from www.tokyoreporter.com – Shukan Post closes the year out with a bang, so to speak. Citing an adult video production company employee, the weekly tabloid says that it is common knowledge in the industry that one Japanese woman in 200 has performed in a porn film.

To establish its bearings, the magazine says that in days past one porn actress per 400 female high school and university students was a standard assumption — a figure that represents roughly one woman per graduating class.

To then make the jump to encompass all women, the tabloid breaks down some numbers provided by the production company employee.

“If one considers all AV productions, including those distributed on the Internet and underground DVDs, there are 35,000 productions released each year,” the explains.

That converts to approximately 100 films a day.

“In one year,” the source continues, “between 2,000 and 3,000 new actresses will debut in porn. All told, the industry has 150,000 experienced women. Now, if one considers that between the ages of 19 and 55 Japan has 30 million women then…”

…one may arrive at that quite striking one-in-200 figure.

Shukan Post finds an industry insider who believes that Japan’s strength is within its abundant supply of potential actresses.

“For roving talent scouts, recently it has become easy for them,” says a porn director who specializes in amateur productions featuring women who get picked up on the street.

“The hurdle in getting women to perform in AV has been set very low,” says the director. “In the Shibuya Center-gai (shopping) area there are women who will negotiate on the spot and sign on quickly.”

As to that one-in-200 ratio, the director is more inclined to put it closer to one in 50. “But this is nothing compared to the fuzoku trade, whose numbers are overwhelming,” the director adds.

According to the National Police Agency, there were 23,000 adult entertainment establishments registered in 2010. If roughly 20 women are employed at the average deri heru or soapland club, then the total number of employees is 460,000 women.

When taking into consideration the above population assumptions used in the AV calculations, the figure represents one woman in 65 — indeed, likely shy of the director’s lofty expectations but eye-catching nonetheless.

Shukan Post then backtracks and crunches the numbers to conclude that to mean three gals in each high school and college class are employed in the sex trade…ah, the days of one’s youth. (A.T.)