Vintage Pulp

August 4 2025

LOST IN HONG KONG

There are four million stories in the naked city.

This poster was made to promote the roman porno movie Shikijô ryokô: Hong Kong bojô, which starred Setsuko Ogawa and Junko Miyashita, and premiered in Japan today in 1973. It was released in English as Erotic Journey: Love Affair in Hong Kong, and as usual, the titles of these movies pretty much explain what you’re going to get. Basically, Miyashita plays a wife who runs away to Hong Kong with another man, and her jilted husband Hirokazu Inoue follows.

Hong Kong is a dirty, dangerous place as portrayed here, so it’s no surprise when Inoue is assaulted by thugs. Luckily he’s saved by a shady stranger played by Kazuhiko Yakata, who then offers to help in the search for Miyashita. In short order he finds her in a boat brothel in Hong Kong harbor—or maybe not. The prostitute is actually someone merely bearing an uncanny resemblance (both parts are played by Miyashita, of course). Inoue is thrown for a loop, but begins paying for sex with this doppelganger.

In due course Miyashita’s sister, played by Ogawa, arrives in Hong Kong too—not for Miyashita, but for Inoue, for whom she’s always harbored feelings. She plans to convince him to return to Japan. She’s also assaulted upon arrival, but the important matter is that she has an idea of Miyashita’s whereabouts. It won’t make Inoue happy to learn the truth, that’s for sure. There’s more to the plot, but we’ll stop and simply advise you to expect the usual Nikkatsu Studios twists—and twistedness.

Nikkatsu was aiming for something gritty with Shikijô ryokô: Hong Kong bojô, a sort of dive into underground Hong Kong, which even back then had more than four million inhabitants, making for a lot of darkness. While it’s no Taxi Driver, it has a few good moments. It’s well staged in locations all around the island, and as this was before it changed hands from Britain to China, that probably makes it worth a look for historical value alone. In terms of the movie as a whole, it’s pretty good for a roman porno. And it’s short. So you won’t lose much time.

Japan, Hong Kong, Nikkatsu, Shikijô ryokô: Hong Kong bojô, Erotic Journey: Love Affair in Hong Kong, Setsuko Ogawa, Yuko Katagiri, Junko Miyashita, Hirokazu Inoue, roman porno, pinku, sexploitation, poster art, cinema, movie review

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

November 15

1920—League of Nations Holds First Session

The first assembly of the League of Nations, the multi-governmental organization formed as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, is held in Geneva, Switzerland. The League begins to fall apart less than fifteen years later when Germany withdraws. By the onset of World War II it is clear that the League has failed completely.

November 15

1959—Clutter Murders Take Place

Four members of the Herbert Clutter Family are murdered at their farm outside Holcomb, Kansas by Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Smith. The events would be used by author Truman Capote for his 1966 non-fiction novel In Cold Blood, which is considered a pioneering work of true crime writing. The book is later adapted into a film starring Robert Blake.

November 13

1940—Fantasia Premieres

Walt Disney’s animated film Fantasia, which features eight animated segments set to classical music, is first seen by the public in New York City at the Broadway Theatre. Though appreciated by critics, the movie fails to make a profit due to World War II cutting off European revenues. However it remains popular and is re-released several times, including in 1963 when, with the approval of Walt Disney himself, certain racially insulting scenes were removed. Today Fantasia is considered one of Disney’s greatest achievements and an essential experience for movie lovers.

November 12

1912—Missing Explorer Robert Scott Found

British explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his men are found frozen to death on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, where they had been pinned down and immobilized by bad weather, hunger and fatigue. Scott’s expedition, known as the Terra Nova expedition, had attempted to be the first to reach the South Pole only to be devastated upon finding that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had beaten them there by five weeks. Scott wrote in his diary: “The worst has happened. All the day dreams must go. Great God! This is an awful place.”

November 12

1933—Nessie Spotted for First Time

Hugh Gray takes the first known photos of the Loch Ness Monster while walking back from church along the shore of the Loch near the town of Foyers. Only one photo came out, but of all the images of the monster, this one is considered by believers to be the most authentic.

November 12

1969—My Lai Massacre Revealed

Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the story of the My Lai massacre, which had occurred in Vietnam more than a year-and-a-half earlier but been covered up by military officials. That day, U.S. soldiers killed between 350 and 500 unarmed civilians, including women, the elderly, and infants. The event devastated America’s image internationally and galvanized the U.S. anti-war movement. For Hersh’s efforts he received a Pulitzer Prize.