Malaysians reportedly went “crazy” after hearing that Maria Ozawa, the former Japanese AV star, was visiting their country.
Ozawa announced her visit through an Instagram photo taken by her Filipino boyfriend in Kuala Lumpur four days ago. Since then, she has been trending on Malaysian social media.
The 31-year-old of Canadian-Japanese heritage was so welcomed that New Straits Times, in its headline, wrote that her fans “are going crazy.” It did not take long before her posts received a flood of comments.
Subscribe to
NextShark's Newsletter
A daily dose of Asian America's essential stories, in under 5 minutes.
Get our collection of Asian America's most essential stories to your inbox daily for free.
Unsure? Check out our Newsletter Archive.
Interestingly, Google search interest for Ozawa was highest in the states of Terengganu and Kelantan, both of which are said to be “deeply religious and socially conservative,” Quartz noted.
According to the outlet, Kelantan has been ruled by the PAS, Malaysia’s major Islamic party, since 1990. Terengganu, on the other hand, was also controlled by the PAS once but now serves as a battleground state.
In terms of cities, Ozawa was most searched in Kota Bharu, Kuala Terengganu, Kota Kinabalu, Kuantan and Kuching.
The sudden interest in Ozawa springs from the fact that pornography is banned in Malaysia. Zan Azlee penned over the Asian Correspondent how he, as a citizen, never heard of her:
“As a Malaysian, I am so protected and shielded by the moral police that I’ve never been exposed to that industry. As far as I’m concerned, pornography and adult films only exist in morally decrepit and corrupt countries, which, according to our moral police, are countries situated to the west of Malaysia. And God forbid we ever become like them.”
