User:Cherryblossom1982/Temp

Paradise TV

Industry	Pornography
Founded	1998
Founder	Michiyuki Matsunaga
Headquarters	Tokyo , Japan
Products	Pornographic films
Revenue	$14 million (2005)
Number of employees	about 80
Website	http://www.paradisetv.co.jp/

Paradise TV (パラダイステレビ, Paradaisu Terebi) is a Japanese adult TV production company and broadcaster located in Tokyo. It has been publicized in Japan and in Western countries for its outrageous programs.

Company history and information

Paradise TV was founded in 1998 by Michiyuki Matsunaga who has frankly stated "I started Paradise to make money". Paradise TV broadcasts 24 hours a day via Japan's largest satellite TV provider SKYPerfecTV!, producing some 60-70 different shows per month. In 2005 Paradise had 40,000 subscibers with additional customers in Hong Kong and Hawaii.They accounted for about 15-20% of SKYPerfecTV!'s adult programming. Paradise broadcasts on SKYPerfecTV! Channel 913 and on Channel 946 in HD. Subsribers pay 2100 yen (about $21) a month per channel.

Matsunaga stated in 2005 that annual company revenues from SKYPerfecTV! amounted to 1.1 billion yen (about $11 million) with another 300 million yen coming from their website and other sales. He predicted that by 2010 combined revenues could reach 6 billion yen.

The company has its offices are in Tokyo's Shinjuku district where its employs a staff of about 80. Founder and President Matsunaga left the company in 2005 to start up Shinjuku Broadcasting News, which uses bikini-clad models to deliver news via mobile phones and the Internet.

Programming

Paradise TV's programming philosophy as opposed to other adult TV channels is summed up by one of their executives: "Paradise is totally different ... [w]e have many more stupid shows ... we concentrate on making them." Paradise does not have any professional writers, instead everyone on the staff contributes new ideas.

Nude Sign Language News

Nude Sign Language News (Hadaka no Shuwa News) began in 2004 on Paradise TV as a 5 minute segment (directed by Hajime Shimajiri) in the Naked News Station program with a clothed sign-language signer in a corner of the screen while a naked anchor read the news. By 2007, signer Miyabi Fujino was occupying the full screen and disrobing while signing the news. According to a spokesman from Paradise TV, "It took us one year to find a girl who could do sign language and take off her clothes simultaneously."

In 2005, Paradise TV applied for a subsidy through the Broadcasting Programming Center of Japan, which via a contract with the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), can provide funds to benefit hearing-impaired viewers. The subsidy, which began in September 2006 and ran to March 2007, totalled 150,000 yen (about $1500) with a second subsidy of 250,000 yen (about $2500) due to run October 2007 to March 2008. But in August 2007 the government ministry modified the program to restrict adult content. Paradise has continued to produce the show.

Notes

  on DMM as パラダイスTV

http://www.paradisetv.co.jp/ http://xxx.xcity.jp/paradisetv/

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%91%E3%83%A9%E3%83%80%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B9%E3%83%86%E3%83%AC%E3%83%93

-streaming via DMM http://www.dmm.co.jp/monthly/paradisetv/

--DMM DVDs 1242 titles (earliest 8/13/2002) PARAT code http://www.dmm.co.jp/digital/videoa/-/list/=/article=maker/id=40068/

http://www.lyngsat-address.com/or/Paradise-TV.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=4PKeOjgW1zkC&pg=PA81&lpg=PA81&dq=%22paradise+tv%22+japan&source=bl&ots=mWJUyGBtGM&sig=WWhayRDFRpJVUiKQDf1b83r_jac&hl=en&ei=_WtjSu20GY2wswPZj6Fn&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7

http://books.google.com/books?id=VsJ8SZLcO_kC&pg=PA179&lpg=PA179&dq=%22paradise+tv%22+japan&source=bl&ots=mgJKCFi3vV&sig=XXwAlAZIjNRj4VUjUICYIE6nmUQ&hl=en&ei=_W1jSue8B4rWtgPGy5hn&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9

http://buddhism.sgforums.com/forums/18/topics/52281 http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6079

http://www.tokyoreporter.com/2008/07/02/sleazy-stupidity-at-paradise-tv/ Sleazy stupidity at Paradise TV July 2, 2008 (orig. March 19, 2005)

TOKYO - The television studio is a sparse mix of a wall map and two green plants. As the weather anchor begins reading the next day’s forecast - snow in Niigata and sunny skies across Kanto - a gust of wind suddenly knocks her to one side.

Though giggling slightly, the journalist straightens her top-heavy frame and continues, fumbling a few lines but maintaining eye contact with the rolling camera while she firmly grips her notes.

The breeze increases, so much so that her black skirt and white long sleeves suddenly disappear in the rush, leaving the determined newswoman clad in only lace panties and an extremely loose-fitting black bra in which to announce the rain in Sendai.

Welcome to Paradise TV. “Paradise is totally different from other adult video channels,” explains manager of international sales, Kenichiro Suzuki, from Paradise headquarters in a commercial block of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward. “We have many more stupid shows. They (standard porn channels) sometimes have them. But we concentrate on making them.”

The chaos continues: flapping newspapers flutter past (with one momentarily clinging to her forehead); snow begins falling; and more clothing vanishes. In the end, she is covered in a dusting of white flakes and a grin.

This is what the channel’s subscribers want.

“The first few years were confusing,” says Kenichiro of Paradise, which started its 24-hour broadcasting in 1998. “Four or 5 years ago there was no marketing. We just made whatever we wanted. But right now we just ask our viewers: ‘What kind of program do you want to watch?’”

Their feedback has resulted in wacky, perverted programming - Paradise’s trademark. This “stupid” style has not only been a success domestically but it has also gained a select following overseas. For Paradise, though, pleasing their subscribers through both live and pre-recorded shows is simply one factor; they also must - as surprising as it might sound - maintain an element of decency.

The contents of the shows vary considerably. One could be quite elaborate, such as a couple engaging in collect-as-you-ejaculate sex (30,000 yen per) in a compartment of a Shinkansen “bullet” train as it travels between two stops, or as simple as a catfight in their studio.

Often production cost is not the main factor in choosing what goes on the air; instead customer demand can be a big influence. A year ago Paradise had one or two live shows a day. Kenichiro says that a lack of interest by subscribers has dropped the amount to only 3 or 4 each week.

Paradise does not have any writers hired to formulate the shows. Everyone within the staff of 80 - technicians, producers, editors, cameramen, and administrators - contributes five or 6 new ideas a month that they think will please their subscribers, many of whom receive the broadcasts in Japan through satellite service SKY PerfecTV. Kenichiro concedes that this lack of professionalism is one of the reasons why the subject matter tends to remain free form.

Dressed in a baggy sweater and stringy goatee, Kenichiro is a perfect reflection of that spirit. He often punctuates his comments with hand gestures and clicking noises from the corner of his mouth.

One of Paradise’s most popular ongoing shows is “Watashi, Shojo Soshitsu Shimasu (I Will Lose My Virginity)” - a two-hour live broadcast of a woman’s first sexual encounter. So far over two dozen girls have lost their virginity in Paradise.

Weeks in advance, a promo asking subscribers whether they would want to see the first experience of a certain female virgin, who receives a proper introduction during the spot, is interspersed within Paradise’s programming. If the demand - as received by email or phone - reaches a level deemed suitable, “we go for it,” says Kenichiro, slapping his palms together.

The quality of the virgin eye candy is not necessarily an issue for viewers. “If there is a beautiful girl,” Kenichiro says and then pauses before continuing. “Well, we don’t have too many beautiful (virgin) girls. Because otherwise…”

Instead, interest can be fueled by a fetish or trend. Eyewear, for example, has become a hot item. “It looks more intelligent,” Kenichiro reasons. (One show featuring a bespectacled Kyoto virgin - described by Kenichiro as “a really nice girl who just never had a chance” - has received many requests for replaying.)

The show is really two shows. One is the live deflowering with a freelance actor; the other is a documentary about the girl’s life. A recent installment featured a girl from Hiroshima who was in the process of dutifully moving back to her parent’s home to work in the family hotel and enter into an arranged marriage.

In only a few cases is actual sex scene shown live in the first show. Instead, the initial show focuses more on foreplay with the actual act being shown in edited form in the second program. For allowing the Paradise audience to share in this special time, the girl typically will receive between 100,000 and 200,000 yen, with the male actor pocketing a tiny fraction of that amount.

“The second show is for the girl,” says Kenichiro earnestly of the documentary. “We have to take care of her because this is something that can only happen one time in life. We cannot make fun of it.”

Just about any other topic imaginable is, however, an open target. For example, lactation.

This past Valentine’s Day was a cooking show of sorts. “Bonyu Matsuri (Mother’s Milk Festival)” showcased recent mothers from within the local sex industry pouring their hearts - and breast milk - into a batch of chocolate. Afterward a panel of tasters offered commentary on the product’s quality. This same special ingredient has been used to cook up cream stew and pancakes in past shows.

In 2003, news of Paradise’s unique cooking technique reached Europe. After a broadcasting company in the U.K. paid Paradise a licensing fee, its viewers were treated to a few minutes of Japanese women being milked in a kitchen.

Kenichiro describes the international market for distributing such programs as small. Though HBO, Shock Video, and Comedy Central have all showcased Paradise material, the reason for the general scarcity is that sending material overseas is not simple.

“We cannot sell everything around the world because it depends on religion and beliefs,” Kenichiro says. He adds that Asians, American, and Europeans, for example, all have different tastes and legal restrictions.

Kenichiro says that US audiences are accepting of standard intercourse but branching out into fetish features is generally not possible under strict US broadcasting rules.

For example, a title that showcased a woman with the unique talent for simultaneously engaging in anal and vaginal sex with large objects - the contents of the program Kenichiro demonstrated by thrusting both of his fists in front of himself - was returned to Kenichiro by a Hawaii cable company.

The Internet could possibly be an additional niche market for such special material in the future, Kenichiro hopes. As of now, the content on the Paradise Web site generates a small fraction of the company’s revenue. Members, of which there are over 10,000, pay 2,000 yen per month for a live feed of the standard broadcasts and various straight-ahead porn fare, which Kenichiro says is needed because many viewers demand to be erotically stimulated but sometimes find it difficult with the standard stupid programming.

A look behind the scenes at Paradise is a peek at the nuts and bolts of the creation of a show. Hanging jackets, plastic poles, rubber ducks and some of the props needed to create the windstorm are scattered in various back areas amid photographers taking seasonal promo photos of actresses for the Paradise Web site.

Prior to the weather broadcast, the weather girl could be seen being prepped in a dressing room. Her long sleeve shirt - cut up the back and rigged with fishing line that the assistant director pulled midway through the broadcast - was taped to her backside.

Paradise also has a bath (or ofuro) that has been specifically constructed for set purposes. A two-way mirror has been installed into one of the walls to accommodate a camera and the bath area features ample space for a crew to maneuver, a necessary consideration since live (and topless) news reports are given from water level.

While this might sound like nonstop free flowing fun, Kenichiro admits that the recording of a show is hardly ever smooth. Sometimes amateur actresses quit without notice. Other times professionals could be mismatched with a particular role or arrive at the studio looking entirely different from the promotion photos initially supplied by the outside production company responsible for recruiting. He says that five or six years ago, for example, it was very difficult to find a professional who could perform multiple orifice sex scenes.

The Japanese law that prohibits the showing of genitalia makes broadcasting live shows difficult. For this, the primary solution is the implementation of a translucent shamoji, or large rice spoon. With similar results as the “mosaic” method typically used to scramble the image of genitalia in recorded video and film in Japan, the cameraman partially covers the lens with this spoon as he films any scenes that might be objectionable.

Occasionally regulations can make for creative programming. “Manko News” is a - yet again, naked - news program. The word manko in Japanese is a derogatory word for vagina but it is also the name of a tidal wetland area in Okinawa. For this program, which is very enthusiastically introduced at the start as “Manko News,” the announcer reads the day’s news in front of a large screen with projections of scenic images from around Manko. A pitcher of orange juice has in the past been strategically placed on a table in front of her crotch area. Previous shows have used a bowl of ramen with the director tucking in as the news was being read.

Other times, though, a law is a law. “Shinjuku Nampa (Shinjuku Pickup)” was an extremely popular program that was taken off the air a few months ago after a Tokyo Municipal Government ordinance was changed last year to prohibit the street solicitation of minors.

A group of six guys would venture out into Shinjuku’s entertainment areas on a Friday night after the last train had passed in pursuit of drunk young girls interested in returning to the studio for a little fun. After a few games (maybe Twister or darts), cash prizes, perhaps 10,000 yen, would be given to girls who flash their bras. Things would then ideally escalate into sex sessions. But, as Kenichiro admits, this proved difficult since the girls were not professionals and usually not very sober.

The Paradise policy is to always keep it light.

Kozue Ikeda, the “Manko News” anchor who works at Paradise twice a month, says this loose environment is less stressful than her regular work as a porn actress.

“The other jobs are much more serious,” she says, seated at the edge of the bathtub and wrapped in a white bathrobe. “This is really unpredictable.”

Note: This article originally appeared in March 2005 on the Sake-Drenched Postcards Web page.

http://www.tokyoreporter.com/2008/05/06/paradise-tv-raises-funds-for-aids-prevention/ Paradise TV raises funds for AIDS prevention May 6, 2008 (orig. September 3, 2006)

TOKYO (TR) - When adult satellite channel Paradise TV decides to broadcast a live charity event, they ensure there will be no imitations.

It is a recent Sunday afternoon atop the broadcaster’s roof, temporarily converted into a makeshift restaurant.

Here stand a group of male subscribers, each ready to dine on a dish - an omelet or perhaps a bowl of pork kimchi - doused in a golden shower dispensed by one of a half-dozen topless AV (adult video) actresses. “Last order!” screams the announcer into the camera.

A pudgy young man dressed in only red bikini bottoms raises his hand. He then tithes a few yen, which will eventually find its way to the Japanese Foundation for AIDS Prevention, for a tofu selection.

The girl of his affection squats, drops her black bikini underwear, positions her chubby legs around a bowl of cubed tofu, and begins letting go with a steady yellow stream.

With the summer sun above and streamers of hanging plastic flags gently tilting in the breeze, he saunters up and raises the freshly marinated snack to his mouth, chopsticks clashing and lips smacking.

All in the name of charity.

“This campaign,” says Paradise TV president Tsuyoshi Shiba, “is so very important, because it is the greatest problem facing our field. But not only that, I think we have to start thinking more about how Paradise TV fits into our society.”

The channel, known for its silly and simultaneously stimulating programming, is raising money over a continuous 24-hour period for the prevention of the spread of AIDS in Japan, where the condition continues to be a worsening problem.

In the downstairs studio, a used-panty auction, the “Obanko Club” (old lady club), is being broadcast live. Outfitted in a loose white gown, the first contestant, a woman in her ’40s, gives a quick spin in front of the camera. The opening bid is set at 100 yen.”We’ll let her play with some sex toys,” explains Kenichiro Suzuki, manager of international sales, “until the price comes up.”

After taking a seat in an inclined chair and spreading her legs, the exterior of her pink and black-trimmed briefs begins receiving some gentle strokes from a vibrator maneuvered by the female announcer. Within a few minutes she is seen fondling her breasts in ecstasy, which sends the price rocketing to 15,000 yen and encourages a round of applause from the staff.

A viewer subsequently adds 1,500 yen to secure the moistened undies, with the bra being tossed in as well.

“Year by year,” says Shiba, sporting the pink event t-shirt, designed by legendary manga artist Go Nagai, that shows a topless female popping out of the open end of a condom, “the number of participants and donations has been increasing.”

The channel’s goal this year is to raise 1.5 million yen, nearly 400,000 yen more than the total from a year ago and equal to the amount donated overall last year by condom manufacturing giant Okamoto. The petite Chihiro Hasegawa is doing her share by raising awareness through a 24-hour free phone-sex service viewable live on Internet portal Livedoor.

Seated on a couch, her pink top rolled up to her neck, Hasegawa sucks on her fingers and rubs her breasts as she slowly coaxes callers into orgasmic bliss. Handheld signboards encourage viewers to contribute donations, which are collected primarily through the Internet or by phone.

Perhaps the biggest draw is the “Tekoki Jinja,” or hand-job shrine, which debuted in the event’s second year (2004). For a minimum donation of 3,000 yen, viewers are invited to the Paradise studios in Shinjuku to take a seat in a slightly darkened room adorned with a kamidama (small Shinto shrine) mounted on the wall.

After slipping on a condom, each patron is allocated 3 minutes of stroking at the hands of AV actress Yuki Inaba, who comes prepared with disposable towels, tissues, and a bottle of disinfectant.

“Most guys,” says Suzuki, “think that the time period is too short, but…she’s a professional.”

Indeed, by mid-day the actress was boasting an 80 percent satisfaction rate for her 30 parishioners.

While this might seem like fun and games, the number of new infections of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, reached a high of 248 over the three-month period from April to June, reported the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare last month.

This follows a trend in which the number of AIDS cases has slowly increased in Japan since 1996, making Japan one of the few industrialized nations in which the disease is on the rise. A reduction in condom use, an increase in the number of sex partners, and a stigma that associates HIV with homosexuals or foreigners, experts believe, are the reasons for the root of the problem.

Suzuki maintains that it is a Paradise policy for its actors to wear condoms during regular filming. When queried on just how they can then achieve the standard culmination necessitated by the Japanese AV industry - the “money shot” to the face of the actress - Suzuki explains it is simply a matter of timing the removal just prior to ejaculation.

“Even I can do that,” says the manager, smiling from behind a stringy goatee and heavy-framed glasses.

Tokonatsu Mikan, an actress in over 200 AV flicks, is offering up her breasts for the cause. At the booth of the tanned and curvy star, viewers are allowed to use both hands to squeeze Miss Mikan’s mikans five times for 1,000 yen. Armed with a counter similar to that used by a baseball pitching coach, an assistant clicks off each grasp.

“My breasts,” says Mikan, who in 4 hours has already accommodated 100 men, “are like a donation symbol. I am really happy to be a part of such a worthy cause.”

At the stall “Tama Momi,” which literally translates to ball rubbing, AV actor Aki glumly shakes his donation box to cajole a few clinks from the coins inside. Though few women (or men, for that matter) have paid the one yen minimum to rub his privates, this 3-month porn novice remains upbeat.

“If my work,” he says, “is to stop the spread of AIDS, I am happy to go through with this.”

Additional funds are accumulated through more conventional means: the sale of the panties and bras of popular AV actresses, with the underwear of top stars fetching upwards of 50,000 yen.

The fund drive’s moniker, “24-Hour TV: Eroticism Saves the Earth,” is a jab at major broadcaster Nippon Television’s simultaneous telethon “24-Hour TV: Love Saves the Earth,” transmitted live from Tokyo’s Budokan theater. The three-decade-old event enlists upwards of 10,000 people to raise 6 billion yen for environmental causes.

Shiba and his staff of roughly 100 expect the competition with NTV to remain as tongue-in-cheek only, but he does see Paradise’s contributions to the AIDS cause increasing in the future.

“Until the AIDS problem in Japan is resolved,” he says, “we have to keep this campaign going.”

Note: This article originally appeared in September 2006 on the Sake-Drenched Postcards Web page.

http://www.filthycritic.com/sake/paradise_naked_news.html

Government Subsidy Stripped from Naked News Program August 29, 2007

The Captain emerged from the subway exit onto Meiji-dori, the summer heat swirling by him with each passing car. After a quick stop at the convenience store for an evening refreshment, the newsman flipped a cigarette between his lips outside the doors of the Paradise TV studio. He checked his pocket watch: Five more minutes until the naked news broadcast...

The government subsidy afforded to SKY PerfecTV satellite porn channel Paradise TV for providing sign-language assistance within its naked news feature will stop next year, but the unique program will continue, according to officials from the station.

"Hadaka no Shuwa News" (Nude Sign Language News) is a short segment within the channel's "Nude News Station," which is broadcast each Friday between 9 p.m. and 9:55 p.m.

With content originating perhaps at bath-side, where a caster will undress as she runs through the day's events and simultaneously enter the tub, or along side of a weather map, where a forecaster's clothes will be pulled off seemingly by a raging snow storm, "Nude News Station" integrated the five-minute "Nude Sign Language News" program starting in 2004. It began with a fully clothed sign-language signer making motions in a corner of the screen to supplement the main anchor, in the buff, reading the news in the center.

"Hajime Shimajiri was the original director of the show," said spokesman Shinichiro Fukuyama of Paradise, whose wacky programming in the past has featured the making of brownies from the breast milk of lactating mothers and the peddling of silicone love dolls live on the air. "He set his mind to creating a new style of news - something that nobody else was doing."

The sub-program "One Point Sign Language Lessons" gives instruction on various colloquial terms and phrases, such as "hand me your penis" and "don't look at my breasts," which requires the signer to make two large sweeping motions with both hands in front of her chest. To reinforce the learning process, the text of the phrase appears on the bottom of the screen and the actions are repeated multiple times.

For "Nude Sign Language News," the tasks of the current signer, Miyabi Fujino, have recently expanded in both scope and size. Instead of a fringe role off to the side of the screen, Fujino, who compared to the rest of the nude news crew is a relative newcomer to the AV (adult video) world, delivers the news while disrobing in between motions, with her image occupying the entire frame.

"At first, it was very, very difficult," recalled the spokesman of the show's beginnings. "It took us one year to find a girl who could do sign language and take off her clothes simultaneously."

Further complicating matters, Fukuyama explained, was the fact that the first anchor found it troublesome to accurately sign the rather crude terminology in the lesson segment.

Help came via social networking Web site Mixi. Four months after the program started, Paradise searched through the site and found a deaf graduate student who agreed to teach the girls the ropes in sleazy signing.

About two years ago, Paradise applied for a subsidy through the Broadcasting Programming Center of Japan. The center has a contract with the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), which is funded by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. NICT can pay up to half of the production costs for adding features to benefit visually- or hearing-impaired viewers.

Thus far Paradise has received 150,000 yen for broadcasts that began in September last year and concluded in March this year. This October 250,000 yen will be provided for broadcasts running through the end of March 2008. After that the subsidy will cease.

This month the Ministry modified the subsidy allotment program to restrict adult content. Paradise, however, has no intention of stopping its sign-language stripping. The program is now employing its second instructor and fourth sign-language presenter.

"We have received so much positive feedback from people who work with the disabled," said Fukuyama. "They have encouraged us to keep going."

Paradise TV does not take pride in having played a key role in changing government policy, but it does feel overjoyed to have connected with a new audience.

"We are very proud that a lot of people have begun to think about the sexual desires of disabled people," said Fukuyama.

http://www.filthycritic.com/sake/aids_japan.html

http://www.filthycritic.com/sake/tokyo_digital.html

Tokyo Digital News: Bikinis Hit the Air November 25, 2005

Though any journalist worth his salt knows that the news game is serious business, even a hard-nosed reporter like the Captain realizes there are times to display a softer side. His twelve-part convenience store oden report is proof of that.

But this week is not one of those times. Join the Captain as he tunes in to Japan's only broadcast company whose news anchors are young girls in swimsuits.

There's an old saying that goes: You can take the man out of sleaze but you can't take the sleaze out of the man. Or something like that.

As the founder of sordid satellite network Paradise TV seven years ago, Michiyuki Matsunaga has since moved on to Tokyo Digital News, a slightly less provocative broadcasting station that transmits stories via the Internet and mobile phones in which the announcers are young girls clad in bikinis.

Yes, the fifty-eight-year-old Matsunaga is more or less sticking to his smutty guns.

"This is similar to Paradise in that there were no adult variety channels in Japan when Paradise started," says the president of TDN. "I want to create new content that nobody else is doing."

With the competition being limited, Matsunaga is establishing a new media. His target is the same as in his Paradise days: lonely, shy guys. But with an added technology twist he hopes to make his service more interactive and appealing to his subscribers.

The premise is to provide instantly gratifying news bites of goofy topics that can be viewed on demand via the Internet or mobile phone screens through such providers as DoCoMo, AU, or Vodafone.

"We focus on strange, sexy news," says Matsunaga of his bikini-delivered newscasts. "That is much more popular than political or economic topics."

The stories, which typically run for thirty seconds, might include: a high school teacher arrested for molestation on a commuter train; a female teacher fired for wearing clothing deemed to be too sexy; or a dog's abdominal surgery producing a pair of panties.

Matsunaga's 15,000 subscribers are presently receiving for unlimited downloads of such material at a rate of 300 yen per month. With the mobile phone and service provider companies taking 55% of the revenue that leaves TDN in the red. But he is hopeful that TDN will turn a profit next year by adding subscribers.

"That is the biggest problem," says Matsunaga, who put up the initial 20 million yen in capital to get the venture going. "For new customers, we are now searching for a vein of gold."

The presentation is a key to satisfying viewers. Polite Japanese expressions and cute poses are emphasized by the swimsuit anchors, primarily high school or college females looking for their big break in show business.

Training the girls is necessary. A former Nippon Television announcer gives each lady voice and pronunciation lessons at the modest TDN studio (a pull-down blue tarp and camera) in Shinjuku over the course of a few weeks.

"They'd like to be watched by lots of guys," Matsunaga explains of his budding journalists who provide three new programs each day. "It is acceptable for them if they are sexy. That is the basic idea."

The akibakei, a term typically used to describe shy males who frequent Tokyo's computer geek paradise of Akihabara, is his target. Understanding their likes and dislikes, Matsunaga says, will be the key in his search for riches.

"Akibakei are not too proud to choose unattractive girls," Matsunaga explains of his customers' primary taste. "At Paradise we had one girl who was called an akibakei-type girl. She didn't have a pretty face and was a little chubby but akibakei people loved her. They saw her as wholesome."

As a prime piece of his marketing strategy, Matsunaga has decided to give these nerds freedom of choice.

Through Internet voting, upcoming casters are selected with a few mouse clicks by the current fanbase. Mug shots of candidates in bikinis and cute smiles are posted for the voting public. Hookups with providers Livedoor and Yahoo! BB resulted in 30,000 votes being cast through TDN for a dozen or so prospective news readers in October.

Machiuke gamen companies, which provide unlimited downloads of still photos of famous actresses for mobile phone wallpaper, are TDN's biggest rivals. Matsunaga sees the interactive nature of his service, which in addition to news coverage includes chat sessions with the girls as they eat lunch with friends or change clothes in the dressing room, as being his competitive edge.

Programs showing virgin deflowerings and lactating mothers, typical fare in his salad days at Paradise, are a thing of the past, claims Matsunaga. But on the other hand it might be a while before a flower-patterned bikini, high heels, and microphone greets Prime Minister Koizumi at the steps of Yasukuni Shrine.

"They wouldn't be taken seriously," he laughs of conventional content possibly reaching TDN's airwaves. "But perhaps someday."

In the meantime, Matsunaga would prefer to choose fantasy over politics and economics.

"Our plan is to create a virtual encounter for our customers," he says. "They want to experience communication with a beautiful, charming girl."

http://www.filthycritic.com/sake/paradise_tv_president.html http://www.bigempire.com/sake/paradise_tv_president.html

The King of Satellite Television Smut April 7, 2005

So busy is the Captain pounding out copy that finding time to relax in front of the TV is truly a rarity. (The last time being at police headquarters when the officer asked him whether he was indeed the one seen stuffing the donut package under his jacket in the convenience store’s closed-circuit video.)

This week, however, he has found the time at satellite porn station Paradise TV. Grab a beer and put your feet up - the Captain’s talking about the broadcasting business with the station's founder.

Michiyuki Matsunaga peers left through the glass window of his Shinjuku office and into the adjacent administration department. A small brown wooden Buddha statue rests at the edge of his desk near his collection of framed family photos.

With his black zippered jacket as sharp as his Ray-Ban glasses, the 58-year-old then faces forward and begins counting off the things that people will pay substantial sums to watch on television. “Movies,” he says, folding his pinky inward in typical Japanese fashion, “gambling, sports…” He then pauses, his face forming a grin.

And sex.

After working for television production companies for nearly three decades, the founder of 24-hour porn broadcaster Paradise TV realized that people do not pay real money for simple documentaries or cooking shows.

“I started Paradise to make money,” he laughs in summing up his motivation to launch the porn channel that provides some of satellite television’s more - as he will gleefully admit - “stupid” programming.

Sleaze on television hasn’t been the same since. Programming staples within the 60 to 70 different shows offered monthly have ranged from naked English lessons to overly obese women having sex to female virgins being deflowered live on the air.

But Matsunaga’s days in this business have shown him that staying one step ahead of the competition is vital. As a result, he hopes to soon be taking the channel into new media outlets and expanding its presence in the international market, and of course continuing to deliver the silly sex shows that his customers demand.

On satellite system SKY PerfecTV, Paradise today boasts 40,000 subscribers (paying 2,100 yen per month), a healthy 15 to 20% of the system’s adult market of over a dozen channels. Additional customers receive its shows in Hawaii and Hong Kong.

Just getting started, though, was the result of understanding the nature of the television world.

“The production business is like a bicycle,” Matsunaga relates of his early days at Zippy Productions (as the owner) and Tsuburaya (the producer of Ultraman). “If we stop to pedaling, we’ll fall down.”

Rather than selling programs in one-shot deals as a producer, Matsunaga wanted to continue riding without pedaling. That meant obtaining the rights to the programs as a broadcaster and showing them repeatedly. So when the Japanese government liberated the broadcasting market - allowing more licenses to be issued - in the late ‘80s, Matsunaga sensed an opportunity, and Paradise was born.

At first, the ability to procure content was limited. Developing an access route for the purchase of adult programming was extremely difficult given the competition. Matsunaga then decided to produce his own content, focusing on a niche that had yet to be tapped: wacky smut.

"Our strength is in our originality,” explains Kenichiro Suzuki, manager of international sales, of their typical shows. “We specialize in stupid programs and live programs that the others cannot do."

In keeping with that philosophy, the April program guide includes a documentary on a Kanagawa Prefecture nurse who offers patients nighttime oral sex, interviews with rookie brothel workers, and women being solicited to sell their used underwear.

Attracting viewers, who Matsunaga generalizes as being lonely guys without girlfriends, has been anything but smooth. The competition simply hasn’t allowed it.

Within the first two years of the channel’s existence, the government phoned twice to register complaints about Paradise’s programming. Once it was about a documentary on Tokyo prostitution; the second time concerned a shopping program where Paradise peddled vibrators and dildos. In both cases, the government had received tapes of the shows from Paradise’s competitors. Matsunaga says that the content was technically legal but the government lowered its fist, which Matsunaga says was equivalent to a "yellow card" in soccer, anyway.

“Our competitors tried to pull out our legs,” he says.

But Matsunaga and his crew continued on. They kept costs down by avoiding expensive, high-quality adult video actresses and ensured that they knew the market.

Matsunaga scoffs at competing adult companies that provide multiple channels on SKY PerfecTV. “I think they (the added channels) just increase costs,” he says, noting that while the total number of SKY PerfecTV subscribers has increased by a factor of three since Paradise’s launch in 1998, the increase in adult subscribers has been significantly less. “Four or 5 years ago, a Paradise vice president suggested to me that we add another channel. But I knew the market would be the same, that sales would be the same."

This tact has resulted in annual revenue of 1.1 billion yen from SKY PerfecTV with an additional 300 million yen coming in from the Paradise’s Web site and other various sales. Matsunaga forecasts that in five years the combined total could reach 6 billion yen.

One way, Matsunaga predicts, to achieve this goal will be through an increase in international sales. American company Central Park Media, known primarily for distributing animation and manga, has agreed to release 2 to 3 subtitled DVD compilations of Paradise content each month for the U.S. market.

As well, Paradise will begin sending its style of programming to Japanese fans through their mobile phones from June. Users will be able to watch short (perhaps one-minute) videos on their phone screens for a flat monthly fee of 480 yen (plus any download charges levied by the provider). A free option that includes advertising will be offered as well. Matsunaga says that an example clip might include a well-endowed woman extinguishing a candle by flapping her breasts together with the aid of her hands.

"We are always on the run,” Matsunaga emphasizes of his approach. “We always think about what the customer wants. And we change to the customer’s needs.”

Matsunaga, though, is on the run himself. Two weeks ago he tendered his resignation as president of Paradise to start Shinjuku Broadcasting News, a subscriber-based new media outlet that provides news via mobile phones, the Internet, and bikini-adorned newscasters.

Matsunaga is proud of his reign at Paradise, with his legacy as founder of perhaps the most “stupid” programming on the air firmly in place.

He adds with a laugh: "That means I must be very stupid myself.”

Note: Freedom Lohr of TokyoDV contributed to this report from the Tokyo Bureau

http://www.filthycritic.com/sake/paradise_tv.html

http://www.tofugu.com/2007/08/22/charity-never-felt-so-good/ http://www.nippon-sekai.com/main/kichigai-japan/mizu-shobai-and-fuzoku-corner/24-hour-tv-eroticism-saves-the-earth/ http://www.tokyoreporter.com/2008/09/03/adult-video-broadcaster-holds-24-hour-aids-telethon/ http://allabout.co.jp/entertainment/adultvideo/closeup/CU20080821A/ http://www.paradisetv.info/24/ Official Site --AIDS

http://www.pulsingcinema.com/feature/japanorama.html http://www.locatetv.com/tv/jonathan-rosss-japanorama/season-1/909014 -interview for British TV series Japanorama

http://www.tokyoreporter.com/2008/05/08/government-subsidy-stripped-from-naked-news-program/ Note: This article originally appeared in August 2007 on the Sake-Drenched Postcards Web page.

http://www.asianoffbeat.com/default.asp?Display=1288 Japan's Paradise TV Continues Nude Sign Language News December 18, 2007

http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.528396/qx/details.htm http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.528390/qx/details.htm DVD

http://www.honeymoonthemovie.net/movie.php http://www.pulpmovies.com/reviews/category/exploitation --movie about Paradise TV

http://greatreporter.com/mambo/content/view/1300/7/ --former president new position

http://www.japaninc.com/article.php?articleID=1189

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117951905.html?categoryid=2295&cs=1