{{Infobox film | name = Tokyo Emmanuelle | image = Tokyo Emmanuelle.jpg | caption = Theatrical poster | director = Akira Katō<ref name="allcinema">{{cite web |url=http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_c.php?num_c=145133|script-title=ja:東京エマニエル夫人(1975)|access-date=2009-09-07|publisher=allcinema.net|language=ja}}</ref> | producer = Kei Ijichi | writer = Kenshō Nakano | starring = [[Kumi Taguchi (actress)|Kumi Taguchi]] | music = Eddie Han and the Oriental Express | cinematography = [[Shinsaku Himeda]] | editing = Shinji Yamada | distributor = [[Nikkatsu]] | released = {{Film date|1975|7|1}} | runtime = 70 min. | country = Japan | language = Japanese | budget = | gross = }}
{{nihongo|'''''Tokyo Emmanuelle'''''|東京エマニエル夫人|Tōkyō Emanieru fujin}}, released in the UK as '''''Emmanuelle in Tokyo''''', is a 1975 Japanese film in [[Nikkatsu]]'s [[Pink film#Second wave (The Nikkatsu Roman Porno era 1971–1982)|''Roman porno'']] series, directed by Akira Katō and starring [[Kumi Taguchi (actress)|Kumi Taguchi]].
==Plot== After the director's message, "I visualize the romance of [[Pink film|Roman Porn]] and I attempt to share that image," a loosely connected series of softcore sex scenes unfolds. The plot concerns Kyoko ([[Kumi Taguchi (actress)|Kumi Taguchi]]), a young Japanese woman married to a man in [[France]]. When he abandons her, she returns to [[Japan]]. With her [[sexual appetite]] now at a high pitch, she engages in sexual escapades with a wide assortment of people, including old friends, both male and female, and an entire [[soccer team]].<ref name="Rip of Flesh">{{cite journal |last=Fentone|first=Steve|year=1998|title=A Rip of the Flesh: The Japanese 'Pink Film' Cycle; Part One|journal=She|volume=2|issue=11|pages= 11–12}}</ref><ref name="Weisser 436">{{cite book |last=Weisser|first=Thomas|author2=Yuko Mihara Weisser |title=Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films|year=1998|publisher=Vital Books : Asian Cult Cinema Publications|location=Miami|isbn=1-889288-52-7|page=436}}</ref>
==Cast== * [[Kumi Taguchi (actress)|Kumi Taguchi]] as Kyoko * Fujio Murakami * Naka Fuyuki * Mitsuko Aoi * Namio Sokame * [[Mitsuyasu Maeno]]
==Background== Director Akira Katō was a competent, but not highly successful member of the Nikkatsu Roman Porno team. His ''Crazy for Love'' (1971) was part of Nikkatsu's second Roman Porno double-release, and he stayed with the studio throughout its 17-year production of the series. ''Tokyo Emmanuelle'' was Katō's first successful film. Later well-regarded films by the director include ''Slave Wife'' (1976) and ''Momoe's Lips: Love Beast'' (1980).<ref>Weisser, pp. 122, 297.</ref>
==Critical appraisal== In a contemporary review, the ''[[Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' stated that "the continuity is sometimes choppy" and that "the film has been designed and shot with enough surface gloss to ensure that in this soft-core package tour, at least the packaging looks tolerably fresh"<ref>{{cite journal|journal=[[Monthly Film Bulletin]]|title=Emmanuelle in Tokyo|volume=44|issue=516|page=167|year=1977|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|location=London|last=Pulleine|first=Tim}}</ref>
In their ''Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films'', the Weissers note that the film's plot is a weak construct designed only to give lead actress [[Kumi Taguchi (actress)|Kumi Taguchi]] opportunities to appear nude. They also note that this is not a bad thing. The nude Taguchi seen horseback riding on the beach and riding a porpoise are highlights of this good-looking film, according to the Weissers. The lack of good plotting, however, harms the film. "With just a bit of creativity, they write, "this could have been a great pinku eiga instead of a trendy Penthouse-ish pictorial."<ref name="Weisser 436"/>
''Pink film'' scholar Jasper Sharp writes that the film appealed to the taste for the exotic in both Japanese and Western audiences. For the Japanese audiences, the association with [[Emmanuelle Arsan]]'s novel ''[[Emmanuelle]]'' and the [[Emmanuelle (1974 film)|1974 film]] based on it, gave the film a touch of class. For Western audiences, the interest of a distant country was an attraction. Both Japanese and Western audiences, writes Sharp, were able to appreciate Kumi Taguchi's "well-proportioned figure and smouldering dark looks".<ref name="Sharp 184">{{cite book |last=Sharp|first=Jasper|title=Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema|year=2008|publisher=FAB Press|location=Guildford|isbn=978-1-903254-54-7| page=184}}</ref>
==Availability== [[File:Tokyo Emmanuelle - English poster.jpg|thumb|left|100px|''Tokyo Emmanuelle'' in theatrical release for English-speaking audiences]] ''Tokyo Emmanuelle'' was released theatrically in Japan on July 1, 1975.<ref name="allcinema"/> It was unusually widely circulated for Nikkatsu Roman Porno film. It was released in Germany under the title ''Wilde Emmanuelle im Paradies der Lust''.<ref name="Sharp 184"/> In 1977 ''Tokyo Emmanuelle'' became the first of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno films to be distributed in Britain, when the exploitation studio Intercontinental released the film under the title ''Emmanuelle in Tokyo''.<ref name="Rip of Flesh"/><ref name="Sharp 184"/><ref name="Time Out">{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/63845/Emmanuelle_in_Tokyo.html|last=Pym|first=John|chapter=Emmanuelle in Tokyo (1975)|title=Time Out Film Guide|year=1998|publisher=Penguin Books|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn=0-14-027525-8|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607063852/http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/63845/Emmanuelle_in_Tokyo.html|archive-date=2011-06-07}}</ref> Under the title ''Tokyo Emmanuelle'', it was also playing in Canadian theaters in mid-1977.<ref>{{cite news |title= Tokyo Emmanuelle|newspaper= [[Winnipeg Free Press]]|page= 25|date= April 12, 1977 }}</ref> It was also released in Hong Kong by the [[Shaw Brothers Studio|Shaw Brothers]].<ref name="Rip of Flesh"/>
''Tokyo Emmanuelle'' was released on VHS in Japan on August 10, 1988, and re-released in December 1994.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00005FD2E/|title=東京エマニエル夫人 [VHS]|access-date=2009-09-08|language=ja}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |script-title=ja:東京エマニエル夫人[ビデオ] (-) |language=ja|id={{ASIN|4890653627|country=jp}} }}</ref>
==Bibliography==
===English=== * {{cite web |url=http://www.citwf.com/film353733.htm|title=TOKYO EMMANUELLE FUJIN|access-date=2009-09-07|publisher=[[Complete Index to World Film]]}} * {{IMDb title|0075338|Tokyo Emmanuelle fujin (1976)}} * {{cite book |last=Sharp|first=Jasper|title=Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema|year=2008|publisher=FAB Press|location=Guildford|isbn=978-1-903254-54-7| pages=127, 184, 347}} * {{cite book |last=Weisser|first=Thomas|author2=Yuko Mihara Weisser |title=Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films|year=1998|publisher=Vital Books : Asian Cult Cinema Publications|location=Miami|isbn=1-889288-52-7 }}
===Japanese=== * {{cite web |url=http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_c.php?num_c=145133|script-title=ja:東京エマニエル夫人(1975)|access-date=2009-09-07|publisher=allcinema.net|language=ja}} * {{cite web |url= http://www.japanese-cinema-db.jp/details/12402|script-title=ja:東京エマニエル夫人|access-date=2009-09-07|publisher=Japanese Cinema Database ([[Agency for Cultural Affairs]])|language=ja}} * {{cite web |url=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1975/cy002060.htm|script-title=ja:東京エマニエル夫人|access-date=2009-09-07|language=ja|publisher=[[Japanese Movie Database]]}} * {{cite web |url= http://www.kinejun.jp/cinema/id/18369|script-title=ja:東京エマニエル夫人(邦画)|access-date=2009-09-07|language=ja|publisher=[[Kinema Junpo]]}} * {{cite web |url=http://www.nikkatsu-romanporno.com/shousai/r098.html|script-title=ja:東京エマニエル夫人|access-date=2009-09-07|publisher= www.nikkatsu-romanporno.com|language=ja}}
==Notes== {{reflist}} {{Emmanuelle}} [[Category:1975 films]] [[Category:1975 Japanese-language films]] [[Category:Nikkatsu films]] [[Category:Nikkatsu Roman Porno]] [[Category:1975 Japanese films]] [[Category:1975 LGBTQ-related films]] [[Category:Japanese LGBTQ-related films]] [[Category:Films about female bisexuality]]