For a man carrying a nation’s libido on his shoulders, Japanese porn king “Shimiken” looks as fresh as a daisy.
The 35-year-old cult hero, described by one director as the “Cristiano Ronaldo of sex” and famed for his Herculean powers between the sheets, grins as he tells reporters: “It’s a hard job, but somebody’s got to do it.”
Shimiken — real name Ken Shimizu — has slept with more than 8,000 women for his 7,500 movies, and recently caused a stir by begging for reinforcements, tweeting that there were more Bengali tigers alive than male porn actors in Japan.
Photo: AFP
“We’re an endangered species,” he said in an interview. “There are about 70 male actors to 10,000 women.”
Shimiken’s call to arms was retweeted thousands of times by fans worried that Japan’s US$20 billion “adult video” (AV) industry could be under threat.
“We’re getting rarer and rarer, like pandas,” said the celebrity lothario, who drives a vintage DeLorean sports car — the time machine in Back to the Future — and carries phallus-shaped business cards. “It is boring for viewers to watch the same actors all the time. That’s the biggest worry.”
Looking somewhat like pornography’s answer to British punk rocker Johnny Rotten, with his spiky orange hair, Shimiken insisted he has the staying power to keep on going, despite making an eye-popping two to three films in an average day.
“Usually I sleep with two or three girls a day, so I have sex for about two hours every day,” he said. “It’s my dream job — I’ve been doing this for 17 years and I never get bored of it.”
“It beats working in an office,” added the part-time bodybuilder, peeling off a t-shirt bearing the words “Sex Instructor” to show off his biceps. “I’ll do this until I’m 100.”
He might have to, if the decline in male actors continues.
Fitness fanatic Shimiken follows a strict diet, and the contents of his sports bag reveal protein bars, packets of chicken tenderloin and boiled eggs, as well as Japanese reindeer supplements and a drink with snake extract to boost performance. However, no little blue pills.
“I don’t take Viagra,” said the workaholic actor, who uses luxury face creams to keep his essential kit in tip-top condition, adding that he has only once sustained an injury in the area — when an actress accidentally damaged him with a stiletto. “I don’t need it. Not yet.”
Such is Shimiken’s legendary prowess that actresses swoon at the mention of his name, but few express surprise that Japan struggles to produce more male actors.
“He’s a stud,” busty AV queen Anri Okita said. “He’s a marvel of nature, a genius. Male actors are a dying breed. It’s a physiological matter. Only Superman can do what they do, to have that technique and stamina. Japan can be proud of them.”
Celebrated director Tohjiro, who goes by only one name, said: “Sex is difficult. It’s just like with football. You don’t see hundreds of [Lionel] Messis or Ronaldos running about, do you? It’s the same thing. Only Messi or Ronaldo can score the goals they do,” he said.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to