 Ahoy there, miss! Do you mind if we pull abreast? 
 At top, a poster for the Hitomi Kozue roman porno flick Nikutai hanzai kaigan: Piranha no mure, aka Sex-Crime Coast: School of Piranha. In this one Kozue rises out of the sea like Aphrodite, which is how we always suspected she came to be. Well, okay, she isn't actually a deity. Instead she plays an all-too-mortal gangster girl who falls for a gangster boy in the seaside region of Shōnan, along Sagami Bay. But romance is never easy in these films, and a love triangle soon brings jealousy and violence to the idyllic sands of central Japan. It's Nikkatsu Studios, and it's roman porno, so you know exactly what you'll get here. It premiered in Japan today in 1973.
 There's no business like Showa business. 
This steamy poster was made to promote the roman porno flick Showa onnamichi: Rashomon, aka Showa Woman: Naked Rashomon, aka Naked Rashomon, which starred Hitomi Kozue and Elmei Esumi. In case you're wondering, “rashomon” was an ancient city gate located in what is now Kyoto, which makes the title rather curious, but it's borrowed from the 1950 Akira Kurosawa period drama Rashomon, which used the gate locale as a central element. That film was famous for its four characters narrating four versions of the same terrible event.
Does Naked Rashomon have anything to do with city gates or multi-p.o.v. narratives? Well, no. When a nobleman's wife can't bear him a son, he turns to a mistress to get the job done and she gives birth to twins—a boy and a girl. The boy will be the nobleman's heir; but he orders the mistress and infant daughter killed. The bodyguard responsible for this heinous task instead secretly sends the pair away. Two decades later the daughter has grown up to be a beautiful woman and, unaware of her true ancestry, crosses paths with her father and twin brother with shocking results.
It's a bizarre premise but a good movie, considered one of director Chûsei Sone's best. And it has Pulp Intl. fave Kozue in a double role as both the mistress and her grown daughter, which can only make matters better. Compared to most Nikkatsu Studios roman pornos this one qualifies as high art, which means it's not just recommendable, but is also a reasonable place for the uninitiated to dive into the genre. But you might not want to dive too deep. It gets pretty gnarly down there. Showa onnamichi: Rashomon premiered in Japan today in 1973.  
 If you're lucky she'll let you kiss her there. 
Above is a poster we first noticed some years back at the blog Sangre Yakuza for the Nikkatsu Studios roman porno flick Inranna kankei, aka Nasty Relationship, which starred pinku icon Hitomi Kozue, and— Wait, what is she holding? Inflatable plastic lips? A novelty sized cherry gummi? Whatever it is, it's supposed to look vaginal. Pinku movies in general are not subtle, and roman pornos are even less so. But this is not a flick we were able to track down, which is sad, because we'd like to know what's going on here. Not finding films has happened a lot this month but it's just one of those random dry spells that occur when you watch nothing but rare classics. The worm will turn, the yin shall yang, and the cloud shall burst. In the meantime we thought we'd share this promo anyway, weird lips and all, because Kozue is a Pulp Intl. favorite. Inranna kankei premiered in Japan today in 1976.
 You only get partial coverage, and that's if you're lucky. 
Let it be known—if you cheat on Hitomi Kozue she'll come after you with a samurai sword. At least, that's what happens in the intro of Shin jitsuroku onna kanbetsusho: Rengoku, aka New True Story of a Woman Condemned to Hell. After Kozue slices her cheating man and his mistress, we smash cut to her chained in a prison van headed toward the rest of the movie. Jail time starts with a complimentary cavity search, and from there the amenities continue to disappoint. No pillow mints. No DSL. There's cell service, though, which comes in quite strongly after dark. But in general Kozue finds incarceration to be a bummer. Oh well. These deprivations are nobody's fault but hers—you've gotta keep a level head even when your partner is dicking a local tramp. Kozue is lonely, but she soon learns that a man can easily be replaced by a piece of polished wood, or a religious figurine, or an inflated condom, or a willing finger or two. If she'd known all those possibilities before she kebabed her boyfriend she might have avoided imprisonment. But maybe not—we learn in flashback that what seemed like a straightforward case of catching her man cheating is more complicated. We won't say more. You'll just have to watch the film, which is a better-than-average women-in-prison entry, with that unique pinku flair, and a special beauty in the lead role, plus Yuri Yamashina in support. Shin jitsuroku onna kanbetsusho: Rengoku premiered in Japan today in 1976.             
Below: a nice promo image of Hitomi. Why? Be-Kozue we had it. More from her later.
 Without tender loving care it dries up and wilts. 
This fantastic poster was made to promote the film Akai kaben ga nureru, which in English would have a title like Red Petals Get Wet or possibly Red Wet Petals. Yeah. Japanese filmmakers and their vagina metaphors, right? There are so many of these wet petal, dewy pistil movies you could make a bouquet. A very moist one. The film stars Teruo Matsunaga, who we last saw in Tokyo Chatterly fujin, and here she plays a stripper who gets involved in illicit upper crust orgies and even more illicit smut films. Co-starring is the incomparable Hitomi Kozue. We can't tell you much more about the film because we haven't seen it, but hopefully we'll be able to track it down later and give it a look.
 Hitomi Kozue is number one on any chart you care to name. 
We've shared several images of Japanese actress Hitomi Kozue that had never been seen online before, and we have more we haven't uploaded we plan to get to. But today we wanted to share someone else's effort. The Tumblr blog Humungus posted a Japanese album cover with Kozue on the front. The image was so striking we decided to wipe the text off it and present it as a clean photograph—just Kozue, unadorned. You see the result above. You're welcome.
 Sometimes staying after school isn't a punishment. 
Above is a poster for Onna kyōshi: Shiseikatsu, aka Female Teacher: Private Life, a Nikkatsu roman porno flick that starred Ayako Ichikawa and Hitomi Kozue in the story of an obsessive affair between teacher and student. Interesting fact about this movie: Nikkatsu staged a contest for roman porno scripts and Onna kyōshi resulted from the winning entry, submitted by Mari Abe, who benefitted screenwriting credit, a cash prize, and a college scholarship. Thanks to her stroke of genius Nikkatsu was able to milk the Onna kyōshi concept for a sequel, followed by an eight film series. Just goes to show how mainstream these racy movies were. Of course, Onna kyōshi explores scenarios that would be considered criminal today. In fact, there's debate in 2016 whether teachers should be allowed to have private lives at all—i.e. whether they should be role models both in and out of school, and if they fail whether their actions are fair game for judgment and discipline. Ichikawa and Kozue are ready to judged and disciplined below. Onna kyōshi: Shiseikatsu premiered in Japan today in 1973.  
 If she gets any hotter the building will go up in flames. 
It’s about that time again, so here’s another previously unseen image of a 1970s Japanese actress—Hitomi Kozue, one of the era’s most beautiful exports, seen here in a very nice shot dating from 1974. Kozue did an entire series in this cabin setting and we have quite a few of them, which we’ll eventually post so you can see if she left the building a pile of ashes.
 Something to take your breath away. 
Above, a poster for the erotic drama Kyoran no aegi, aka Morning Frenzy, Panting Frenzy, and Frantic Wheezing, none of which sound the least bit sexy. But we wouldn’t know because we haven’t seen this one. It’s apparently an effort to mix roman porno with film noir and wasn’t well recieved. Kyoran no aegi starred Maya Hiromi and Hitomi Kozue, and it premiered in Japan today in 1974.
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The headlines that mattered yesteryear.
1942—Battle of Stalingrad Begins
The Battle of Stalingrad, perhaps the most pivotal event of World War II, begins. It lasts for more than six months, spread across the brutal Russian winter, and ends with two million casualties. The Russian sacrifice reduces the powerful German army to a shell of its former self, and as a result Nazi defeat in the war becomes a simple matter of time. 1979—Alexander Gudonov Defects
Russian ballet dancer and actor Alexander Borisovich Godunov defects to the U.S. The event causes an international diplomatic crisis, but Gudonov manages to win asylum. He joins the famous American Ballet Theater, where he becomes a colleague of fellow-defector Mikhail Baryshnikov, and later earns roles in such Hollywood films as Witness and Die Hard. 1950—Althea Gibson Breaks the Color Barrier
Althea Gibson becomes the first African-American woman to compete on the World Tennis Tour, and the first to earn a Grand Slam title when she wins the French Open in 1956. Later she becomes the first African-American woman to compete in the Ladies Professional Golf Association. 1952—Devil's Island Closed
Devil's Island, the penal colony located off the coast of French Guiana, is permanently closed. The prison is later made world famous by Henri Charrière's bestselling novel Papillon, and the subsequent film starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. 1962—De Gaulle Survives Assassination Attempt
Jean Bastien-Thiry, a French air weaponry engineer, attempts to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle to prevent Algerian independence. Bastien-Thiry and others attack de Gaulle's armored limousine with machine guns, but after expending hundreds of rounds, they succeed only in puncturing two tires. 1911—Mona Lisa Disappears
Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, aka La Gioconda, is stolen from the Louvre. After many wild theories and false leads, it turns out the painting was snatched by museum employee Vincenzo Peruggia.
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