Shungo Kaji
{{Short description|Japanese pornographic filmmaker}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Shungo Kaji
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1961}}
| birth_place = Tokyo, Japan
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Film director
screenwriter
film producer
| yearsactive = 1990 –
| spouse =
| domesticpartner =
| website = http://www.kaji-world.net
}}
{{nihongo|Shungo Kaji|梶俊吾|Kaji Shungo}} (born 1961) is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, producer and company executive who is active primarily in the adult video (AV) field.
Life and career
=Nikkatsu and Hot Entertainment=
Kaji was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1961. He says that he was interested in film from his early youth, and made 8mm movies as a student. After graduating from high school, he entered the {{nihongo|Nikkatsu Visual Arts Academy|日活芸術学院|Nikkatsu Geijutsu Gakuin}},{{cite web|url=http://www.hot-et.com/avschool/instructor.html|title=講師陣紹介 (Instructors)|publisher=hot-et.com/avschool|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215130454/http://www.hot-et.com/avschool/instructor.html|archive-date=15 February 2009|access-date=21 September 2011|language=ja}}{{cite web|url=http://www.kaji-world.net/home/index.html|title=Shungo Kaji|publisher=kaji-world.net|access-date=21 September 2011|language=ja}} a film school which was established in 1975 within the Nikkatsu studio.{{cite web|url=http://www.culturalprofiles.net/japan/Units/5918.html|title=Nikkatsu Visual Arts Academy|publisher=culturalprofiles.net|access-date=22 September 2011}}
He then joined the Nikkatsu company in a managerial role producing original films and videos. He eventually left Nikkatsu to pursue a career as an independent director. By at least late 1990, he was directing adult videos for the HRC Cher label, including The Female Teacher's Nightmare Trap 4.{{cite web|url=http://urabon-navigator.com/?p=mcard&id=11672| title=The Female Teacher's Nightmare Trap 4|publisher=Urabon Navigator|access-date=25 September 2011}} In November 1991, he directed Riria Yoshikawa's retirement video, Making love with my husband (her retirement), for HRC.{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00014MH88?redirect=true|title=夫との真実の愛見せます 吉川りりあ [VHS]|publisher=amazon.co.jp|access-date=25 September 2011|language=ja}}
In March 1991, Kaji formed his own adult video studio, Hot Entertainment, and, by 2000, he was "a veteran director of over 150 adult films and videos."{{cite web|url=http://affinity.uwaterloo.ca/~kinema/article.php?id=192&feature|title=Sex in Asian Cinema|publisher= Kinema| access-date=25 September 2011|last=Toh|first=Hai Leong}} In addition to adult videos, Kaji directed the Hot Pictures V-Cinema production {{nihongo|Nippon saikyou no seiyoku sha|日本最強の性欲者}}, which was released in October 1996{{cite web| url=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/person/p0636120.htm|script-title=ja:日本最強の性欲者|publisher= JMDB| access-date=25 September 2011|language=ja}} In July 1997, Kaji produced and Hot Entertainment released another V-Cinema title, {{nihongo|Juvenile Crime|少年の犯罪|Shōnen no hanzai}}, starring Yumi Yoshiyuki and directed by Gunji Kawasaki, with a story based on a real murder case.{{cite web|url=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1997/ov080200.htm|script-title=ja:少年の犯罪|publisher= JMDB|access-date=22 September 2011|language=ja}}{{cite web|url=https://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_c.php?num_c=238263|script-title=ja:少年の犯罪(1997)|publisher=AllCinema| access-date=22 September 2011| language=ja}} A further V-Cinema work was the July 1999 horror video {{nihongo|Short Horrors|ショートホラーズ|Shōto Horāzu}}, which Kaji wrote and directed.{{cite web|url=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1999/ov105600.htm|script-title=ja:ショートホラーズ|publisher=JMDB|access-date=25 September 2011|language=ja}}{{cite web|url=https://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_p.php?num_p=295647|script-title=ja:ショートホラーズ (1999)|publisher=AllCinema| access-date=25 September 2011|language=ja}}
Kaji received a measure of international celebrity with his 1999 partly autobiographical mock documentary Ekiben. The Variety review of the film called it "Consistently inventive, sometimes very funny and finally rather touching",{{cite web|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117915611?refcatid=31|title=Box lunch| publisher=Variety|access-date=24 September 2011|last=Elley|first=Derek|date=16 April 2000}} while AllRovi commented that it was a "funny and oddly poignant film."{{cite web|url=http://www.allrovi.com/movies/movie/ekiben-v198472?r=allmovie|title=Ekiben|publisher=AllRovi|access-date=24 September 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120720213157/http://www.allrovi.com/movies/movie/ekiben-v198472?r=allmovie|archive-date=20 July 2012}} He was also the executive producer for the Hot Entertainment March 2000 production of screenwriter Toshiyuki Morioka's debut as a director, {{nihongo|Requiem of Darkness|クラヤミノレクイエム|Kurayami no rekuiemu}}.{{cite web|url=http://movie.walkerplus.com/mv31613/| script-title=ja:ＲＥＱＵＩＥＭ ｏｆ ＤＡＲＫＮＥＳＳ クラヤミノレクイエム|publisher= Movie Walker| access-date=24 September 2011|language=ja}}{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0239541/|title=Requiem of Darkness|date=25 March 2000|publisher=IMDb|access-date=24 September 2011}}{{cite web|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/253898/Kurayami-no-Requiem/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105104912/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/253898/Kurayami-no-Requiem/overview|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 November 2012|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|author=Jonathan Crow|date=2012|title=Kurayami no Requiem | access-date=24 September 2011}}
In 2008, Kaji made news by being arrested by Tokyo police and charged with indecent exposure in a public place for filming an adult video in public on 20 July 2007. Actress Asahi Miura and five other staff members from Hot Entertainment were also arrested. The filming was being done in the back of a dump truck and police said that although the truck was partially covered, it could be seen into from surrounding buildings in Tokyo's Shibuya district.{{cite web| url=http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/porn-actress-producers-arrested-for-filming-in-rear-of-dump-truck|title=Porn actress, producers arrested for filming in rear of dump truck|publisher=Japan Today| access-date=24 September 2011|date=21 June 2008}}
=Other activities=
Kaji has also been involved in other business ventures, including the video production company {{nihongo|Hot Pictures|ホットピクチャーズ|Hottopikuchāzu }}, the retailer {{nihongo|Hot Powers|ホットパワーズ|Hottopawāzu}} with shops and a website selling adult toys and sex aids,{{cite web|url=http://www.hotpowers.jp/index3.html|script-title=ja:ホットパワーズ|publisher=Hot Powers|access-date=22 September 2011|language=ja}} and {{nihongo|Japan Entertainment Co. Ltd.|有限会社ジャパンエンターテイメント|Yuugen Kaisha Japan Entāteimento}} In 2005, he established {{nihongo|Tigermeisters|タイガーマイスターズ|Taigāmaisutāzu}}, a production company which specializes in adult videos featuring transsexual actresses, including AV Idols Miki Mizuasa and Hime Tsukino.{{cite web|url=http://www.tigermeisters.com/main.html|script-title=ja:ニューハーフ専門メーカー タイガーマイスターズ|publisher=Tigermeisters|access-date=23 September 2011|language=ja|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110902132628/http://www.tigermeisters.com/main.html|archive-date=2 September 2011}}
Kaji has also worked as a photographer and stylist, and, in January 2009, he published his first novel, entitled {{nihongo|Shinya no teiou|深夜の帝王}} ({{ISBN|4286045196}}).{{cite book|script-title=ja:深夜の帝王 [単行本（ソフトカバー）]|id={{ASIN|4286045196|country=jp}}| language=ja}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{cite web|url=http://www.kaji-world.net/|title=Shungo Kaji official website|language=ja}}
- {{IMDb name|0435302}}
{{Japanese erotic cinema}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaji, Shungo}}
Category:Japanese film directors
Category:Japanese pornographic film directors
Category:Japanese screenwriters