Erotic Journey: Love Affair in Hong Kong - Hirokazu Inoue (1973) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter

Sumio's new 'friend' tells him he has found his wife. It turns out it's a lookalike (played by the same actress, Junko Miyashita) who is working as a prostitute on one of the "flower boats" berthed in the typhoon shelter. As most regular readers or people familiar with Hong Kong will know, this whole area was reclaimed into West Kowloon and the typhoon shelter was shifted several hundred meters to the west. 

Erotic Journey: Love Affair in Hong Kong - Hirokazu Inoue (1973) - Findlay Road, The Peak

Sumio gets a lead when he wanders up Findlay Road on the Peak and is stopped by a young hawker who is selling bubbles. It turns out the biy has seen his wife and her boyfriend.

In the background you can see the old stone base for the Peak Hotel

Erotic Journey: Love Affair in Hong Kong - Hirokazu Inoue (1973) - Lau Fau Shan

Sumio even goes out as far as the oyster fields in Lau Fau Shan.

Erotic Journey: Love Affair in Hong Kong - Hirokazu Inoue (1973) - Tiger Balm Gardens

Another location Sumio finds himself in during his fruitless search is Tiger Balm Gardens. This view is from behind the mansion which, it turns out, is in fact the front of the house. There is another brief glimpse later in the film (lower image) after Sumio is recovering from his drug trip and I'm not sure if he was supposed to be there or just hallucinating. It's (the trip) a fairly whacky sequence.

Erotic Journey: Love Affair in Hong Kong - Hirokazu Inoue (1973) - Ladder Street, Sheung Wan

Following the initial top down view, the next camera angle is located on Ladder Street as the thugs try and snatch Sumio's money before a passer-by intervenes and saves him.

Erotic Journey: Love Affair in Hong Kong - Hirokazu Inoue (1973) - View from Kung Lee Church Mansions

Kung Lee Church Mansions on Bridges Street is the only location from where this view could be filmed as we see Sumio walking up Ladder Street before being attacked by a couple of thugs who try to steal his wallet. The sequence starts with a view over towards Central before panning down to focus on Ladder Street. The building next to the steps on the left is the Chinese YMCA building that is still around.

Erotic Journey: Love Affair in Hong Kong - Hirokazu Inoue (1973) - Des Voeux Road Central

Sumio (Hirokazu Inoue) wanders around Hong Kong looking for his estranged wife and eventually goes into his company's office - located in the old Gloucester Building on the corner of Des Voeux Road Central and Pedder Street. The building was demolished in the late 80s and Gloucester Tower now stands on the site. During its time, the Gloucester Buiding was quite a highly recognisable landmark because of the clocktower on the roof.

The bottom images are from later in the film as Sumio's sister-in-law tries to convince him to return to Japan. He wanders off in front of the Gloucester Building and walks past the old Alexandra House.

Erotic Journey: Love Affair in Hong Kong - Hirokazu Inoue (1973) - Gloucester Road, Wanchai

The in-car footage continues on the island as we are driven along Gloucester Road. The first image shows the junction with Stewart Road before zooming quickly along (meaning the screencaps are a bit blurred) past the old Wanchai Police Station building. There's a building in the first two images, along Stewart Road, that is still there. It's the one behind the no entry sign in the second image. Gwulo has an image of it here. That and the Police Station are the only old buildings left here.

Erotic Journey: Love Affair in Hong Kong - Hirokazu Inoue (1973) - Cross Harbour Tunnel

The opening credits roll over some in-car scenes as it drives out of the Island-side entrance to the Cross Harbour Tunnel.

Erotic Journey: Love Affair in Hong Kong - Hirokazu Inoue (1973) - Victoria Harbour

There is a surprising number of "erotic" movies that have been filmed in Hong Kong. Up to now they have mainly been a product of European production companies (French/Italian/German or some combination of) so this time we break that mold a bit by featuring a Japanese one.

Erotic Journey: Love Affair in Hong Kong (Japanese title: 色情旅行 香港慕情 - Shikijô ryokô: Hong Kong bojô) follows Sumio (Hirokazu Inoue) whose wife Akiko (Junko Miyashita) has just deserted him and fled to Hong Kong with her lover, one of Sumio's colleagues. He goes to Hong Kong to pursue her and whilst there gets taken advantage of by a rather nefarious character.

The opening Hong Kong scene includes a night time view of the harbour from the Peak area. The rest of the images look as though they were snapped from a cross harbour ferry, and we get some better views of the old Central waterfront.