Akira the Hustler

Tokyo, Japan

Yukio Cho (Japanese: 張 由紀夫 , born 1969), known professionally as Akira the Hustler (ハスラーアキラ Hasurā Akira), is a Japanese artist, writer, actor, director, activist, and former sex worker. He took the pseudonym "Akira" while working as a call boy for an escort agency while living in Kyoto. He would later return to Tokyo to work as an escort independently, advertising his services though gay men's magazines; he would later write a column for G-men, one of the most notable gay magazines in Japan in the late 1990s. Along with BuBu de la Madeleine (formerly BuBu the Whore) and Mikado the Dominatrix, Akira the Hustler was a founding member of The Biters, a performance art group whose members were both artists and sex workers. The group's exhibition Donai yanen (lit. "So What"), which was inspired by their experiences in the sex industry, was shown at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1998, Ota Fine Arts in 1999, and the Watari Museum of Contemporary Art in 2000. His autobiography A Whore Diary, which chronicles several of his encounters with his clients, was published by Isshi Press in 2000.