Doing Things Out of A Passion for Fun: An Interview with Kaho Shibuya

Kaho Shibuya is a content creator, DJ, singer, and published author. She's probably best known today for her very popular streams over on Twitch, and for her various convention appearances, where she can be seen cosplaying a variety of characters. She recently her first book, “Everything Girls Should Know About The JAV Industry”, was recently released in English, and it hit the top of the new release charts on Amazon. We previously interviewed her back in 2018 and 2019, and we were lucky enough to catch up to her again at Anime Los Angeles. This time around we discussed her recent streaming activities, her appearances on various other creator's YouTube channels, her future plans for writing, and some her goals for 2024. Having quite the varied career, there is sure some aspect of it that you'll want to check out! Fans of Kaho, or those who are discovering her for the first time, will definitely want to read on and check out her social media via the links at the end!

A-to-J: Thank you for the interview today! It is really great to see you.
Kaho: Likewise!
A-to-J: For those who may not know you, would you mind giving us a little introduction, like who you are and what you do?
Kaho: Okay. My name is Kaho Shibuya, and I enjoy cosplaying for fun. I enjoy streaming for fun on Twitch. I do enjoy coordinating and helping make content on someone else’s YouTube channel. I do enjoy a lot of things so people might find me from different places, but mainly YouTube even though I don’t have my own YouTube channel. It’s fun working with different talents. Yeah, I’m here at Anime Los Angeles 2024, and I think this is my fourth time being a guest. It’s nice that they keep bringing me back. I feel like this is kind of like home.

A-to-J: We interviewed you back in 2018 and 2019, can you give us a small recap of what you’ve been up to since then?
Kaho: I started streaming on Twitch because of the pandemic so it’s only been three years, four years this year. I’ve been enjoying that. I do almost all the things out of passion for fun, and business kind of comes along, so it’s just very, very lucky. I have been planning to go to more conventions in different states. COVID didn’t really help, but now it’s back on. I think I get to travel a lot this year, so I wanna try to watch my health and make sure I’m physically capable of doing that. That’s my, I guess, 2024 resolution: To try to be healthy.  
A-to-J: That’s a good resolution.
Kaho: I need to start working out. I’ve been getting used to staying at home so I get tired so easily.

A-to-J: Speaking of which, you’ve done so much: singing, book writing, cosplay, Twitch streaming, all of these things. What would you consider to be your favorite activity like work and fun that you do?
Kaho: That’s tough because I like to change things up. I really have a short attention span, so I like to change things up so I don’t have to get tired of it. Also, I don’t want my fans to get tired of me so I wanna keep bringing something new. I have been enjoying designing clothing. I just got the [makes a heart symbol with her hands over her chest] open-heart shirt, [mimics buttoning a shirt] a button up shirt, or [mimics smoothing a skirt] the cow pattern that has hearts and it’s got a pocket on the skirt.
A-to-J: I always like pockets on skirts.
Kaho: Right? Also, now I’m working on bathing suits so we can make it on time for summer.  
A-to-J: Oh, that’s very exciting. I’ll look forward to that.
Kaho: Thanks to collaborations, and appearances on conventions which has younger generations and also a lot of girls. I used to have more older, and mainly a male audience, but now I’ve got a broader audience so I can try clothing geared toward more feminine things. Now I feel like I can reach out to more people so I can try more and different things. I appreciate that.

A-to-J: That’s really nice! You’re not only voicing Yue Kurumizawa in the anime Modaete yo, Adam-kun!, but also singing the opening song for the series, and serving as a brand ambassador. What’s it like to have such an impact on the show?
Kaho: That was such an honor. It’s like all the jobs. They were like: “Can you do this? Can you do that?” Okay. What? Well, it’s just such an honor. I don’t know what part of me.. I really appreciate that they chose me and they let me handle the voice and the song. Especially voice acting, I’m not that trained as a voice actor. It was such an honor to be involved in that professional process. I definitely want to do more, maybe some English voices too. We’ve been talking about, not the anime, but we have been working on a game appearance. I’m going to be a game character. I want to fight with bread. I’m choosing bread as my weapon.
A-to-J: [mimics swinging a baguette like a sword] A baguette?
Kaho: Yes, baguette, and also croissant [mimics throwing a shuriken] as shuriken-style.  
A-to-J: That’s very cool!
Kaho: And also, I want to have toast of course, because that’s an anime thing.
A-to-J: That’s pretty nice, yeah.
Kaho: I wanna have a rolling toast attack. Just as creative. Juice coming out.  
A-to-J: I see that. It’s really nice!
Kaho: With this game, of course, I want to voice it too in both languages; in English and Japanese. I’m very excited about that.

A-to-J: Yeah, that’s cool. You can just be used for both. Would you like to do more singing as well, or are you more interested in the voice acting aspect of it?
Kaho: I got into singing mainly so I can avoid copyrights on my streams. Now I have my own song. Whenever I’m making commercials, or my own products, I need some songs but okay, what if I just make my own songs.
A-to-J: Especially for Twitch.  
Kaho: Yes, right? I do enjoy that. I haven’t performed it in front of people, so maybe the next step would be feeling comfortable enough on stage. I don’t know if I’d ever be, but that might be fun because I do enjoy idol concerts and that kind of vibe.

A-to-J: I think your fans would be very excited for that! From Kit Kats to Cat Cafes, you always have some new zany idea to focus on in your videos.
Kaho: They just come to me.  
A-to-J: [laughs] And you always seem to have these connections with people too. Where do you get your ideas like from your connections? Or do you just decide that you want to do something and you find the people involved in that?
Kaho: Definitely the latter. Sometimes it just comes to be, or sometimes I try to do brainstorming. But definitely whenever I think: “How about this, or how about that?” and I start digging and doing more research, then it will just come to the end and think: “This might be good for this YouTuber.” That’s why I like hopping on different channels because I feel like: “This is definitely for her, and this shines more for his channel.” I like to be kind of creative. If I had my own channel, I guess it would be a little parochial. It would probably be focused on just one aspect. Because I work with different people, I get to enjoy different sides of me too. Like bento boxes, we made cute bento, it’s called charaben, character bento. You make like Pikachu with eggs or... You know. It’s like a cute bento, a very luxurious, kawaii one. I thought it would be cool for an English audience, especially nerds, otaku. For that I immediately though of Emirichu because she’s an artist and she likes kawaii stuff. Even though I film often with Connor (CDawgVA), that’s not his [style]. It’s too comfy for him. He has to be more like... muscle girl bar kind of extreme. So I do have this image like: “This must be good for this channel, this person.” I kinda of enjoy being creative, just not for my own thing but to be involved with others.  
A-to-J: That’s really cool!
Kaho: Thank you.

A-to-J: The characters you’ve cosplayed... You’re cosplaying as Nino Nakano from The Quintessential Quintuplets. It’s a big part of your thing.
Kaho: I don’t know. I feel like cosplay is a big thing at convention scenes, especially in the United States. In Japan we have strict rules about not being able to wear your cosplay from the hotel. Except, there’s one event in Nagoya that’s like: “Oh, you can just wear cosplay and come here.” but most of the places you have to go to changing rooms. Like ComiKet, you have to get into a changing room. You have to get permission. You cannot just wear cosplay from your hotel room or home. It’s kind of hard to just casually do cosplay there. Here, it’s just like people enjoying dressing up. Even though it’s not necessarily cosplay, like just wearing the straw hat, it’s kind of cosplay. There are a lot of genderbend cosplay too. People are enjoying their freedom and that’s very American. I do really enjoy that.
A-to-J: That’s great! You’ve done cosplays from modern series like Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen as Mitsuri and Nobara respectively, and you’ve done a lot of older things like Macross 7 and Ranma from Ranma ½. How do you choose the characters you cosplay? And who are you looking forward to cosplaying in the future? 
Kaho: To be honest by mainly type, even though I have done some characters I just like and aren’t necessarily my body type. But then I don’t really have a lot of positive vibes from social media reactions. There’s always somebody like: “That’s not really fitting your look.” There’s always someone like that and it kind of brings me down. I try to just find a character that’s more fitting body-wise because face-wise, I can kind of use makeup. Also, I’m short but you can’t really tell from the photos, so I can kind of fake the height.
A-to-J: Right. Get that lower angle.
Kaho: So definitely more body type, mainly in the chest area.

A-to-J: That’s cool. Not everyone has those. So, between in person events and streaming, what is it like to interact with your fans at a convention face to face versus streaming?
Kaho: Although I do enjoy streaming and interacting with the chat, sometimes, especially in the beginning of my streaming days, I was kinda doubting that they actually existed. Maybe there was one person who’s a big fan of me, or it could be my family member. I don’t know. They don’t speak Japanese but I was like: “Maybe that’s somebody who’s related to me, or a big fan of mine trying to be different people." You know, logging in to multiple accounts. "Maybe, there are not a lot of people watching me. Maybe it could be one person.” And then I get to see them in person like: “Hey, I’m [This Account Name] and I actually showed up,” and I think “Oh wow! You do exist.”  
A-to-J: You’re not a bot! You’re real!
Kaho: It just feels much more special. That’s why I want to go to different conventions, like even in other states so that I get to see as many of my chat as possible.  
A-to-J: That’s so nice.
Kaho: Though they do help each other.

A-to-J: What has been your favorite game to stream been so far?
Kaho: Hmmm... Well, I do stream a lot of games. I don’t stream a lot of popular, popular games. Like, I never played FPS or online games; I don’t even know how to use Discord that much.
A-to-J: That’s understandable.
Kaho: [laughs] I’m such a boomer when it comes to gaming. I like really old style games. I have recently finished Octopath Traveler II. Even though it’s game two, it’s a standalone game like Final Fantasy, so you don’t really necessarily need to know Octopath Traveler. It looks like retro-ish, but it’s got depth like 2.5D. It looks like Final Fantasy VI, but with amazing visuals. Like, you can see what technology we have behind it. So I like JRPGs, typical turn-based ones. I have been enjoying the Yakuza series, but especially Yakuza 7 because it’s a turn-based RPG. I think I love RPGs a lot besides beat ‘em ups. Even though I like watching fighting game matches, I’m kinda scared trying it for myself. I’m scared of fighting real people. I like to just do it against the CPU. I like computers. I like just beating up bad guys like in beat ‘em ups. 
A-to-J: That sounds good! That’s very nice of you. [Kaho laughs] You don’t want to beat anyone up.
Kaho: Yeah. I don’t wanna feel bad, or I don’t want to start hating someone just because they beat me. I think that’s going to happen. [both laugh]
A-to-J: It’s good to know your limits. So, are there any games you’re looking forward to in the future? Since you like the Yakuza series...
Kaho: Right. It’s coming this month. Definitely Yaukza 8 [Transcriber’s Note: Since the release of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, the series formerly known in the West as Yakuza has officially been renamed Like a Dragon. The game referred to here as Yakuza 8 is actually titled Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth in the West and simply as Like a Dragon 8 in Japan.] Hmm... I’ve been just waiting almost forever for the remake of Dragon Quest III. I think they announced it three years ago but haven’t updated much about it. Just a little bit. III is my favorite of Dragon Quest by the way so I’m definitely looking forward to that.

A-to-J: That’s awesome. Your book released in English last year, and you actually had a hand in translating it, right? You helped with the translation process?
Kaho: Yes.  
A-to-J: What is that like? Being able to use your English degree to help readers in a wider audience get to know your words for yourself?
Kaho: I’m glad it finally happened. I’ve been wanting to do it because people wanted to read it in English. Because I do read English and speak English, I sometimes felt: “Ah. This is not how I sound. This is not how I talk in real life.” so there was this kind of trying to negotiate with the translator/editor. It was a tough process. I’m glad it’s finally out there. I’ve been getting good reviews from fans. Well, they’re fans; they’re nice to me. [both laugh] Hopefully a lot more people get curious. I don’t think there are any books about the JAV industry in English. I’m hoping that more people have a chance to choose my book for their reference.
A-to-J: I think you’re doing another book coming out. Is that true?
Kaho: We’ve been talking about it. Just because I have so many ideas...
A-to-J: Hard to narrow it down?
Kaho: Yes. What should I prioritize? It’s really tough. I’ve been wanting to have this BL... Do you know like a BL posing book?
A-to-J: Yeah.
Kaho: Oh yeah, okay. A Boy’s Love posing book. There’s a posing book in Japan and I was like: “That would be a cool idea if I could produce that with...” Yeah, people can guess who I’m gonna bring to that too. [interviewer laughs] Yeah, I was like: “I wanna do that in English too.”
A-to-J: I think people would appreciate that. Everyone loves a good posing book.
Kaho: Yes. I really wanna make that happen too.

A-to-J: As you’ve said, you’ve done all these kinds of things. Are you looking forward to trying any new avenues in the future? Like: “I’m getting into acrylic painting!” or something?
Kaho: I wanna definitely get better at drawing. When I was little, I wanted to become like a mangaka or artist. And I was like: “Ok. I just found my limits,” and that’s it. I definitely want to, if I have the chance and time, learn how to draw. Maybe taking online courses. I’m not sure if I enjoy going to school with younger people. I didn’t enjoy school. I liked the education part, but I didn’t like the socializing part of school. I have been like a typical introvert, a kinda nerd type. I definitely want to take some online courses because there are some animation schools in Japan that have online courses.
A-to-J: So that would be pretty perfect for you?
Kaho: Yes.

A-to-J: It is the start of the new year, what are you most looking forward to professionally and personally for 2024?
Kaho: This year? The game project. I think it can be finished by the end of the year, so I wanna definitely make that happen. We have one whole year, so I’m very excited about that.
A-to-J: Awesome. Where can fans go to learn more about you like your Twitch channel or Twitter?
Kaho: Yes, definitely Twitch. I’ve very active on Twitch. Also, Twitter / X. I’m just still not used to calling it…
A-to-J: Oh yes. I can’t do it either.
Kaho: I hate it. X or Twitter, whichever you prefer calling it. Instagram. I have recently started using TikTok, but I’m still trying to figure out the algorithm for that. All those things.
A-to-J: All the things. Very good. And then, do you have any last-minute words for your fans? A little closing message?
Kaho: Okay. Well, thank you so much for supporting what I do now even though I’ve kinda been doing different things. Maybe for some people, it might look like I’ve been changing. Thank you for accepting who I am and who I have become. Because of you, I get to stay who I am. Thank you so much for the support, and I’d like to see all of you in person eventually.  
A-to-J: Thank you!

We'd like to thank Kaho Shibuya for the interview, and we strongly encourage everyone to check her out via the links below. As always, keep an eye out for more from Kaho in the future! Also, special thanks to Anime Los Angeles for this opportunity!

For More Information on Kaho Shibuya:
Website: https://www.kaho-shibuya.com/
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/shibuya_kaho
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shibukaho
X: https://twitter.com/Shibukaho

The above interview was conducted by Megan Smith. Video, transcription, and editing by Jeffery Kelly. Photography by Ivan Aburto. Additional editing and assistance by Manuel Figueroa.