19-year-old Tome is a sex worker who draws in customers around the red-light district of Osaka. She lives with her mentally disabled younger brother, Saneo, and her mother, Yone, who is also still active as a sex worker despite being over 40 years old. One day, after receiving a request for a young girl, Tome goes to the designated inn. On arrival she encounters Yone, who is unable to find work. A few days later, Yone tells Tome that she is pregnant... 20 years have passed since the Prostitution Prevention Law was enacted, and the red-light district is now gone. Nonetheless, sex work as a profession persists. Noboru Tanaka's controversial film portrays sorrowful but strong and resilient women who have no other choice but to earn a living by selling their bodies.
It’s the height of summer in Kamagasaki, home to Tsutenkaku Tower, which overlooks Osaka. Sharp beams of the sun clearly separate shade from light. 19-year-old Tome quarrels with the proprietress of a small restaurant that has been arranging her sex services, striking out on her own. She lives with her mother, also a sex worker, and mentally disabled younger brother, Saneo. As long as there is pay, Tome will have sex with anyone, including her mother’s lover. Despite threats by a middleman that she must return to her old workplace, Tome refuses to back down. In this town where a man looks just like the one from the most-wanted ads, flawed young men and women abound, and a middle-aged man wanders around washing and reusing his condom, Tome walks her own lonely path selling her body to survive.
Restored in 4K from the 35mm master negative in 2021 by NIKKATSU Corporation at Cineric in New York and Lisbon.