Ai Iijima

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Ai Iijima
Birthdate:	October 31, 1972^[1]
Birth location:	Tokyo, Japan
Birth name:	Mitsuko Ishii
Measurements:	86cm-56cm-85cm
Height:	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight:	43 kg (95 lb)
Blood Group:	A
Ethnicity:	Japanese

Ai Iijima (飯島愛 Iijima Ai) (born Mitsuko Ishii (石井光子 Ishii Mitsuko) 31 October 1972 in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese media personality.

[edit] Life and career

In her autobiography, Iijima tells that she had a troubled early life, including being raped in her early teens, an abortion, and involvment in "enjo kosai" (paid dating).^[2] Beginning in her late teens, Iijima appeared on late night television programs wearing clothing such as thongs, short skirts, or even appearing topless. Her stage name was chosen by a fan survey.

Her adult video debut was in 1992, and she left the porn business at the age of 20, after appearing in over 100 videos.^[3] She became a hostess on the nighttime television program, Gilgamesh Night, where she became known as the "T-Back Queen," for her practise of turning her rear to the camera, lifting her skirt and flashing her G-string, known in Japan as a "T-Back".^[4]

In 1993, she released a musical single.^[5] Iijima then crossed over into mainstream television variety shows, becoming one of the few tarento to date to make such a transition^[6] appearing on educational, travel, lifestyle, game shows, and quiz shows.^[7]

Iijima became known for her outspokenness and ability to speak frankly about her past and her personal life.^[8] In 2000 she published Platonic Sex, a semi-autobiographical novel about a young girl who left home to escape her parents and ended up as an adult movie star. The book was a best-seller, selling over 1.7 million copies.^[9] The book was later turned into a four-hour television series^[10] and a theatrical movie which Iijima supervised.^[11] Iijima's catch phrase, "watashi teki ni" ("my way"), became one a popular expression due to the popularity of the book and film.^[12] She later provided the story for her own manga series, Time Traveler Ai, which featured her as the main character.^[13]

By 2002, Iijima was so well-known as a TV celebrity, many of her audience was unaware of her pornographic past. Items from her early career began going for high prices, and an unauthorized 2002 box-set release of her pornographic appearances sold very well, until her lawyers put a stop to it.^[14]

Iijima's career had been remarkably successful and free of trouble when, late in 2006, she took two weeks off from her position as panelist on the TV variety show, "Sunday Japon." he revealed in her blog that she was suffering from health problems. Also, she had been victimized by an embezzler at her talent agency, who took about 100 million yen from her. the Shukan Gendai weekly announced, early in March, 2007, that due to these problems, Iijima had decided to retire from show business.^[15]