|
Neglects key negative points 
Don't be fooled, while this book may want you to think its all dandy and fun, it doesn't cover the actual problematic side of things, nor does it seem to understand basic concepts of Japanese culture.
It doesn't start covering the sex trade from other asian countries, people that have been forced to do it by the Yakuza to pay off debt, or those that do it to fullfill a drug need.
She seems like asking them casually if there are any problems is enough to cover this. However she doesn't seem to realize that in Japanese culture, you cover up everything bad. You don't talk about it. You lie, and say your feeling fine, even if you are not. None of this seems to go into her mind during the interviews.
Pink Box keep its dustcover on and return label 
The pink box is very empty of its promises. For one the pictures are like PG. For a book about pornography or the hustle and bustle of a red light district, it does not seem to me that Joan Sinclair captured much of Japanese Night Life at all. Her access is limited, that can be seen by the lack of creativity in this book's structuring. I know some about the sex clubs of Japan. And her book is not full of any captivating shots. You are paying for big lettered- short little 2-3 lines of information, and a few photos. Most of these women, I wouldn't even say are pretty , not even close. And there are very pretty girls in Japan. She doesn't talk about the Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Thai, - girls that come into Japan via Yakuza for the sex trade. Don't buy this book, even for the pictures and their PG-ness- I'd say it's a total waste. I was sorely disappointed.
Fascinating read and images 
Very interesting book and a great insight to the Japanese sex club culture. Will make for a great coffee table book :-)
Made me think 
I spend a bit more then a week in Tokyo, a trip that I booked spontaneous as I could get a flight with frequent flyer miles and I had vacation anyhow.
It is an amazing piece of work. Walking through Kabukicho (Tokyo red Light District, the biggest in Japan) I could not really figure things out but interest was peaked. What where all the overdressed boys do in the street? I expected slutty hookers. I had the white rabbit audio tour (you can find it here, search for kabukicho), which was a blast and I recommend strongly anybody going to Tokyo doing that.
But, the book is made entirely of very beautiful pictures. There is certainly that side to this world, however I did see during daytime a girl that clearly worked in one of the clubs, she had a very deep knife wound right above her ankle (healing), in fact she fell down in front of me and I was hoping she would be OK as it would have been a challenge to help her up - not that I wouldn't have done that but still, the initial barrier was there. She got up on her own ... So, there is a repulsive disgusting element as well and the book fails to show that.
I would not want the beautiful and funny journey through japans sex industry to be disturbed by this, but felt that this book was missing out a huge part of it - the nastiness that is definitely there as it is present in any other red light district in the world.
A Deeply Illustrated Introduction to the Japanese Sex Industry
Thanks to my best buddy for getting me something I'd never get for myself.
I've been to Japan a few dozen times, but have never cleared immigration or customs. I've connected in wretched Narita many times, but have never left the airport. Speed Racer, Ultra-Man and their kind deeply inform (and warp) my knowledge of Japan, but I've also done formal research on its modern history, defense structures, and terrorism/counterterrorism issues, so I'm not clueless when it comes to Japan. That being said, this book took me somewhere I've never been and almost certainly never will. It showed me things I knew only a little of, and taught me more. For just that, it's a great experience.
In essence, this is a coffee table book, long on illustration and short on text. It comes in at 8 ½" by 9 ½", and just under 200 pages, almost every one of them with photographs. It's got an introductory narrative that gives a bit of author story and situates the contents for the totally uninitiated, but the book's primary content is the photos, hundreds of photos deep inside the Japanese sex industry.
The James Farrer mid-length, photographer-author Joan Sinclair-illustrated intro does a great job of situating the uninitiated in the Japanese sex industry; strange, but the term "prostitution" rarely appears when referring to the subject. Sinclair gets her story in briefly at the end. Also at the end is the "Pink Dictionary," a dense but very interesting, four-page listing of all of the terms and concepts contained in the book, complete with Kanji renditions. Armed with this lexicon, I think I could find myself in very short order some very interesting times and new friends in Japan.
There is thankfully very little moralizing on prostitution, which is just the way it should be for a book like this. Sinclair's notes at the end offer her view that, "...These women are not powerless, they are not on drugs. They have made conscious choices; they have their own dignity." There is only a passing mention of the role, or more precisely the presence of organized crime in the pink industry, but nothing more. Sinclair's notes and Farrer's introduction attempt to explain the relationship of the rigid, highly formalized Japanese socio-cultural structure with its overt and pervasive sex industry, but neither is in depth or fully addresses the issue. This left me wanting to read more.
Rating? Strangely enough, I did not find the photos particularly erotic. There's plenty of nudity, sure, but nothing that arousing. If your fetish runs to the deeply mysterious Orient and its petite porcelain treasures, these photos will knock your socks off. Most of the photos would get a movie R rating for nudity. There are just a few instances of explicit sexual contact, but not necessarily in the subjects themselves, but on television screens in the background; this content is most definitely X-rated. Nevertheless, this book is indeed tasteful, and non-judgmental and respectful of its subjects.
My take is that most of the photos were not specifically posed or composed, with the cover photo being one of the more obvious exceptions. These are not really portraits, although some qualify as such, but are snapshots of various aspects of the pink trade workday. These are photos of men and women at work, in costume or out, going through the highly formalized Japanese process of exchanging sexual contact for money.
Bottom line: Those uncomfortable with nudity and sex, and the world's oldest profession need not bother. Those with a curiosity for the foreign, hidden and taboo will discover an interesting, entertaining, illustration-rich introduction into the way Japan deals with the most basic of human motivations.
|
|
