Koh Masaki
真崎航
Undated portrait of Masaki
BornJuly 20, 1983
Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, Japan
DiedMay 18, 2013(2013-05-18) (aged 29)
Tokyo, Japan
NationalityJapanese
Years active2009–2013
Known forGay pornographic film actor

Koh Masaki (真崎航, Masaki Kō, July 20, 1983 – May 18, 2013) was a Japanese gay pornographic film actor. Among the most prolific and well-known figures in Japanese gay pornography, Masaki was the first Japanese pornographic film actor to openly identify as gay both in his films and in his personal life. He appeared in approximately 200 films in a career that spanned from 2009 to 2013.

Biography

Masaki was born on July 20, 1983[1] in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture.[2] In middle school he began regularly visiting Shinjuku Ni-chōme, Tokyo's gay village, after learning about the neighborhood from an issue of the gay men's magazine Peanuts.[3] He later attended university in Sapporo while simultaneously working as a flight attendant and engaging in sex work. After graduating, he began working as an urisen (rentboy) at a gay bar in Nakano, Tokyo.[3]

In 2009, he was scouted by the production company Japan Pictures and recruited to work as a gay adult film actor.[2][3] While Masaki initially appeared in films as a gōguruman ("goggle man", a term for a pornographic actor who maintains anonymity by wearing swimming goggles or tinted sunglasses),[2] he would quickly forgo this convention to become one of the first gay pornographic film actors in Japan to openly appear in adult films without obscuring his identity.[4] Masaki was inspired by European pornography, and utilized what he described as a "western" performance style in his films; this chiefly involved performing as a self-identified gay man, contrasting typical Japanese gay pornography scenarios focused on degrading or sadistic scenarios involving heterosexual actors.[5] Masaki appeared in approximately 200 films over the course of his career, which spanned from 2009 to 2013.[3]

Beyond his career in pornography, Masaki worked as an underwear model and as a go-go boy.[1] He was an advocate for HIV testing and condom usage,[2][6] and regularly promoted safe sex initiatives in Japan, China, and Taiwan.[3][7] In 2012, he appeared in the music video for artist Ayumi Hamasaki's single "How Beautiful You Are", which depicts him kissing his then-partner Tien Tien.[4][8]

Masaki suffered from peritonitis, and underwent multiple surgeries to treat the condition.[9][10] On May 18, 2013, he died at the age of 29 due to appendicitis and sepsis caused by a ruptured cecum arising from the affliction.[1][9]

Impact

Masaki has been described as one of the most famous and prolific gay pornographic film actors in Japan,[3][4][6][11] with Rich Bellis of The Awl writing that Masaki "established a celebrity persona in a business where such a thing hadn’t existed before".[6] He was the first gay Japanese pornographic film actor to openly identify as gay both in his films and in his personal life,[3][12] and one of the most prominent examples of a gay Japanese pornographic film actor to turn professional after breaking into the industry through nanpa (amateur scouting).[13]

Academic Thomas Baudinette considers Masaki to be "the very definition of an ikanimo-kei" (literally "obviously gay type"),[14] a term in Japanese gay culture denoting physically fit, conventionally attractive gay men who participate in nightlife and follow fashion trends.[15] Baudinette argues that Masaki's popularity can be attributed in part to his typically masculine physical traits[lower-alpha 1] combined with his open identification as gay man, which allowed him "to represent a role model of an explicitly 'masculine' gay subject position for Japanese same-sex attracted men",[17] contrasting a Japanese media landscape that at the time was dominated by "cross-dressing comedians [...] implicitly understood as homosexual who regularly appear as objects of humor on Japanese variety television shows."[14]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Baudinette further identifies Masaki as an "ideal example" of a tai'ikukai-kei, or "gym type", a category of gay men characterized by muscular bodies, short haircuts, and facial hair.[16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "傳奇GV男優真崎航去世　死前最後影像曝光". Now News (in Chinese). May 19, 2013. Archived from the original on June 8, 2013. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Murakami, Hiroshi (June 19, 2019). "今も愛され続けるポルノスター・真崎航 七回忌を迎えた今、彼の歩んだ軌跡を振り返る。". newTOKYO (in Japanese). Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Translated by Baudinette, Thomas. "Japan Pornstar Koh: A transparent mirror and honesty tinged with grief". Badi: 62–63. September 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 Douglas, Benji (June 12, 2013). "Remembering Masaki Koh: What Made The Late Gay Porn Star So Special?". Queerty. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  5. ↑ Baudinette 2020, p. 2.
  6. 1 2 3 Bellis, Rich (June 18, 2013). "Life After Koh Masaki". The Awl. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  7. ↑ Leach, Anna (April 27, 2012). "Japanese pornstars promote safe sex in Taiwan". Gay Star News. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  8. ↑ Koaysomboon, Top (April 5, 2012). "Koh Masaki on His Private Life and How He Came to Work in the Porn Industry". BK. Archived from the original on November 6, 2013. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  9. 1 2 Leach, Anna (May 22, 2013). "Gay Japanese pornstar Masaki Koh dead age 29". Gay Star News. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  10. ↑ Kinser, Jeremy (May 18, 2013). "Koh Masaki, Gay Porn Star, Dead At 29". Queerty. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  11. ↑ Baudinette 2020, p. 1.
  12. ↑ Baudinette 2021, p. 133.
  13. ↑ Baudinette 2021, p. 119.
  14. 1 2 Baudinette 2021, pp. 1–2.
  15. ↑ Baudinette 2021, p. 58.
  16. ↑ Baudinette 2020, p. 4.
  17. ↑ Baudinette 2021, p. 2.

Bibliography

External media

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