Shigeo Tokuda is not the actual name of a certain 74-year-old man who has suffered three heart attacks, has a wife and daughter, and is one of Japan's biggest porn stars. It's his stage name, and he's appeared in over 350 films, unbeknownst to his family.

Yes, Japan is a breeding grown for elder porn, a niche that, thanks to the web, has become less stigmatized, if you also consider S&M porn to have become less stigmatized.

While Americans are excellent in churning out gay twink flicks and college-aged raunch, Japan's exceeding in the old folks market, where demand for elder porn has doubled in the past decade.

The same country that's built its economy on exporting electronics, then, is also propping up its $1 billion porn market with seniors. The growing niche, it appears, can be explained in this way:

"Ryuichi Kadowaki, director of Ruby Inc., which specializes in mature-women titles, says that when the company started offering the genre a few years ago, the term referred to actresses in their late 20s, and that last year it was expanded to those in their 70s. The company believes the advantage of mature titles is their enduring appeal. "Adult videos with young actresses sell well only in the first three months after the release," Kadowaki explains. "On the other hand, mature-women films enjoy a steady, long-term popularity, which after 10 years or so might lead to a best seller." And then there are the cost savings. A popular young actress can earn up to $100,000 per film, while a mature actress is paid only $2,000.

[Time]