-- I’m sure that many of our readers are considering whether or not to come out themselves. Do you have any advice?

Your sexuality is a very important part of your identity. I don’t think we can be happy as long as we're hiding who we really are. I think that, keeping the future in mind, the sooner you come out the easier it is!

The longer that we hide, certain lies build on lies and it becomes harder for us to really speak up and say anything later. That, in turn, makes it harder for us to develop relationships with others. That's why, in my mind, it seems best to spit it out as soon as possible! Even if it’s hard at first.

-- You’re now writing the story of your own experiences as a lesbian in a manga called “Real Bian”. And it seems that you’re very actively involving yourself in LGBT issues as well. Is involving yourself in LGBT activism an important thing to you?

Yes, I’d like to contribute in a lot of ways--like by speaking with the lesbian media, as I am today, or becoming involved in LGBT events whenever I can.

However, while being out, there are things besides LGBT work that I also want to do, like modeling and enjoying my hobbies and just generally continuing to pursue and enjoy my life according to me. I want to let people know that even after you come out, you can still do and enjoy the many things you want to in life.

-- Have you thought about bringing part of your lesbian identity into your gravure modeling so that it’s represented somehow, perhaps by infusing a little “lesbian taste” into its form?

Just recently, we were putting together my 9th DVD and I actually proposed that we put something elementally lesbian into it. I told them I’d like to include another woman and capture some classy yet sweet images of the two of us being playful and close, but with minimal exposure. Sure enough, they had me get involved in the scripting -- and then we filmed it!

Personally, I love Mika Ninagawa’s photographs and when this DVD is finished I want it to convey something similar to what she does -- how one photo can, like a painting, express a whole world or story unto itself.

-- What do you think is the difference between work that assumes a male viewer, as opposed to that made for a female viewer?

It’s assumed that male viewers will want something pornographic come out of two women being together. Not something with actual lesbians, but something that features the kind of overblown lesbians that men imagine to exist.

I’m not interested in having anything to do with that “fantasized lesbian.” I’d like to do pictures that convey a sense of reality but which are also artistic and beautiful at the same time -- something along the lines of the Japanese lesbian movie "Love My Life" or the lesbian drama The L Word.

translated by rayna