Hitomi Kobayashi
is an important early Japanese AV idol. One of the founding figures of the Japanese adult video, she has been called indispensable to any discussion of the AV. Mainichi Shimbun calls her "one of the icons of Japanese adult cinema history." Her unprecedented popularity in the mid-1980s, the early days of the Japanese AV, earned her the title "Queen of AV." According to an adult entertainment reporter for Shukan Shincho, "She laid the foundations for the golden age of adult video." After making her debut as a non-pornographic photobook and "image video" model, Kobayashi entered the AV field in 1986. Because of her rapid popularity, Nikkatsu, Japan's leading producer of softcore pornography at the time, hired her to appear in theatrical films in 1987. After marriage and a semi-retirement beginning in 1989, Kobayashi fully returned to the AV industry in 1998. She announced her retirement in 2003 with a big-budget, though controversial, two-volume farewell adult video. Life and career Early life According to her official profile, Hitomi Kobayashi was born in Tokyo on September 2, 1965. However, in an interview in the just before her retirement in 2003, she confessed to have actually been born in 1963. Her ambition since childhood was to be an actress. She attended acting school, and registered with a talent agency. Kobayashi was not particularly sexually precocious, claiming at the time of her AV debut, "I lost my virginity at 18, which is probably a bit late, and I wasn't very experienced with men." This relative sexual conservatism extended into her AV career. The sex scenes in all but her final video were simulated. Even at the end of her AV career, Kobayashi's attitude towards sex remained modest. Interviewed at the time of her retirement, Kobayashi said, "I love sex. But, just because I'm an AV actress, it doesn't mean I'm brim-filled with experience. I've done orgy movies, and lesbian scenes and loads of abnormal stuff, but the world of videos isn't a real world. My normal life is really plain. I couldn't imagine having sex anywhere other than in bed and taking part in an orgy would be unthinkable. I'm happy enough with just the missionary position." Kobayashi made her debut using the stage name in May 1986 in a photobook and "image video" both titled . However, in spite of these two releases, she believed her career was going nowhere. AV debut Not long after her debut in the non-pornographic media, Kobayashi was presented with a new opportunity. She says, "I got this offer to do a movie called Kinjirareta Kankei (Forbidden Relationship) (for the VIP studio). I was told there were nude and love scenes, but nothing steamier than any ordinary movie." Shocked when she found out this was actually an adult video, she was at first reluctant. After a long discussion with her agent she finally agreed to perform in the video only if the sex was simulated. She changed her stage name to Hitomi Kobayashi for the video which was