Japanese porn-star turned model Madoka Ozawa (
Arriving in Taiwan on Feb. 26 for a third whirlwind visit, Ozawa has received overwhelming public adulation and huge media coverage everywhere she has gone. She has been offered a number of chances to star in TV dramas, act on the big screen and release a pop album.
Ozawa's sudden rise can be attributed to her former role as a porn star. But with the help of her canny agent, the former porn star is set to bid farewell to her past.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Shih Yao-ju (時珧如), general manager of Top Link International, Ozawa's show-business agent in Taiwan, said yesterday, "The reason we chose Ozawa to turn her into a performer of many talents is because she characterizes the special attributes of innocence, sweetness and beauty that make her a perfect choice for an idol."
"Furthermore, we want someone from abroad, someone who is a new face to Taiwanese audiences. And it is evident that everybody likes Ozawa," Shih said.
"She stopped making porn films in Japan a while ago, and we are very committed to this process of transformation for her," Shih said.
FILE PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Ozawa first seized the media spotlight at a car exhibition show last December when she appeared in sexy bikinis and created a stir among Taiwanese male viewers.
Riding on the back of her tremendous popularity, Ozawa later went to a military base on Kinmen Island to entertain the troops, marking the first time an adult-film actress was invited to entertain Taiwan military troops.
During Ozawa's stay on Kinmen, she received a welcoming reception from Magistrate Lee Chu-feng (李炷烽) who said the former porn star's arrival could help boost tourism on Kinmen.
Lee invited Ozawa to take part in promotion for the renowned Kaoliang Liquor (高梁酒). She also modeled for a wedding dress show and publicly sought a husband in Taiwan.
Commenting on the phenomenon that a former porn star from Japan could create such huge buzz among Taiwanese audiences and whether there is a change in social values about sex, advisor to the Gender Sexuality Rights Association and professor at the National Central University Josephine Ho (何春蕤) said there is no need to use different standards in judging an adult video star.
Ho said it reflected that the general public in Taiwan is mature-minded and non-discriminatory toward people in different walks of life.
"Conservatives such as politicians or middle-aged women who discriminate against Ozawa are too narrow-minded," Ho said.
"Adult film is a different form of art, equal to the art form presented in the films at the Cannes Film Festival and other award-winning films," said Ho.
The feminist Ho said, "I see her new trials in a series of public activities in Taiwan as a positive development."
"It is absolutely right to teach the public to know that everybody has the dignity to participate in any social activity," Ho said.
Ho said sex workers cannot be discriminated against because of what they do.
"During the Sino-Japanese war, a number of anti-Japanese war rallies were led by prostitutes. It was because, among women, only sex workers dared to take to the streets to protests," Ho said.
Ho recognized Ozawa's contribution in entertaining the military troops in Kinmen.
"If she is willing to offer her contribution toward the public interest, why not?" Ho said.
Ozawa is considered the second Japanese AV [adult video] star known in Taiwan to embark on the transformation from the porn business to showbiz after Iijima Ai (飯島愛) who became a famous TV personality in Japan after quitting adult films.
Wang Hao-wei (王浩威), a renowned writer, social critic and psychiatrist, yesterday said that Ozawa's unprecedented popularity in Taiwan might be due to her distance from the audience.
"She is relatively less well-known in Taiwan, unlike other Japanese porn actress such as Asami Kanno [former porn actress] (楊思敏), who was in the spotlight more often [since she switched her performing career to Taiwan]," Wang said.
"Distance creates mystique for her, and that's why there is such a buzz among her male audiences," Wang said.
Wang said it is common for girls like Ozawa to be invited to entertain troops.
"During World War II, there were also many cover girls [of porn magazines] invited to entertain troops. Marilyn Monroe did it too," Wang said.
Wang said the huge amount of media coverage on Ozawa reflected that the attitudes of the general public in Taiwan are softening.
Madoka Ozawa's Taiwan agent said Ozawa is prepared to take part in a series of acting roles in TV dramas and music performances, mostly of the pop variety ,in Taiwan.
Ozawa will stay in Taiwan until March 16, before returning to shoot her photography album in April, said the agent.
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not