Theres an amazing quote on the back cover of this book, something along the lines of, "Without obscenity, our cities are dreary places and life is bleak." And wholeheartedly agreeing - the Disneyfication of NYC 42nd Street to my mind rips the heart out of the city - I plunge in. What do I find? Nothing much thats terribly obscene, merely sorta sad and tawdry. The only thing that seperates it from a technically accomplished photodocumentation of a fratboy bachelor party is the mild millennial frisson the [gaijin] reader gets from the Tokyo floating-world setting. The Kenneth Starrs of the world (and there are lots, wouldnt you know) will find plenty to gasp at - "Look! Shes got his penis in her mouth! Shocking!". But for the rest of us, Araki-san and his many imitators will have to do better if they truly want to save us from our sterilized, sanitized, thoroughly G-rated future.
Good samples of Arakis work. The works in this book reveal away of realistic life, a pure exposition of humans desire from Japan.
Im a sexual educator and health and history teacher. I bought this book because have excellent pictures and is a documentary history of prostitution in China. I learned many interesting things about this matter. Many of the pictures are very artistic and others are beautiful. I dont considered the book pornographic, instead is erotic and instructive. I recomend this book to all people that study and work in the sexuality field.
