While Japan promotes itself as a nation of perfection and progress, this film shows how centuries-old systems of female exploitation have evolved into a modern industrial-scale sex industry, revealing how the ghosts of Edo pleasure districts and Meiji-era human trafficking continue to haunt the world’s fifth-largest economy.

“Beneath the Blossoms” delves into the complexities and hidden realities of Tokyo’s sex industry. This film provides an unflinching examination of the lives affected and the broader social implications.