Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema

by Jasper Sharp

Behind the Pink Curtain takes the reader on a wild joy ride deep into the hinterlands of Japanese culture, society and radical politics by way of the weird but wonderful world of the Pink Film and Roman Porno genres.

Behind the Pink Curtain focuses on the art and industry of one of the most notorious sectors of Japanese filmmaking, the erotic Pink Film, or pinku eiga genre, and the closely related Roman Porno films produced by Nikkatsu studios from 1971 to 1988. A phenomenon distinct from the cheaply-produced hardcore Adult Video (AV) market, from the early 60s onwards major Japanese film studios and independent producers alike have kept up a conveyor belt level of output of pornographic features intended purely for cinema release. Still today, just short of 100 such titles are shot on 35mm every year intended for screening in a specialist network of adult cinema across the nation. In recent years, many have found themselves released on DVD in the West or screened at international film festivals, while many of Japan's most noted filmmakers today have cut their teeth in this industry.

Just how close are the links between the arthouse and the grindhouse in Japan? Read about the ins and outs of Japanese censorship from the wartime onwards, and how topless deep sea diving girls came to woo local audiences in the 50s. Learn how a TV nature documentary maker ended up helming nude female Tarzan movies, and how 60s mavericks Koji Wakamatsu and Masao Adachi met up with John and Yoko at Cannes while on the way to the Golan Heights to make a film about Palestinian revolutionaries. How Deep Throat's Harry Reems wound up in Tokyo starring in a zany sex comedy about a penis transplant gone awry, and how one of Japan's most famous literary figures ended up the subject of the country's first gay porno movie. How one of Nikkatsu's leading directors went it alone to make a film about powerboat racing and ended up in the bad books of the Yakuza, and how the anti-Bush sex farce Horny Home Teacher's Love Juice came to be re-titled as The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai and became one of the most talked about Japanese films of recent years, playing at over twenty international film festivals.

Based on extensive interviews with many of the leading figures in the field, Behind the Pink Curtain is a colorful and exhaustive trawl through Japan's most vibrant and prolific filmmaking sector.

Genres: Film, Japan, Nonfiction, Media Tie In, History

384 pages, Paperback

First published September 18, 2008

About the author

Jasper Sharp was born in and raised in the rural idyll of Devon, England, though has subsequently gone on to live in Montreal, Amsterdam, Finland, and Tokyo and has travelled extensively over four different continents. As well as curating the Japanese program of London's Raindance Film Festival, his writings on film have appeared in publications all over the world, from the US to Russia to Taiwan, including Variety, SFX, Film International and 3d World. He has also worked as a computer programmer on the Douglas Adams game Starship Titanic.

Reviews

[melancholinary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mammoth and literally completed study of sex cinema in Japan. From eroduction, ama films, to the latest absurdity of 21st century Pink film. The historical fact of politically conscious pink filmmakers in 60's (Wakamatsu Pro and its sympathy towards global radical left) and late 80's (shitennō as a movement) is such a good read it makes whatever happened before 60's, in between 60's and 80's, and after 80's in the Japanese sex cinema is boring in comparison—I have to skim it. In total, I probably only have watched 30% of films that covered in this book, however the whole story of sex cinema in Japan and how it emerges as a counterculture is a fascinating subject by its own.

[Hagar]

Mostly read for Adachi, Oshima, Wakamatsu, and Satô.

[Miguel Arsénio · Rating 4 out of 5]

So dense with information that any future book about such a specific subject will have to be compared to this mighty study. This is quite an unavoidable tome for anyone trying to look deeper into erotic cinema. (I should say I skipped the last two chapters only because recent pink doesn't interest me all that much)

[Panagiotis Kotzathanasis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allow me to begin this review with a personal note. Among the plethora of books about (Asian) cinema I have read, this one is definitely one of the better ones, if not the best. The combination of research and context (just mentioning all the topics Jasper Sharp examines here would fill a small book), the quality of personal comments, the language, and the overall illustration of the FAB Press edition, which is filled with film stills, posters etc, including a rather impressive middle section as much as great front and back covers, are all top-notch, to the point that one would have to dig really deep to find any flaw in the book. Let us take things from the beginning though.

Buy This Title

The book begins ideally, as Sharp starts his narration by dealing with the history of nudity on film, the differences between art and pornography, the differences between Western and Japanese pornography, and more specifically for Japanese cinema, the difference between AV and pink films. The narration of Japanese film history also takes a large part of the beginning of the book, with the author starting in the way Donald Richie did in his own books, before branching to the pink genre. Additionally, he comments on how the aforementioned film historian and his generation considered the genre of lower quality, and essentially ignored it in their studies, for the most part. The terminology of the category, which includes the terms eroduction, sexploitation, before the most commonly accepted nowadays pinku (or pink film if you prefer) is also analyzed. Lastly, the first part of the book also deals with the history of Japan particularly during the 60’s, and the ways those rather turbulent times shaped both pink and overall cinema.

This part brings us to the history of two of the most important and renowned representatives of the genre, Koji Wakamatsu and Masao Adachi, with Sharp dedicating rather large sections to both their common and individual lives and works, and the impact their films had both inside the country and internationally, as controversy seemed to accompany their every step. The Roman Porno series of Nikkatsu and the differences these films occasionally had with pink cinema is another rather interesting point, while the book then moves to the penetration of pinku movies to European cinema and vice versa (European erotic films in Japan), which are highlighted as rather significant. The story then continues to the participation of foreigners in Japanese movies, particularly European women, and Japanese productions that were shot overseas. This brings us to Nagisa Oshima and his French-produced “In the Realm of the Senses”, a film that is still surrounded by much controversy.

You can read the full review at
https://asianmoviepulse.com/2021/04/b...

[Pedro Alagoa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sharp's writing keeps you engaged like no other film historian! Truly a complete history, especially in an area where so many films are lost and non-japanese publications are seriously lacking.

It does a great job putting to perspective how the films influenced the politics of the time (and vice-versa), particularly the sections on Wakamatsu and Adachi.

I'm currently reading Free Jazz in Japan: A Personal History and it's so interesting to see so many names popping up in both books, it really shows how the transgressive art movements in Japan knew no boundaries, creating synergies across totally different art forms.

One of the best books I've read on cinema, and probably my favorite from the Midnight Eye gang.

[FromTimetoTime · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressively dense with history that's dedicated to a genre of film I've never encountered before but have heard come up time and time again in relation to 60's Japanese cinema. My interest waned considerably after the intriguing chapters on Wakamatsu and Adachi wherein the book shifts focus from politically charged cinema to mass-produced products. Thankfully though it perked up again once "The Four Devils" are introduced.

Just like any great book on film, it made me add several pictures to my watchlist and made me eager to delve into the pink genre for myself. If you're at all interested in (at times) radical Japanese counterculture cinema, this is a book worthy of checking out.

[Tim Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty much the last word on this subject that most readers will need. My one regret with the 2025 updated edition is that the list of films referenced in the text at the end of the book has not been updated with regard to availability since the book first appeared in 2008. The number of these films released on DVD/Blu-ray is still small, but quite a few have been put out in recent years, so a missed opportunity there, perhaps.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

The depth and level of detail in this book really is incredible. There is so much in it that it can feel quite heavy going at times but, if you have any interest in the genre at all, then it really is a must-read.

[Pearce · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating and detailed overview of a category of films most people will never see.

[Tom Newth · Rating 3 out of 5]

a remarkable feat of research and collation, clearly presented and well- contextualized (although with an exaggerated tendency to synopsise). surely it won't be bettered (even if it misses out on the interesting end of wakamatsu's career)

[Ad · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best introduction to the subject, lavishly illustrated.