Japan and the Legacy of the Samurai
A series of seven films
Narrated by Julian Pettifer

Three hundred years ago the Yoshiwara, Tokyo's notorious red light area, was a city within a city, with 3,000 courtesans classified and regulated by the will of the military dictator - the Shogun. It was a Bohemia where actors, artists, musicians and writers drew inspiration from its colourful atmosphere and celebrated the charms of the courtesans in their work.
Today, in bars and restaurants. massage parlours and nightclubs, company executives spend six billion pounds a year in expense account entertaining. Though the Yoshiwara has been closed down, and prostitution is illegal, in turkish baths and love hotels it flourishes. Pornography is a major industry, but censorship is applied with Victorian prudery.
In this world of moral confusion the geisha survive precariously, and with them, Yoshiwara tradition at its glamorous best.

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