Musiquarium

January 14 2025

BEING MEIKO

Kaji keeps it casual.

Japanese actress Meiko Kaji wasn’t just one of her era’s foremost action stars, appearing in epics such as the Female Prisoner Scorpion series and the Stray Cat Rock franchise, but was also a prolific recording artist who released more than a dozen albums and an equal numbers of EPs and singles. Even if you haven’t sought her out you’ve probably heard her. Her song “Flower of Carnage” was prominently featured in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Vol. 1.

Above you see a promo poster made by Teichiku Records, for whom Kaji recorded a 1974 album titled Sareyo Sareyo Kanashimi No Shirabe, or Go Away, Go Away, Melody of Sadness. The above shot was used for the rear cover. The softer focus look of the poster compared to the CD is the printing, not the scan (actually hi-rez photo). We’ve included the crystal clear poster text below as proof. Feel free to seek out everything we have on Meiko by clicking her keywords at bottom.

Japan, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Teichiku Records, Meiko Kaji, Qunetin Tarantino, pinku, pinky violence, cinema, album art

Intl. Notebook

August 1 2023

FERAL CATS

Hiss hiss, bang bang.

The fun pinky violence actioner Nora-neko rokku: Wairudo janbo, aka Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo, premiered today in 1970, so we have for you all the promo images were able to find. You see Meiko Kaji, Tatsuya Fuji, Bunjaku Han, Sôichirô Maeno, and others. We wrote in more detail about the movie at this link.

Japan, Hori Production, Nikkatsu, Nora-neko rokku: Wairudo janbo, Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo, Meiko Kaji, Tatsuya Fuji, Bunjaku Han, Sôichirô Maeno, pinku, pinky violence

Vintage Pulp

October 4 2020

A SIGHT INCONVENIENCE

Who needs eyes when you have hate?

Above, a rare black and white promo for Teruo Ishii’s bizarro thriller Kaidan nobori ryu, aka Blind Woman’s Curse, et al, starring Meiko Kaji, and released today in 1970. See more on this film here, here, and here.

Japan, Dainichi-Eihai, Nikkatsu, Kaidan nobori ryu, The Tattooed Swordswoman, Black Cat’s Revenge, Blind Woman’s Curse, Strange Tales of Dragon Tattoo, Meiko Kaji, Hoki Tokuda, Teruo Ishii, poster art, cinema

Vintage Pulp

August 1 2020

WILD IN THE STREETS

They say money isn't everything but it sure feels like it sometimes.

Above, an alternate poster for the pinku heist movie Nora-neko rokku: Wairudo janbo, which starred Meiko Kaji and Bunjako Han, and premiered in Japan today in 1970. We watched it, we liked it, and we explained why here, where you can also have a look at the film’s tateken sized poster.

Japan, Hori Production, Nora-neko rokku: Wairudo janbo, Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo, Meiko Kaji, Bunjaku Han, Akiko Wada, poster art, cinema, pinku

Vintage Pulp

January 3 2020

RIDE OF THEIR LIVES

It's rough going for anyone who gets on Meiko's bad side.

Above we have another promo poster for Meiko Kaji’s pinky violence actioner Nora-neko rokku: Bôsô shudan ’71, aka Stray Cat Rock: Crazy Rider ’71, aka Stray Cat Rock: Beat ’71, which premiered in Japan today in—you guessed it—’71. This great poster is just as rare as the others we shared. See those here and here.

Japan, Nikkatsu, Stray Cat Rock: Beat ’71, Stray Cat Rock: Crazy Rider ’71, Nora-neko rokku: Bôsô shudan ‘71, Meiko Kaji, poster art, cinema, pinku, pinky violence

Vintage Pulp

November 17 2019

YUMI RECIPE

New main ingredient, same old Female Prisoner Scorpion.

We’ve already shared two posters for Yumi Takigawa’s women-in-prison pinky violence flick Shin joshuu sasori: 701-gô, aka New Female Prisoner Scorpion: 701, which premiered today in 1976. Above is the slightly different tateken sized poster, added here for the sake of completeness. The film is a reboot of the original Female Prisoner Scorpion series starring Meiko Kaji, and most consider it to be of lesser quality than the first four films, but quality is a relative term in pinku. Some would say all the films are bad. Not us. But some would say that. Bonus material: a Yumi promo image below. And you can see the other posters here and here.

Japan, Toei Company, Shin joshuu sasori: 701-gô, New Female Prisoner Scorpion: 701, Yumi Takigawa, Meiko Kaji, poster art, cinema, sexploitation, pinku, pinky violence, women in prison, cinema

Vintage Pulp

December 30 2018

CIRCLE OF VIOLENCE

When Meiko comes 'round trouble is sure to follow.

We’re in Japan again today with another Meiko Kaji poster. Above you see an incredibly rare circular promo for the pinku film Joshû sasori: Dai-41 zakkyo-bô, aka Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41, along with the standard promo. It premiered in Japan today in 1972. Meiko’s paid her debt to society for now, so we’ll let her go, but don’t worry. She’s a career criminal—she’ll be back.

Japan, Toei Company, Joshû sasori: Dai-41 zakkyo-bô, Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41, Meiko Kaji, pinku, pinky violence, poster art, cinema

Vintage Pulp

December 29 2018

WOMAN BEHIND BARS

Maximum security, maximum thrills.

Japanese manga artist Toru Shinohara painted two posters for Meiko Kaji’s classic Female Convict series. We shared the first, for Joshuu sasori: Dai-41 zakkyo-bô, aka Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41, back in 2014. Here’s the second, for Joshû sasori: 701-gô urami-bushi, aka Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701’s Grudge Song. It premiered in Japan today in 1973. We’ll get back to Shinohara a bit later.

Japan, Toei Company, Joshû sasori: 701-gô urami-bushi, Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701's Grudge Song, Meiko Kaji, Toru Shinohara, women in prison, poster art, cinema, pinku, pinky violence

Vintage Pulp

August 1 2018

YEN FOR THE GOOD LIFE

The money is there. All they have to do is steal it.

Nora-neko rokku: Wairudo janbo, aka Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo, stars Meiko Kaji and Bunjaku Han in a Nikkatsu Studios/Hori Production co-effort. The movie is based on a Satoshi Funachi novel and concerns five obnoxious delinquents who, with the help of an insider, decide to rob a religious group called the Seikyo Society of 30 million yen. There’s a festival going on there, which means the organization’s coffers will be fat with cash.

As usual with these movies, it takes a while to get to the central plot, but the digressions are interesting. A good portion of the running time involves the group’s road trip to the religious compound and the various scrapes they get into along the way, including a comical interlude at the beach. When they finally reach their destination does the robbery go as planned? Of course not. They rarely do.

As a side note, viewers should be forewarned that while Akiko Wada gets top position on the poster she doesn’t get much camera time. But what more do you need when you already have Meiko and Bunjaku? Nora-neko rokku: Wairudo janbo is definitely one of the better Japanese juvie flicks and a worthy second entry in the five film Nora-neko rokku series. It premiered in Japan today in 1970. Read about the others, here, here, here, and here.

Japan, Hori Production, Nikkatsu, Nora-neko rokku: Wairudo janbo, Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo, Meiko Kaji, Bunjaku Han, Akiko Wada, poster art, cinema, pinku, movie review

Femmes Fatales

February 19 2018

MEIKO LOVE

She's a stone cold killer but there's another side to her.

This unusually glamorous shot of Japanese action star Meiko Kaji looking hair salon fresh is from the pages of the Japanese magazine Weekly Playboy. It’s always strange to see her without a sword or a gun in her hands, but we dig it. The date is, we’re thinking, around 1972. The actual image is timeless.

Japan, Weekly Playboy, Meiko Kaji, pinku, pinky violence

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

March 24

1981—Ronnie Biggs Rescued After Kidnapping

Fugitive thief Ronnie Biggs, a British citizen who was a member of the gang that pulled off the Great Train Robbery, is rescued by police in Barbados after being kidnapped. Biggs had been abducted a week earlier from a bar in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil by members of a British security firm. Upon release he was returned to Brazil and continued to be a fugitive from British justice.

March 23

2011—Elizabeth Taylor Dies

American actress Elizabeth Taylor, whose career began at age 12 when she starred in National Velvet, and who would eventually be nominated for five Academy Awards as best actress and win for Butterfield 8 and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, dies of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles. During her life she had been hospitalized more than 70 times.

March 22

1963—Profumo Denies Affair

In England, the Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, denies any impropriety with showgirl Christine Keeler and threatens to sue anyone repeating the allegations. The accusations involve not just infidelity, but the possibility acquaintances of Keeler might be trying to ply Profumo for nuclear secrets. In June, Profumo finally resigns from the government after confessing his sexual involvement with Keeler and admitting he lied to parliament.

March 22

1978—Karl Wallenda Falls to His Death

World famous German daredevil and high-wire walker Karl Wallenda, founder of the acrobatic troupe The Flying Wallendas, falls to his death attempting to walk on a cable strung between the two towers of the Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Wallenda is seventy-three years old at the time, but it is a 30 mph wind, rather than age, that is generally blamed for sending him from the wire.

March 22

2006—Swedish Spy Stig Wennerstrom Dies

Swedish air force colonel Stig Wennerström, who had been convicted in the 1970s of passing Swedish, U.S. and NATO secrets to the Soviet Union over the course of fifteen years, dies in an old age home at the age of ninety-nine. The Wennerström affair, as some called it, was at the time one of the biggest scandals of the Cold War.

March 21

1963—Alcatraz Closes

The federal penitentiary located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay closes. The island had been home to a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military prison over the years. In 1972, it would become a national recreation area open to tourists, and it would receive national landmark designations in 1976 and 1986.