sex would be so counter culture to quiet Japan, HOWEVER since the disturbance would be sexual I doubt anyone would have the nerve to say anything to me.  I guess this is often true in loud ass American sharehouses. How do you tell your roommate or neighbor to stop fucking so loud...or.. do you? The Japanese porn I've watched, the Japanese girls like to whimper and say no constantly, and of course all genitalia is by law required to be pixelated.  I fuck like a Western porn star because that's what my brains eroticism was trained on from my early ages of masturbation (started at 5, called phone sex lines and looked at mags at 8), in FACT I have a hard time with non expressive partners because I'm so aurally fixated.  If it were a one nighter, I'd actually also probably rent a LOVE HOTEL if I could because my home is a pretty far trek from the train station and central Tokyo so it would have to be someone I was more seriously dating to want to go through the hassle.  And renting a LOVE HOTEL similar to the reason couples rent hotel rooms in the U.S is so they can let loose and not give a fuck while they hang from the chandelier and SCREAM AND FUCK (as nature intended it...).

But the JAPANESE LOVE HOTEL is a breed alll its own. And having worked in the client LOVEWORK field for over 15 yrs, I really wished something like this existed in the U.S for us pros.

MOST LOVE HOTELS ARE MADE TO SEEM STAFFLESS. The staff are watching you behind closed doors from a camera, but you don't interact with them to get into your room. Everything is by vending machine. You see a small picture of the room and the price which is either in 3 hr “REST” increments or 8-10 hr “STAY” 3 hrs can be as low as $45 bit remember Japans economy is in the shambles lately and its about 3x the price in any major city compared to Tokyo.

Rooms have different themes depending on where you go.  There are notorious ones with higher prices themed for those with rubber/PVC or one that looks like a classroom or inspired by Greece or Taj Mahal.

2 doors in the entry way.  The first door opens an entryway corridor where you remove your shoes and see another vending machine, the closing vending machine where you pay your additional cost of any upsells before checking out.  And you can't leave the first door until you pay your bill! Upsells include, purchase of cosplay outfits, BDSM gear, sex toys, drinks. All items are DISCREETLY LEFT FOR YOU in this entryway area and you never see who left your 18” dong and gimp outfit and they never see you.  And this system is designed for the train commuter as well who can't possibly have lugged a heavy full size gimp outfit in his office briefcase.

Tubs are usually really nice, heart shaped with free oils and salts in the lobby that you can take. Also bottles of lube are stocked down there for you to “rent” i.e put back after your session. (again so perfect for workers!)

Since this was our first time, I needed guidance and had to call the staff for assistance out of their closet offices. They were a bit annoyed with us but hey I had questions.  The beds are crappy but though the rate says REST im sure thats not what most people are there to do. 

Watch this cute video of me riding a LOVE HOTEL "EXERCISE MACHINE"