There's always a sense of trepidation when preparing to unleash a new book upon the world, a wariness about who the target audience is and how one's words will be received. Assumptions about the relationship between the author and their subject matter can prove especially intimidating for those writing about a body of cinematic work that few serious critics would consider worth exploring and from a culture and a society of which many have little direct experience. At the time of writing Behind the Pink Curtain between 2005 and 2008, erotic cinema and pornography were not generally discussed in the context of a wider media culture, and the industry and the individuals within it that produced such films remained within the more shadowy areas of cinematic discourse where few dared to tread without a massive risk to their reputations. Since then, we've seen a significant cultural shift, with the subject of pornography and its effects and relationship to wider society coming under more scholarly scrutiny with the launch of university modules and academic periodicals under the rubric of 'Porn Studies'. At the same time, discussions of Asian cinema have expanded beyond a historical fixation on just a handful of canonical films and directors. Alongside a proliferation of dedicated internet sites since the turn of the millennium, a field from which I emerged through my work with Tom Mes on Midnight Eye (2001-2015), the inauguration of the Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema in 2009 is emblematic of how rapidly the body of knowledge and breadth of research has increased within the realms of academia over the past few decades. Behind the Pink Curtain is not an academic book but was written for a more general readership interested in the lesser charted regions of world cinema. The goal was to lay out and explore the largely hitherto undiscussed domain of the Japanese pink film.

The response when Behind the Pink Curtain emerged in print was overwhelmingly positive. No one was as shocked as I when it was afforded the 'Book of the Month' accolade in the December 2008 edition of the British Film Institute's prestigious Sight and Sound magazine. The book's publication gave rise to a number of special events and retrospectives, some with my involvement, over the following years. My hope is that this revised edition will bring a new wave of appreciation and insight into this unique and endemic sphere of Japanese filmmaking.