Journey to Japan (1973) R2 DVD Christina Lindberg Import NO ENGLISH!

At the height of her fame (such as it was) 70's Swedish sex kitten Christina Lindberg made the somewhat unusual career move of appearing in a couple of Japanese 'Pinky Violence' sex film productions from the infamous Nikkatsu Studios. Following a bit of a 'star turn' opposite 'legendary' Japanese actress Reiko Ike in the film "Sex & Fury"(1973) Christina churned out a second Pinku piece wherein her character is not so 'elevated'. This 2nd wide screen wonder: "Journey To Japan"(1973) shares certain plot elements with a curious little sub-genre of Japanese sexploitation flix that present stories where men (often sorta nerdy loser types) kidnap a woman (ala the John Fowles' book based film "The Collector) - holding her captive until she 'begins to love him'. There is actually a whole series of Jap. ero-flix based on this premise titled "Perfect Education-1-2-3 etc..." - they are worth tracking down if one is into this particular kinky 'fantasy' scenario.In "Journey To Japan" Lindberg's character is a seemingly naive young Swedish girl who is acting as an un-knowing drug mule for the Yakuza. When she arrives at the airport in Japan she relies upon a car license plate number to connect with the people she is supposed to pass the contraband to, but it turns out 2 cars have similar plate numbers and she gets into a car with the wrong person - a nerdy, lonely guy. Christina's character speaks no Japanese and the guy she meets speaks no Swedish so they can't really communicate - but he decides to play along with this mysterious 'hot' girl who has jumped into his car and take her where she wants to go - except he doesn't know where that is since he can't understand her. After driving quite a distance & getting increasingly frustrated he does what any 'normal(NOT!)red-blooded' guy would do: he knocks her out and rapes her, throws her suitcase in a river - then drives back to his hovel of a home and proceeds to chain her up naked on his bed. The language barrier continues to be a problem but over the following days/weeks the guy takes care of his new 'pet', even buying a sex manual so he can improve his love-making skills with his captive sweetie,.. and she seems to be 'warming' up to him to the point that he unchains her one day and leaves her alone while he goes out to do some shopping. Not surprisingly, when he returns, she has fled the scene and is 'hiding out' in a club that is populated by some anarchistic types who, at first, seem to welcome her but suddenly turn on her and (what else would one expect of a bunch of anarchists?!) proceed to gang rape her and toss her back out onto the street to wander in a shell shocked daze until her previous 'captor' fortuitously finds her and takes her 'home' again where he attempts to 'snap' her out of her depressed state. Their 'happiness' is short-lived, however, as both the Yakuza (who have been looking for the girl/drugs) and the police (who have been looking for the Yakuza/drugs) zero in on them - leading to an enigmatic 'climax', of sorts.I have read that there is a curious phenomenon called the 'Stockholm Syndrome' that has been observed in real hostage taking incidents - where the 'captives' begin to form a bond with their 'captors' and I can only imagine that this may be the basis for this particular strange plot device that this film promulgates. Sketchy as it may seem this somewhat pervasive fantasy of the 'victim growing to love their tormentor' does keep re-surfacing - doubtless much to the chagrin of feminists everywhere. If one can dismiss the political incorrectness of it all it does provide a great exploitation vehicle for a lot of nice gratuitous sex & light weight B&D scenes. While Japanese censorship laws in the 70's prohibited full nudity (one must source Ms Lindberg's native Swedish eroflix for THAT) Christina does spend about 50% of the film un-clothed and in some form of bondage - which is a treat for the eyes.... and really about the only reason to watch this improbable little 'Roman Porno'. While relatively obscure in Western movie circles, these flix were apparently big hits in Japan and encouraged Lindberg to raise her rates to the point that the Director of her next (Swedish) sex flik could only afford to hire her for two days of shooting! That film, entitled "Wide Open" -aka "Bedfellows", actually turned out to be her last (sex film). (It has recently been given a new (English dubbed) DVD release by Impulse Pictures). "Journey To Japan" is a rare instance of a Western sex star appearing in the Japanese ero-cinema, and thanks to Ms Lindberg's exceptional physical attributes it is a most pleasant viewing experience. I would note that the version of the film I purchased did have English sub-titles (unlike the one currently listed on Amazon.UK) BUT there is certainly little 'important' dialog to be missed and what there is to be enjoyed about this movie (Christina naked in chains) doesn't suffer much from the lack.