梶芽衣子

Meiko Kaji (梶芽衣子 Kaji Meiko) (born 24 March 1947 in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese singer and actress.

With little success but extensive experience in the movie business, in 1970 she signed up with Nikkatsu to subsequ

Meiko Kaji (梶芽衣子 Kaji Meiko) (born 24 March 1947 in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese singer and actress.

With little success but extensive experience in the movie business, in 1970 she signed up with Nikkatsu to subsequently be in more or less important roles in the Alleycat (or Stray Cat) Rock series. The films concern juvenile girl gangs confronting each other for various reasons, and although inventive, they suffer from poor scripts and rickety quality throughout the series. In 1971 Nikkatsu started moving into the financially lucrative erotic movie business, for which it is best known today, terming its unique brand of softcore "Roman Porno". In hopes of avoiding becoming a pinku eiga starlet, Kaji moved to Toei where she met director Shunya Ito and made four women in prison films in the Sasori (lit. scorpion) series, which made her famous throughout Japan. The films were adapted from a well-known manga by Toru Shinohara. In the fourth installment Toei replaced director Shunya Ito with Yasuharu Hasebe, a decision that Kaji was unhappy about, and she subsequently left the series, which continued until 1998 with six new installments of markedly lesser quality.