EXCLUSIVE: Mana Sakura Talks About Her Latest Novel, Pregnancy, Pets, JAV & Featuring In FRIDAY

Some actresses follow a script, while others write their own.

Recently, Mana Sakura sat down for an interview with the Japanese weekly gossip magazine, Friday, to discuss juggling multiple roles as an active JAV actress. Novelist. Pet Parent. I just realised while penning down this column that Mana hasn’t let herself be defined in 14 years of her career.

At 32, she smiles with the kind of composure that only comes from surviving fourteen years in an industry that can be as physically and mentally taxing as JAV.

Let’s rewind a bit for your understanding. Mana debuted in gravure in 2011, entered JAV the following year, and by the time the dust settled at the 2012 SOD Awards, she had swept six awards, including the first-ever Best Actress Award as a newcomer. Let’s just say Mana established herself in the industry that night.

But here’s where it gets fascinating: while she was making waves in the JAV industry, she was quietly sharpening her skills elsewhere.

“AV actresses are often exposed to the eyes of malicious people,” she said in a statement, her voice calm but deliberate. “But by enduring various words, I can ‘observe’ what kind of thoughts people hold.”

And that’s how her career as a writer flourished.

Over 200 works into her JAV career, Mana had already secured herself as an established actress. Yet in 2016, she released her first novel, Worst, and it promptly sold out in bookstores across Japan, and this was not a side hustle of any sort. A literary debut that earned her two back-to-back nominations for the Noma Literary Newcomer Award.

And just when her critics thought that her career as a writer would never see the light of day, she published her tenth book this February, In Place of That Girl, a story orbiting pregnancy, childbirth, and the emotional unraveling of a woman confronted with her best friend’s pregnancy.

Mana's picking themes that society loves to weaponize against women, especially women in the JAV industry

“Working in AV, for better or worse, people ask about marriage out of curiosity,” she said. “Questions like, ‘Isn’t it hard for an AV actress to give birth?’ leave me unsure how to respond.”

Mana paused while reflecting.

She continued, almost amused by the irony. “These things piled up. From my twenties, I started consciously thinking about it, whether I wanted to or not.”

When she entered her thirties, it’s as if it became quite obvious. Friends began having babies. Casual comments: “If you want offspring, it’s better sooner”. Mana suddenly felt like her body clock started ticking in reverse. To comfort herself, she adopted a rescue dog four years ago, and even that became a kind of rehearsal.

“A sort of simulated parenting,” she laughed. “Of course, I understand humans and animals are different. Still, the theme of pregnancy and childbirth has always been within me.”

And so she wrote it.

The protagonist of her latest novel, Yura, spirals into a maddening emotional vortex triggered by her best friend’s pregnancy. Sakura admits the character reflects her own inner conflicts “as closely as possible.”

“Though I don’t go quite as wildly off the rails as Yura does,” she added with a mischievous grin.

Here’s where Mana’s story becomes truly compelling. Writing, for her, isn’t an escape from JAV; it’s oxygen. “The fact that I can convey reality through novels might be a ‘life-prolonging measure’ for me to continue being an AV actress.” Read that again.

The JAV industry has often been infamous for being daunting, where stars burn bright and fade fast. Amidst this, Mana calls literature her life support system.

“My main profession is still being an AV actress,” she insists. “Even though this year marks ten years since I started writing novels, I still love myself as an AV actress and consider it my absolute main profession.”

There was no hesitation in her eyes when she said it. That resolve may be her most underestimated asset.

For fourteen years, she has limited herself to one JAV release per month. One or two filming days. That’s it. The rest of her time is meticulously partitioned between events, guest appearances on game shows, commentary gigs, and writing.

It has been like that every single day.

“It’s important to write at least one sentence, even one word, every day,” she told me, recalling advice from Akutagawa award-winning author Shinya Tanaka. “Since then, I’ve made it a point to write every day, even if it’s just on my phone.”

That kind of discipline has made her so successful in the JAV industry. Imagine being a JAV actress whose persona is hyper-visible, carving out quiet, invisible moments to craft sentences no one sees until she’s ready.

Behind the glamour, behind the carefully lit sets and award stages, there is a routine that fans are not aware of.

And perhaps that’s the real scandal here. We are so accustomed to typecasting JAV actresses into roles that we overlook their ambition. Mana doesn’t reject her JAV identity; she chose to fortify it. She insists on longevity in an industry that rarely offers it.

“That desire to continue for a long time hasn’t changed since my debut.” That kind of stubborn commitment is rare to see these days.

And what intrigues me most is this duality she now embodies publicly. Increasingly, she is invited to appear not just as a JAV actress or just as a writer but as both, in a single breath. Two worlds that society often pretends cannot coexist.

In a recent feature in FRIDAY and its paid edition FRIDAY GOLD, she discusses the “creativity” born from wearing two hats and hints at her future outlook. If you’re expecting a retirement announcement, don’t hold your breath. Sakura isn’t winding down anytime soon.

Perhaps what unsettles people most is not that she does both, but that she does both well. In a culture obsessed with binaries, pure or impure, artist or adult star or performer, Mana Sakura refuses to choose. And maybe that’s her most provocative act of all.