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As soon as men held cameras, they filmed sex. This multi-billion dollar industry spans every socio-economic demographic and is prevalent in every civilized country. So, why should Japan be any different?

The 1960's independent Japanese filmmakers gave birth to the first wave of 'soft-core porn' underground films made low budget, featuring never-before heard of 'stars' who quickly rose to fame. The Pink Eiga genre, literally translated as "Pink Film", adhered to strict censorship laws preventing the display of genitals, penetration or even pubic hair. By inserting a large star-shaped black balloon over, or to fog', exposed genitalia or having actresses shave their pubic area completely, censorship was placated. Film Directors were capable of erotic suggestion instead of actual sex scenes. In a country governed with laws prohibiting explicit content, these movies became an overnight hit.

Pink Eiga's popularity was so tremendous that post 1971 established, large-scale, commercial movie production companies' soon found themselves competing. Major studio's created a sub-genre of the Pink Film that introduced torture, violence and action packed stories. This sub-genre splatter-eros' had actually been around since the mid 1920's, in published fictional writing, depicting scenes of graphic gore, bloody, torture and rape. It is a genre that permeates multiple Japanese media including Manga, music and as of the 1980's, film. These films became known as the "Nikkatsu Roman Porno" era. While some Director's of this era are considered to be misogynist's, this is a time when the Japanese 'pink' audience also accepted its first taste of Homosexual erotica and ironically therefore, has been called a time of erotic sensitivity.'

The 1980's brought the soft-corn porn industry out of the movie theatre's and into private homes with the advent of the VCR. The industry soon found a large audience at home. So much so that one of the ways in which to distribute films to the audience while maintaining a purchaser's anonymity was to provide drive-in or walk-in, road-side, vending machines. By the 1990's these areas were protected by visual fields preventing passing-by vehicles to take note of what car/who was 'in' purchasing video's, personal sex toys, including silicone/latex 'vagina's' or mouths, jellies, lubricants, condoms, & perhaps a pack of cigarettes. In fact, in the 1990's just about anything could be purchased in a vending machine, 24 hours a day.

In response to the further stringent laws/rules of censorship of the 1980's, the Pink Film almost disappeared. However, some Director's thought it was time the Pink genre evolved aesthetically. While the audience wasn't really keen on high-brow, aesthetic beauty and complicated plots, Director's continued to explore ways in which they could create 'art' with soft-core porn combined with complicated, dark themes. Audiences were non too thrilled and Pink Film was fringe once more.

These days Pink Eiga is a genre that is thought of as a time gone by' because today Japanese men and women are filming sex their way, censorship or not. Pink Film grew up, solidifying as a multi-billion moneymaking Adult Sex Entertainment industry.

Sources:
Aguilar, Carlos (editor). Bizarre Sinema! Japanese Ero Gro & Pinku Eiga 1956-1979. Firenze, Italy: Glittering Images, 2005.
Richie, Donald (1987). "The Japanese Eroduction", A Lateral View: Essays on Culture and Style in Contemporary Japan. Tokyo: The Japan Times, Ltd., 1987.
Wikkipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P inku_eiga

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