Interview with Mana Sakura: “AV is my absolute day job,” she says, “but that’s why I still write.
This is the second part of an interview with the one and only AV actress and novelist, who published her 10th book “Ano Kowari” (Kawade Shobo Shinsha) on February 12, about “childbirth and pregnancy,” the theme of her latest work, and the relationship between her acting career and her writing career.
Nominated for a literary award
In February, she will celebrate her 15th anniversary as an adult film actress and her 10th anniversary as a novelist, making a strong presence as a talented two-fisted writer.
I always liked writing, and I used to write diaries and columns as a way to take a break. I got my start when an editor I met during an interview asked me, ‘Why don’t you write a novel? That was the start of it. Looking at it now, I am embarrassed to say that the quality is so low (laughs). I never dreamed that I would have a future writing as a career.
Although she is modest, her works have been nominated twice for famous literary awards in the field of pure literature. She is known for her sensitive expression of emotion and her ability to describe a scene.
In the early days of my writing, there were some words that I chose with a certain stature,” she said. However, as my works have been published, I have become more and more aware that I don’t need to worry about what people think of me, and I think my writing has gradually become more unpretentious. However, even now, when I go for a review check, I am often told that I have made mistakes in Japanese, and sometimes I wish there was a hole in the page so I could just crawl in.
Writing saves my life.
On the other hand, she also says, “Writing a novel is no ordinary task. Why does she, who is often called the most popular porn star, go to such great lengths to continue writing novels? We asked her about the source of her strength.
When I started this job, I realized that being an adult film actress is a job that exposes you to the public eye. One after another, people would conveniently label me as ‘this is the kind of person you are. As I continued to experience this, I had more and more opportunities to look at myself. This may be similar to the process of exploring and verbalizing the inner life of a character when writing a novel.
In other words, being an adult film actress is “front” and writing is “back. The two professions are inextricably linked.
Personally, I think that being an adult film actress is “work,” not only the time spent filming, but also the time spent dealing with the ill will and favor that is directed at you by the public. Even compliments can contain derogatory glances, so it is essential to go through the process of sorting things out for myself in my own words.
So I am sure that if I had not been an adult film actress, I would never have written a novel. Unlike an essay, in which the author writes her own thoughts, a novel allows me to project my thoughts onto another character without showing “me. ……
In the world of pornography, where images tend to be defined by others and the settings are made up, novels allow me to freely express the world as I see it without showing my image. I feel that this is what saves me.”
Writing is an essential part of continuing to be an AV actress. Writing is an irreplaceable place for Sakura.
My main occupation is being an AV actress, but this year marks the 10th anniversary since I started writing novels. More and more people tell me, ‘Both are your day job. But I still like myself as an adult film actress, and I consider it my absolute main profession. My desire to continue it for a long time has not changed since my debut.
I write every day, even if it’s just one line.
How do you balance your main job of working in adult films and writing novels?
Since I work exclusively for a manufacturer, I have only released one AV film a month for the past 14 years. I also shoot only one or two days a month. I also appear at events related to my work, appear on variety shows, and recently I have been called upon to be both an AV actress and a writer, but I still try to write every day.
It is not a regular job, so the amount I write changes from day to day, but when I had an interview with Akutagawa Prize-winning author Shinya Tanaka (53), I was deeply impressed by his words, “It is important to write a sentence or even a word every day. Since then, I have tried to write every day, even on my smartphone, as much as possible.
The way he writes has also changed dramatically.
I used to write in the middle of the night on the spur of the moment,” he says. But as my routine changed, I gradually shifted to writing in the morning. After all, my mind is clearer and I can concentrate better in the morning. …… So now I often write after I wake up and walk the dog. If I eat lunch at noon, my blood sugar goes up, and now I get sleepy. ……
The more I get beat up, the more I want to write.
I will continue to write in order to continue being an adult film actress. With a refreshed expression on her face, she is anxious about her next work. When we asked her if she had already decided on the theme she wants to write about, she said, “I want to write about a world I haven’t seen yet. What does she mean by that?
She replied, “Until now, I have written about things that are connected to my reality, such as pornography, pregnancy, and childbirth. I have often picked up and elaborated on my own inner thoughts, so I think it would be great if I could write about something that I have never seen at all.
In my imagination, it would be like the world of “Harry Potter,” where everything is fictitious, including the world in which the story takes place and the common knowledge of that world. How can I write a story that I can construct from scratch? I think there are things that I can write because I am me, but I also want to develop the ability to write as if I had seen a world that I have not seen.
Sakura says that she always writes her novels with the thought, “I’m always trying to write as if I’m running out of things to write, so there’s nothing I can write next time, and this will probably be my last novel. Even so, he says that in the end, he never runs out of things he wants to write.
I always have new things I want to write,” he says. It’s strange, but the more people say things to me, the more interested I become in them and in myself. Of course I am hurt by abusive language, but ‘It’s no longer so savory when it gets to this point,’ and I want to find out the psychology and the real image of the people who throw such words at me. This isn’t ironic or anything, but they all inspire me to write novels.”
An adult film actress and a novelist. It would no longer be possible to talk about the existence of Mana Sakura without either of them.
In the YouTube video, the actual interview is shown, as well as some behind-the-scenes stories that could not be included in the article.
Ano Koko no Kawari” (written by Mana Sakura, published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha)
Interview and text： Nanako PHOTO： Takehiko Kohiyama