Discover the world of Axel Abysse, a French producer, director and actor based in Tokyo.
On his arrival in Japan, Axel Abysse became a model, while also shooting videos for events. At the time, a career in the porn industry didn’t occur to him at all. However, his erotic photographic explorations, which he posts on various networks, receive a warm welcome online. Pleasantly surprised by the encouraging feedback from hundreds of fans on the Internet, he then decided to share what he called “his curse” with the world. Abysse was born.
DISCLAIMER : this article is talking about fist fucking and consent sex.
Is it difficult to make adults films in Japan ?
Axel Abysse
Living in Japan is for me, a purely personal choice, which has nothing to do with my career. I don’t miss France at all, but I am interested in Japanese culture. My husband has a successful Drag queen career in Tokyo, his name is Kosmic Sans… But actually, from a professional point of view, being in Japan makes things more difficult for me. In particular, there is a lot of censorship.
During the pandemic, it was very complicated for me because I work a lot abroad. I spend half the year in Japan, then travel to the United States and Europe to shoot with as many models as possible. With COVID-19, I couldn’t travel at all for two years. But let’s look at the positive side : thanks to this, I got closer to several Japanese models, including Yoshi Kawasaki, who is now one of my best friends.
My production is going well, we are coming out of the pandemic, I’ve started traveling again, I am still shooting with Japanese people… With friends. And I have even created a fetish party in Tokyo called ‘Kink’, so I still have some interesting perspectives here.”
So you have your own production company?
Axel Abysse
Yes, I am a film director and have my own self-produced porn site. Everything is hosted in the United States. As I live in Japan, I shoot with Japanese people and I would say that about 25% of my audience is Japanese.
Before that, I worked for a very underground Japanese BDSM studio. I hated it ! They didn’t ask me what my limits were before the shoot, if there were things I wanted to do and things I didn’t want to do… so I only did one shoot with them. However, I would like to make it clear that this bad experience with this Japanese studio is my own. I shoot with a lot of Japanese models who work with studios on a regular basis, and overall I get good feedback. Besides, I know mostly gay studios and not really straight ones.
So, with my movie production, I try to do something a little more real. Sex is real, of course, which is why the conversation about consent is always very important before we start.
How did you get known ?
Axel Abysse
When you have your own production company, it’s hard to stand out and compete with the big studios. You have to find partners, other legitimate actors, and gain influence little by little. I made my name through fistfucking. It’s a niche fetish, but over the last 10 years, fist fucking has become much more popular in the gay community.
I went to film university in Paris and that influences the way I make adult films. I am always careful about the way I shoot. I think about lighting and mood even before thinking about sexual content. People often tell me that the aesthetic of my films is quite different or even sophisticated, because it doesn’t look like what the big studios produce. That makes me very happy !
I compare my films to a music video. I focus on the techniques and try to show them in an authentic way, to create an atmosphere rather than a ” cliché ” scenario.
Why fist fucking?
Axel Abysse
It’s hard to explain. It’s an extremely satisfying practice. When I get fisted, I experience several orgasms in a very short period of time. If I do this for 30 minutes, I can have about ten orgasms, so I think I am lucky with my body.
The nervous system in this area is highly developed. Fist fucking is an internal massage, so for men with a prostate, it is a direct massage of the prostate from the inside !
Plus, it’s a practice that’s extremely intimate because you let someone penetrate your body, literally with their hand or arm. There’s a relationship of trust and confidence in the other that, for me, goes beyond any sexual practice.
How do you work on a day-to-day basis?
Axel Abysse
I look for models with prior experience and ask them about their practices. We try to think of something we want to do together. I look for models I like and I really try to respect authenticity when filming.
For example, I will ask the cameraman to film from start to finish. Then I will edit the scenes and select what I want, a bit like in a documentary. As a result, there’s no need to shoot, cut, then place the camera elsewhere and do the same thing again from a different angle, as American studios do.
On the other hand, it’s very time-consuming. Fortunately, I love editing! I even prefer editing to shooting. This is my favorite part of the production. Promotion on social networks is also very time-consuming. Luckily I’m not alone (to do all this work). My website is managed by a team in the United States, so I find models, find cameramen, shoot and edit, but once the film is done, I send it to the teams over there and they take care of the rest.
How hard is it to compete with the big gay porn studios ?
Axel Abysse
When you’re self-employed, you face many problems. I am thinking, for example, of content stealing : stealing your photos and videos, which are then distributed against your will on free websites. I think it’s much easier for the big studios to fight this. They have dedicated structures, with specific tools, teams and so on.
I put 5-minute clips of my videos on sites like Pornhub. But 5 minutes in a adult film is actually a very long time ! The viewer has time to come (at least, one time) and doesn’t have to pay for the full content. As a result, some creators are against using these large distribution platforms. The problem is that if you’re not on these platforms, a lot of people think you have stopped making porn. It’s the same with social networks.
I tell myself that no matter what I do, my videos will be stolen after a while. So posting an extract from the clip myself, with a link to my site, is a guarantee that people searching for my name or my content will come across the video I have posted myself, and that they will be able to find my site.
In your opinion, what are the responsibilities of creators of sexual content ?
Axel Abysse
I think we are responsible for a lot of things. On inclusiveness, on consent, on the fact that very young people have access to porn… I am not part of any organization directly, but I have always been very outspoken on social networks about the fact that I don’t use drugs, for example. Drug use is widespread in the community (of people doing fist fucking), and it’s dramatic. I’ve lost several friends because of drug use. I don’t consider myself an activist, but these kinds of issues are close to my heart.
Another area where Japan is lagging behind, is sexual education. Many young Japanese are completely unaware that HIV still exists. But now we have solutions like PrEP.
When we did our “Kink” evening, we opened the event with a show by a Drag Queen, Labianna Joroe, who included in her show a conversation about sexual practices, consent and the different ways of protecting oneself.
What are your future projects ?
Axel Abysse
We want to bring “Kink” parties back to Tokyo ! To last in this business, you have to “innovate”.
As a porn actor, you have an expiration date anyway. Fortunately for me, in gay porn there is a slightly longer durability than for women. A lot of actors make it to 50, but I see myself first and foremost as a director.
For the time being, I still do everything, but I think the natural evolution of things will be to move more towards production and directing. I want to continue developing my own brand, but more and more behind the camera and showcasing other talents !
🌶 Find Axel Abysse’s work on his website 🔞 and on his social networks. 🌶
Thanks to him for agreeing to answer our questions, and to the Blue Eagle bar in Shinjuku 2-Chome for agreeing to be the location for our photo shoot.
