YIDFF 2025 – report 5: The Future of Dialogue: Yoshida Dormitory, Kyoto University
asian-docs.com/2025/11/02/y...

You can engage with the perceived glamour of the district in the cultural imaginary, both at the time and since, but you shouldn't simply replicate it, especially when you are working in a visceral, popular medium like film with such a capacity for perpetuating misunderstandings. 5/

Personally, the most offending example is Sakuran, first a manga by Anno Moyoco and then a 2006 film directed by Ninagawa Mika with her usual penchant for vivid colour. It's a glossy film that, if memory serves, largely glosses over the realities of prostitution in Yoshiwara. 4/

Last year, we had the controversial exhibition at Tokyo University of the Arts showcasing the "glamorous culture of Edo's party zone". It was heavily criticized for misrepresenting human trafficking. 3/ www.tokyoartbeat.com/articles/-/d...

The current NHK Taiga Drama, Unbound, is also set partly in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters. 2/

The exhibition is the results of research by Hosoya Shuhei, a specialist in the period. He recently published a book about the anti-expo practices of Zero Jigen's Kato Yoshihiro. A related symposium takes place at Nagoya Zokei University on October 25. www.adfwebmagazine.jp/art/events-t...

Guess that only really leaves Shūkan Dokushojin among similar publications.

Some background on how the film got "unofficially banned" in Japan: www.indiewire.com/news/general...