Ex-SKE48 member reveals ¥2 million nude photo book almost led to porn work

TOKYO (TR) – Machiko Tezuka, a 31-year-old former member of idol group SKE48, narrowly avoided appearing in an adult video (AV) production after a deal for a nude photo book involved meetings with a man who turned out to be a porn star, reports Tokyo Sports (Aug. 25).

On a talk show broadcast on TV Tokyo late in late August, Tezuka said that she was asked by a major publisher to pose nude for a photo book for a fee of only 2 million yen four years ago.

“Didn’t you think the figure was too low?” wondered comedian Junichi Komoto, the host of the program. Tezuka replied, “I did, yeah, but it was really important to do a photo book, so if getting nude was what it took.”

SKE48 and SDN48

The idol was involved in gravure (pin-up) work prior to joining SKE48 in March of 2009 in a bid to make it big. But since she was 23 at the time, she was stuck on the sidelines after finding herself surrounded by middle school girls.

Tezuka met a similar fate after she quit to join now-defunct pop group SDN48 in December of that same year. She shot to fame on the strength of the track “Abazure,” but the momentum waned. The idol thought she could do better, but her involvement in the gravure and idol trades made her unattractive to agencies.

Managing a café on the side

The aforementioned offer to appear in a nude photo book came during a phone conversation with a then unknown woman while Tezuka was managing a café staffed with idols.

“She talked to me about whether I wanted to release a photo book or a DVD or something like that,” she remembers. “I was suspicious, but she was a woman, and I’ve got my shop [café], so I invited her over. I listened to her pitch and I was still suspicious, but then she brought a man with her [on other occasions].”

The woman and her male companion subsequently spent a fair bit of money at her café, but their conversations began to focus back on the previous offer. “It was sort of them saying, ‘Hey, about the photo book, what do you want to do about it?’” she says.

Later, a customer revealed to Tezuka that the man is a male porn star who appears in a popular series. During a subsequent conversation with the woman, Tezuka learned that preparations for the photo book had been arranged. The woman also inquired, “Is it acceptable if we shoot a movie during the interview?”

Plotting an AV shoot

Tezuka said it through this conversation that she knew the pair was plotting an AV shoot. When Tezuka inquired about whether the interview was in fact an AV production, the woman issued a denial and ceased further contact.

After the nude photo book was published, in two volumes in February, 2014, Tezuka received an offer from AV label Muteki, which specializes in productions featuring celebrities and gravure idols.

“Muteki sent [an offer] to the publisher, but I wasn’t interested in heading in that direction, so I declined,” Tezuka said.