Geisha, harlot, strangler, star: a woman, sex, and morality in modern Japan

Geisha, Harlot, Strangler, Star steps beyond the simplistic view of Abe Sada as a sexual deviate or hysterical woman to reveal a survivor of rape, a career as a geisha and a prostitute, and a prison sentence for murder.

Sada endured discrimination and hounding by paparazzi until her disappearance in 1970.

Her story illustrates a historical collision of social and sexual values - those of the samurai class and imported from Victorian Europe against those of urban and rural Japanese peasants.