If you were into Japanese adult video in the late 2000s and early 2010s, the name Tsubomi probably still rings a bell. She was one of the biggest Lolita-style stars of that era, debuting at 18 back in 2006 and racking up a ridiculous number of titles (over a thousand by 2012). People kind of assumed she had quietly retired years ago, but she actually stuck around until late 2022. That makes her career one of the longer ones in recent JAV history.
These days the 38-year-old is working as a cosplayer under the name Tanpopo. And one of the ways she’s making money? Selling her used underwear.
Yeah, you read that right. Through a DMM/FANZA auction run by COS×Project, she’s been putting her panties and bras up for sale. Some of the lots have gone for as high as ¥35,000. The items are nominally worn (at least briefly), so buyers get that “former top AV actress actually had these against her skin” factor that a certain type of collector is willing to pay serious money for.
She’s also been hitting the usual cosplay circuit. At the most recent Comiket she shared a booth with fellow cosplayer Sayoyon, selling merch and doing photo sessions. The two of them even did a fan event together in Taiwan recently, where Tsubomi still has a solid following.
Used underwear is a pretty established fetish market in Japan, even if a lot of what’s sold online is of questionable authenticity. Most of it is marketed as coming from regular amateur women, but a handful of cosplayers and ex-idols do sell their own stuff. It’s not exactly easy money—there’s a lot of small-scale hustle involved for what are usually modest returns—but clearly some people are still willing to drop serious cash when the name attached is someone like Tsubomi.
From one of the biggest faces of the “golden age” of JAV to cosplaying and auctioning off her panties… it’s a pretty wild career arc, but somehow very on-brand for the industry.