Ai Iijima, dead at 36
 

Japanese porn actress-turned-AIDS activist found dead

TOKYO (AFP) — Former Japanese porn actress Ai Iijima, who campaigned for AIDS awareness in a nation where it is still widely seen as a foreign disease, was found dead at her home Wednesday, police said.
The body of the 36-year-old, who retired in March last year from a lucrative career as a television personality, was found lying in the lounge of her condominium in downtown Shibuya by a friend.
"There were few signs of foul play. We will conduct a post mortem tomorrow to determine if the cause of her death was an illness, suicide or something of a criminal nature," a police spokesman said.
Iijima, who was also known in the rest of Asia, gained popularity at home as a straight-talking character since her debut on television variety shows in the 1990s.
Her AIDS awareness campaign started around the time she published the autobiographical "Platonic Sex" in 2000, describing her younger days as a porn actress and club hostess.
The book has sold some two million copies and been made into a movie and a television drama.
Citing kidney problems and a lack of motivation, Iijima retired from the show and television business world but continued her AIDS campaign.
"In Japan, HIV-positive patients are increasing year by year and many people's lives are lost," she wrote on her blog on December 2. "Is your boyfriend alright? Is your girlfriend alright? Why don't you take an AIDS test to know yourself."
She stopped writing her blog on December 5 and was seen at an AIDS seminar in a provincial city the following day.
In a recent interview with the weekly Asahi, Iijima said she had just borrowed money from an investment back and would "open a shopping site dealing with cosmetics."

Its too bad that she wasn't around longer to continue her AIDS work. Its amazing how much activism has waned in the last 10 years, just because people survive it longer.

I agree. People in Japan don't really think about AIDS, so it is sad to lose a spokeswoman for that.

Oh that's horrible :/
I'll pray for her family.

In case you don't recognize the name...

This subject came up recently among my Korean and Japanese friends here. Those raised in Dallas were stunned by the lack of information their peers that are here on student visas had on not only AIDS, but all STDs, and sex in general.

I thought the girls were exaggerating until something one of the guys said while we were out drinking. It was such outdated medical information I sobered up instantly, as I tried to mask the shocked look on my face when I realized he was not joking. At least in this case, the age difference gave my a privilege others didn't have - an older male mutual friend that I could have talk to the young man later.

In the '90s I was an AIDS educator and coming across otherwise intelligent and well educated people in their 20s with no concept of what they are risking is unnerving. Hopefully the activism this incident seems to have sparked may actually lead to some informal group discussions aimed at getting our friends up to speed. And I fully intend to use this news about Ai Ijima to keep them talking about it with each other.