Girls of the Night

Following the introduction of Japan’s Anti-Prostitution Law in 1958, sex workers were sent either to prison or to rehabilitation centres. At the Shiragiku facility, Kuniko is considered a model case. Determined to rebuild her life, she takes a poorly paid job at a local shop. But her past soon catches up with her.

Her employer’s wife is suspicious of her, men subject her to unwanted attention, and the stigma attached to her former profession makes it almost impossible for her to enter “respectable” society. Her next attempt at starting a new life, this time as a factory worker, brings Kuniko into contact with a group of young women. But they judge her for her past and take advantage of her. They even try to push her back into prostitution, and their hostility becomes downright vicious.

Eventually, a woman helps her find work in a rose garden, where Kuniko falls in love with the gardener Hayakawa. But soon even this prospect of happiness is threatened when her past catches up with her once again, leaving her to fear that the burden of it will finally break her.