Miyabi Oh, Miyabi!

I am ashamed to admit that until recently I had no idea who this Maria Ozawa, aka Miyabi, was and what all the fuss surrounding her coming to this country was all about. For someone calling herself a serious journalist, not keeping up with current issues is a big no-no. But then again, I’m not really into watching “adult” videos.

Unlike, it seems, many religious clerics around here who, seeing their hysterical reaction to the idea of her stepping foot onto the holy soil of Indonesia, are obviously familiar with this young woman’s artistry.

In a quick surf of the Web, I learned that this half-Caucasian, half-Japanese woman is a 23-year-old “Japanese adult video actress.” The Indonesian translation is a less polite “porn star.”

How members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) and others from various Muslim organizations knew about this pretty video star to begin with (while the majority of us had hardly heard of her) is anybody’s guess, but suffice to say, a lot of song and dance was made about her scheduled arrival in this country to star in a locally made film, including demonstrations and a bra burning by some pious students.

Despite the promise that in her appearance in the film “Menculik Miyabi” (“Kidnapping Miyabi”) she would be fully clothed (or maybe because of it?) the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) was so adamant in rejecting her very sinful presence (her face being undoubtedly too pornographic in its beauty) that the producer of the film succumbed to the clamoring of the self-righteous mob and canceled the visit.

The damage, however, was already done. All those protests propelled her name to stellar fame in this country with our Headline News every hour on the hour, following the saga of her almost-forthcoming visit in all its mundane minutiae, so much so that Miyabi is probably taking over wasabi as the most familiar Japanese word in Indonesia.

Not only that, but demand for her pirated DVDs went up so much that last Wednesday the police launched a crackdown on bootlegged pornographic recordings. Plus, all this attention by our morally upright friends is no doubt creating a titillating interest in this young lady, including by yours truly, who otherwise would never ever stoop to browsing porn on the Internet. Thanks, guys!

So, who is this evil temptress whose mere presence had all those protesters quaking in their sandals? Let’s see. According to miyabi-online, while at school Maria played hockey every day, often went to karaoke after class, and her hobbies include cooking, “which she is good at.”

Wikipedia, however, was a bit more detailed about her interests and accomplishments, which included having her first sexual experience at 13 and having “learned ‘the 48 sexual positions’ through a book that she bought herself.”

It then went on to describe how she got introduced to the AV business (that’s Adult Video for us ignoramuses), which was through watching her brother’s friend’s tapes, and then went on to star in many videos with evocative titles such as “Beautiful Eurasian News Anchor Maria Ozawa Desiring Nakadashi Rape.”

It’s videos like this that our angry protesters had been consuming all this time? And here I am, a veritable prude who could not even bring myself to click on Miyabi’s YouTube video clips. The question is, how on earth did those good Muslim students get their hands on these materials to begin with? Talk about scandalous! I shiver to think what other stuff they have in their backpacks.

Moreover, I’m curious which of the titles from the Maria Ozawa film catalog our venerable members of the MUI actually watched that made them so vehemently against Miyabi’s showing her face in this country.

My, oh my, what is this world coming to? The police should not just stop at cracking down on the sale of those types of videos, but they should also raid every dormitory in the country to make sure that no impressionable young males are exposed to these disgusting materials, including tearing down her posters from their walls.

While on the subject, equally scandalous news hitting the headlines this week is that of the 43 year-old Syeh Puji who was recently acquitted by the Ungaran District Court of a sexual abuse charge for having married a 12-year-old.

Looking at Miyabi’s face, the pretty young Japanese woman trying to make a living in a world thirsty for titillation, and that of our home-grown pedophile whose physiognomy leaves a lot to be desired and who is now roaming around free to “marry” any nubile preteens he desires, I know which one is a lot more disgusting.

(Desi Anwar: first published in The Jakarta Globe)