A rare set of two issues of SOUP X (subtitled “Hardcore-flavored Erotic Monthly Soup”).

Published by the legendary counter-culture house Alice Shuppan—helmed by famed editor Akira Suei—these issues belong to the jihanki-bon (“vending machine books”) movement. Bypassing mainstream distribution and strict censorship, street vending machines offered independent publishers a radical space of freedom.

Alice Shuppan used these low-budget magazines as a Trojan horse for Tokyo’s avant-garde scene.