Saejima Nao (冴島奈緒) was a model, actress, and adult-video star who rose to prominence in the late eighties, around the time that I moved to Tokyo.

One of the things that distinguished her from the others in her field was her sense of humor. In 1988 (before she had to pull out due to illness), she participated in Racco-gumi, an “idol group” made up entirely of adult-video stars. I remember reading an interview in which they were asked what distinguished them from Hikaru Genji (a group of seven teenaged guys best known for performing on rollerskates) and other idol groups; Saejima’s response: “Well, Hikaru Genji can’t do fuck scenes.”

After her first stint in adult videos, she spent time modelling in the US. In 1996, she returned to Japan, where she resumed her adult-video career, and appeared in a number of V-Cinema (direct-to-video) films. She also went on to front her own rock band, releasing the album Home~The World is Wanting Her in 1999. In recent years, she blogged, was active on Twitter, and even became a yoga instructor. (This information comes from her Wikipedia Japan entry.)

On 29 September 2012, she died of cervical cancer.

I got to thinking
as I reached for my drink
Is it strange to feel sad
at the loss of someone
you never knew?

So many loose threads
and kind words I have read
since I learned of the news
that you’d left us for good
I hadn’t known

Now I look through your past
at all those words—your last
I can’t help but feel sad
for all that you went through
I never knew

(5 May 2014)