It really grows on a tree in the backyard of her home

The New Kings of the Night   A look at the less known world of hosts and hostesses in Japan

You've probably often seen them standing outside fancy buildings wearing designer suits. Maybe you've caught a glimpse of several of them wearing cocktail dresses walking a group of customers to a taxicab, bowing and wishing them a good night's rest until the taxi is well out of sight. Quite possibly you may have seen them standing outside a train station wearing those designer suits, smoking and stopping girls to offer them something. Unknowing foreigners usually classify these people into three possible categories

• Pimps
• Prostitutes
• Yakuza

While some might actually be one of these most are not. The vast majority of these people are involved in a sometimes respectable and very profitable industry, one that, as far as this writer knows, is exclusive to Japan. This industry is the host/hostess industry.

In a basic sense the hosts and hostesses work at an establishment that many times resembles the lobby of a high-class hotel. At this establishment the host/hostess serves their customers drinks and remains by the customer's side providing company to and conversing with the customer throughout the entire night At the end of the night the customer pays his or her bill and is then escorted outside and seen off by their accompanying hosts/hostesses. This is the basic working of the host industry but their are some differences between hosts and hostesses.  

The Hostess World

A hostess club is a general word for what might be described in Japanese as a "kyabakura" or "kurabu". In this article we will mainly be speaking of the "kurabu" seen in places such as the Ginza district of Tokyo. The main difference between "kurabu" and "kyabakura" is that "kurabu" are more exclusive, while just about anyone is allowed to enter a "kyabakura". Another difference between "kurabu" and "kyabakura" is that with a "kyabakura" there is an hourly sitting fee in which a customer pays usually an amount around 5000 yen (around 50 dollars) and they are allowed to drink all they want for that hour. However, at "kurabu" there is generally an entrance fee of at least 25,000 yen (around 250 dollars) with a separate fee for all individual drinks. In general, "kurabu" are held in a more high-class view than "kyabakura" and for the rest of this article we will be referring to "kurabu" when talking about hostess clubs.

Unlike hosts, hostess clubs generally do not recruit customers. While this doesn't apply to all hostess clubs all over Japan, most hostess clubs have sort of a membership and networking system where customers are first introduced to the club from a friend and after an extended period of time come to be regarded as regular members. Most hostess clubs in areas like Ginza, the Meccah of hostess clubs, do not allow strangers to walk in and begin drinking. One must first be introduced by an existing customer or be an acquaintance of the Mama-san of the club. The Mama-san is much like the manager/owner of the club. Usually, the Mama-san is a retired hostess herself, although recently young hostesses have earned enough money from their jobs and are opening their own hostess clubs. The Mama-san now manages her own hostess club by taking care of her girl employees and making sure that her customers are happy and keep coming back. Many times the Mama-san will go to great lengths to maintain the establishment-patron relationship sending her most valued customers gifts such as Rolex's and other expensive items.

For the Mama-san such expenses are necessary to keep her valued customers returning as the expense of rent in an area such as Ginza is astronomical. Most of this cost is passed on to the customer in the price of drinks. And the drinks are not your typical wine, cocktails or beer but more often a bottle of Dom Perignon which can easily cost the customer 100,000 yen (around 1,000 dollars) or more. To the Western eye paying such costs might seem ludicrous but a one-night cost of 250,000 yen (around 2,500 dollars) at one of these clubs is quite normal. But in Japan areas such as Ginza are a place for those with great wealth to project their status and being a valued customer at a respectable hostess club is one projection of status and wealth. Many of the valued customers of some of the well-known hostess clubs include highly paid government officials, CEO's of major companies, and other members of high society Japan.