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Pink Box: Inside Japan's Sex Clubs | 
 enlarge | Author: Joan Sinclair
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
Buy New: $18.00
You Save: $17.00 (49%)
New (38) Used (11) Collectible (1) from $10.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 47013
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 8.3 x 0.7
ISBN: 0810992590
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.740952
EAN: 9780810992597
ASIN: 0810992590
Publication Date: October 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: New - Has remainder mark. Fast shipping from trusted wholesaler with many exclusive publisher contracts.~
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Product Description
In Pink Box, photographer Joan Sinclair takes us on a journey inside the secret world of fuzoku (commercial sex) in Japan, a world where kawaii (cute) collides with consumerism and sex.
Unrivaled in their creativity and the sheer number of choices, the clubs featured in this book offer their clientele every fantasy imaginable. Subway groping, visits to the nurses office, and comic book character encounters are just the beginning of the immense list of possibilities that are played out in colorful playrooms for adults where no detail is overlooked. Sinclairs photographs capture it all, while an introduction by sociologist James Farrer provides a brief history of commercial sex in Japan and places the images in the context of contemporary Japanese culture.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 A Deeply Illustrated Introduction to the Japanese Sex Industry January 1, 2009
Thanks to my best buddy for getting me something I'd never get for myself.
I've been to Japan a few dozen times, but have never cleared immigration or customs. I've connected in wretched Narita many times, but have never left the airport. Speed Racer, Ultra-Man and their kind deeply inform (and warp) my knowledge of Japan, but I've also done formal research on its modern history, defense structures, and terrorism/counterterrorism issues, so I'm not clueless when it comes to Japan. That being said, this book took me somewhere I've never been and almost certainly never will. It showed me things I knew only a little of, and taught me more. For just that, it's a great experience.
In essence, this is a coffee table book, long on illustration and short on text. It comes in at 8 " by 9 ", and just under 200 pages, almost every one of them with photographs. It's got an introductory narrative that gives a bit of author story and situates the contents for the totally uninitiated, but the book's primary content is the photos, hundreds of photos deep inside the Japanese sex industry.
The James Farrer mid-length, photographer-author Joan Sinclair-illustrated intro does a great job of situating the uninitiated in the Japanese sex industry; strange, but the term "prostitution" rarely appears when referring to the subject. Sinclair gets her story in briefly at the end. Also at the end is the "Pink Dictionary," a dense but very interesting, four-page listing of all of the terms and concepts contained in the book, complete with Kanji renditions. Armed with this lexicon, I think I could find myself in very short order some very interesting times and new friends in Japan.
There is thankfully very little moralizing on prostitution, which is just the way it should be for a book like this. Sinclair's notes at the end offer her view that, "...These women are not powerless, they are not on drugs. They have made conscious choices; they have their own dignity." There is only a passing mention of the role, or more precisely the presence of organized crime in the pink industry, but nothing more. Sinclair's notes and Farrer's introduction attempt to explain the relationship of the rigid, highly formalized Japanese socio-cultural structure with its overt and pervasive sex industry, but neither is in depth or fully addresses the issue. This left me wanting to read more.
Rating? Strangely enough, I did not find the photos particularly erotic. There's plenty of nudity, sure, but nothing that arousing. If your fetish runs to the deeply mysterious Orient and its petite porcelain treasures, these photos will knock your socks off. Most of the photos would get a movie R rating for nudity. There are just a few instances of explicit sexual contact, but not necessarily in the subjects themselves, but on television screens in the background; this content is most definitely X-rated. Nevertheless, this book is indeed tasteful, and non-judgmental and respectful of its subjects.
My take is that most of the photos were not specifically posed or composed, with the cover photo being one of the more obvious exceptions. These are not really portraits, although some qualify as such, but are snapshots of various aspects of the pink trade workday. These are photos of men and women at work, in costume or out, going through the highly formalized Japanese process of exchanging sexual contact for money.
Bottom line: Those uncomfortable with nudity and sex, and the world's oldest profession need not bother. Those with a curiosity for the foreign, hidden and taboo will discover an interesting, entertaining, illustration-rich introduction into the way Japan deals with the most basic of human motivations.
 A Visual Delight September 30, 2008
The book is a visually delightful culture shock for most of us in the Western world. Would recommend it to anyone interested in sex as a profession as well as in contemporary Japanese culture. Those interested in costume-play and the impact of commercial imagery and icons on the libido will find particular pleasure in the images.
While much is made of men's participation in this side of the culture, and there is some reference to recent clubs directed toward women, nothing is written on the Japanese woman's attitude toward the clubs and/or her husband's/partner's use and enjoyment of the industry. That lack prevents me from giving it five stars - and a chapter devoted to the typical Japanese female point-of-view would make this a five-star product easily. On the other hand, the glossary of in-use sex terms alone is worth the price of admission.
While one reviewer has commented on the sometimes "sophomoric" nature of the text and photos, I believe he/she misses the point that the human approach to sex, and sometimes fixation on particular styles and images, can be considered as sometimes sophomoric, sometimes erotic, sometimes graceful and sometimes cheap - none of which detracts from the book's occasionally shocking, often delightful, exploration of Japan's commercial carnival-like sex world.
This Isn't a Book for Prudes or Feminists July 2, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
"All I ask is that viewers not assume that the profession is inherently degrading. It's more complicated than that. These women are not powerless, they are not on drugs. They have made conscious choices: they have their own dignity. The clubs are a reflection of modern Japan, a literate society, where the rules are written out, prices are not negotiable, and fantasies are predetermined, prescripted, and prepaid." Those are the words of Joan Sinclair, the young female photojournalist of this amazing book. In addition to startling pictures of a startling world unimagined to most of the western world the reader is provided some valuable historical information about what they are seeing. One of my favorite pictures is a close up a man's smiling face with a woman in the background laughing at his silly antics for the camera while she enjoys a cigarette. The customer quote from the 65 year-old Mr. Taniguchi is "I think men are universally perverted; it's just that in Japan, we do something about it." According to economists, in 2001, "the commercial sexual services sector in Japan accounted for nearly $20 billion." "Pink" or "pinku" translates as "Sexual: Commercial Sex." Most of these pictures were made in 2004.
It's amazing that this book was ever made. In the United States the people involved would probably never have allowed the foreign photographer in the front door, much less let her take any photographs. What is very obvious from the pictures is that the people involved in this fantasy land of sex are having a good time and even enjoying being photographed for publication. Their profession simply doesn't have the negative stigma attached to it, as is the case in the western world. Japan never experienced an extended period of time when various forms of sex was considered taboo or wrong. It was just a natural bodily function that was intended to be enjoyed by both partners. It was considered an important element of good health and long life. Guilt over sex wasn't a part of Japanese culture. Here you have both the hosts and hostesses as well as their customers cutting up for the camera lady. It was obviously a lark for them. They obviously weren't worried about being recognized by their family members and being ostracized from society because of their behavior.
This book provides an incredible look at an unknown to the western world phenomena. It shows high school girls selling their used high school uniforms and underwear to a "Used Underwear Shop." It shows a television auction for a woman's panties (they sold for 26,000 Yen) and she included a freshly plucked pubic hair as a bonus. There is a smiling portrait of a beautiful young woman holding up the 53,000 Yen she had just received for her used, soiled underwear. Sociologist James Farrer provides a very helpful introduction to this alien universe. The various clubs and lounges photographed and discussed include Hostess Clubs, Host Clubs, Nude Theaters, Touch Pubs and Pink Salons, Soaplands, Peeping Rooms, Fashion Health, Hotel Health, Cosplay (costume play), Image Clubs, (with fantasy rooms such as "Pervert Trains" full-sized scale models of subway cars for groping other passengers, Happening Bars and Couple Cafes, and a whole universe of fantasy, S&M, Kinky stuff that I can't begin to mention in this review. Some of my favorite pictures were of women dressed in their favorite Anime Character costumes. Other interesting and almost unbelievably surreal pictures were from the Club Mammoth, Tokyo's club for those usually skinny guys who like really big, big (obese) Sumo sized women. There were also clubs where customers can paint nude bodies with traditional calligraphy brush and ink, Karaoke with some unusual twists, sushi or sashimi meals served on a nude woman. This 192-page photographic coffee table book is beautifully done and manages to tastefully skirt actual pornographic pictures (not an easy task). Some of the text in the book's picture captions is so small it's difficult to read without a magnifying glass, but most of the text is actually oversized. I suspect the weird combination of type sizes and fonts had to do with the fact the book is probably translated into several different languages? Whatever, this book will provide readers and viewers with a voyeur's eye view of the underside of Japan. Just as with Brassai's coverage of the underbelly of Paris in the 1930's, this tome is not for prudes or puritans because western ideas of sexuality standards and culture don't apply. This world is an adult amusement theme park. The mostly young people pictured in the book are obviously proud of their profession and the money it makes them. They may even feel that they are on a par with rock stars and super models? The book is full of cartoon-like settings and cartoon like characters. One has to view it with an open mind and not try to psychoanalyze it to death. The obvious question of what happens to these young hosts and hostesses when they begin to show their age isn't answered or even discussed. This is a talented photojournalist's coverage of what is there and the reader/viewer will feel like they have actually been there looking over the shoulder of the thirty-year old American lawyer/photographer. That fact is not important to the book's pictures, but it does give you additional insight into the mind of the photographer. There is a lot of both intentional and unintentional humor displayed by the various photographic subjects. This volume is a peek at a surreal world that could probably only exist in Japan. It's probably already reached the status of the traditional Japan Shunga (Floating World) Pillow Books of the Edo Era. The two types of book are obviously related.
As one views this book they may feel an urge to pinch themselves to be certain they aren't dreaming and what they are viewing is real, not fiction. It is fantasy, but it is also very real.
A pictorial of Japan's "Happy Meal Box Packaged" Sex Industry May 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A picture tells a 1000 words and this book offers insite and curiousity through intelligent and fun photograghy to tell the secret side of Japan's very unique sex industry. While there is some excitement of the sexy sort, there is loads more to this photo journal in the capturing of cultural creativity and sexual social commentary.
Great book for starting conversation April 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Great coffee table book! Once you pick it up you can't put it down.
Filled with hundreds of very interesting stories and photographs, this book is great choice for any fan of Japan or erotic photography.
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