Yuji Tajiri and Shinji Imaoka were two of the “Seven Lucky Gods of Pink” — a group of young pinku eiga (erotic film) directors who were hailed as the genre’s hope after they rose to prominence in the 1990s and early 2000s.
That hope has since faded. Once made in large quantities for specialized theaters in Japan's many entertainment districts, pink films — short features peppered with scenes of simulated sex — have been swept away by the flood of Internet porn. At an interview with The Japan Times at K's Cinema in Shinjuku — where Tajiri's new film "Koppamijin (Broken Pieces)" is currently playing — the two directors struggled to come up with the names of more than three pink theaters still operating in Tokyo.
K's, which programs indie films from Japan and abroad, is not one of them. Neither is Theatre Shinjuku, where Imaoka's new film "Tsugunai: Shinjuku Golden-gai no Onna (Unlucky Woman's Blues)" is screening.
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