Shohei Imamura (b. 1926) is one of Japan's most important filmmakers, famous for the controversial subject matter and powerful raw energy of his films and particularly for his portrayal of women. In Karayuki-san Imamura reveals how the state exploited women during the period of Japanese military expansion in the 1930s and forties. Traveling to Southeast Asia he met one of the "karayuki-san," which literally means "those who go abroad," referring to the Japanese women who were deceived into leaving their homeland and forced to labor in the brothels of Southeast Asian countries. These brothels were privately operated in close collaboration with the army, and Japan's military and capitalist advance in Asia entailed the women serving the army and merchants. Imamura interviews a former karayuki-san still living on the Malay peninsula, then visits her village in Japan to discover that she has reasons for not wanting to return.-KH