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Japanese Olympic Snowboarder Turned AV Actress Plans to Make Comeback

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    Japanese adult video actress, Melo Imai, recently admitted that she wants to make a comeback to competitive snowboarding.

    Imai first showcased her halfpipe snowboarding skills when she was 18, and then earned a spot with the Japan’s 2006 Turin Olympic team. But before leaving for Italy, she left fans with a memorable rap performance at a pep rally.

    Unfortunately, she did not make it past the qualification round after getting injured while competing in the women’s halfpipe division at the 2006 Turin Olympics, SFGate reported.

    While she went home empty-handed, Imai made a massive transition into a new career that certainly raised some eyebrows.

    Image via Flickr/rahims (CC BY 2.0)

    Imai started working at a hostess bar after several professional snowboarding competitions. She then turned to fuzoku, a type of legal prostitution in Japan that offers non-intercourse sexual services.

    I needed money. I couldn’t even give my friend a wedding gift,” she told Blogos an interview, as translated by SoraNews24. Imai is referring to the custom in which wedding guests often give cash gifts to newlyweds in the amount of roughly 30,000 yen ($270).

    Image via Wikimedia Commons / Jorge Láscar (CC BY 2.0)

    After the Olympics, I was making as much as a company president, and sometimes I’d go party at a host club and drop one million yen (US$9,090) in a single night,” she said, recalling her surprisingly successful career.

    Her career path changed again in 2013 when her collection of nude photos were released, and began appearing in Japanese adult films.

    Imai’s most recent movies released in 2017, “Snow Drop” and “Snow Out,” made subtle references about being a former Olympic snowboarder.

    The 30-year-old adult actress made a return to snowboarding after she entered the 35th All Japan Snowboarding Championships in Gifu last year.

    Image screenshot via JSBA

    To everyone’s surprise, Imai dominated the whole competition with a final score of 90.75 – the second place winner, Momoa Mori, only received 76.75.

    While speaking to the reporters, Imai admitted that she didn’t have enough time to hone her skills as she only practiced for four days before the competition.

    I want to return to the world of snowboarding, so I’m taking care not to get involved with things that are overly pornographic,” she said.

    Featured image screenshot via YouTube/jsbaofficial

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