History of Postwar Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess

At the centre of the documentary is a woman called Etsuko. She runs a bar in Yokosuka. The bar is mostly frequented by foreigners. The woman left the countryside right after the war. Since that day she has lived on her own terms. What she tells covers twenty five years. The years that followed the atomic bombings. The time of the black market. Sex work aimed at American soldiers. The years of the Korean War. Etsuko tells all of it through her own life. The director puts newsreels in between. So a personal account and the history of the country stand side by side. Emiko Akaza speaks in the film. Shōhei Imamura directed the hundred and five minute documentary. The Japanese production was finished in 1970.