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Dining Guide
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going out
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INTERACTIVE
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The New Kings of
the
Night
A look at
the less known world of hosts and hostesses in Japan
page 2 |
Another expense passed on to the customer is the cost of the companionship of a young, beautiful girl. By companion I am not speaking of a prostitute or someone who allows the customer to sexually harass or abuse the hostess. By companion I mean a young hostess, usually in her early 20's, who sits next to the customer, pours them drinks,
lights their cigarettes and converses with them throughout the night.
The goal of a hostess is to make her patron feel warm and comfortable. This is often accomplished by seeming very interested in the patron's stories, no matter how boring they might actually be, by acting in the manner of a sophisticated woman, and by reassuring the customer of his own status and importance; basically building the customer up. Through this process those customers keep returning and the industry thrives.
It is also quite common for company executives to frequent hostess clubs bringing along potential business partners or clients and charging the entire night to the company entertainment expense account. Since the industry is 100% legal this is a common practice for many companies in Japan.
Hostesses, themselves are usually very pretty and come from a variety of backgrounds. Some are college students using the job to pay for school, some are aspiring actresses or models hoping to be discovered by an important executive at a related company, some are the daughters of past hostesses and some are just normal girls opting to enter this industry with its lure of high wages.
In fact, the wages can be very high for successful hostesses, especially the ones who make it to the "number one" spot on the establishment's list of hostesses. "Number one" refers to the rank of the hostess whose clients spent the largest combined total on drinks for that month. A hostess's sales ranking is the best measure of the hostess's popularity among
clientele. For a hostess at the number one position monthly income could exceed levels of 1,500,000 yen (around 15,000 dollars)
or 100,000,000 yen (one million dollars) a month for a Ginza
hostess. This high salary is mostly derived from a commission on her client's sales but also from bonuses for ranking "number one" and a small hourly salary. This salary does not come from any acts of prostitution though.
Not a sex industry
One rule in most of the respected parts of the host/hostess world is that sex or acts of affection are strictly forbidden. This is especially true in areas like Ginza.
This rule is maintained by the "senpai" (seniors) and by the
Mama-san of the club, and its strictness varies among
establishments. At some clubs the girls are not allowed to even
give a customer their phone number or email address while at
most others hostesses will exchange email addresses and
phone numbers. For the establishments where this is allowed ,
email and phone calls are used more as a marketing device than
as a method to start a relationship. Typically the hostess will
email or call her usual clients just to maintain their
relationship with the club. This does not however imply a sexual
relationship or any relationship for that matter. For a hostess
to sleep with customers, or "makura eigyou" (pillow
business), is viewed as the lowest of lows, a cheap way to try
to make it to the top at "number one". At respected clubs this isn't much of a problem though because the regular patrons are so close with the Mama-san
and know that
by making a
sexual pass at one of her girls not only would they damage their relationship with Mama-san
but they would also damage their status with the club and
industry. There are two chief reasons that this rule must be maintained. One is to ensure that the prestige, reputation and image of the host/hostess industry remains good. The other reason speaks more on human nature.
Basically, if a customer is able to have sex with the girls then club will lose it's intrigue
because men are naturally drawn to what they can't have. By not allowing sex or any flagrant acts of affection the establishment keeps its customers coming back.
Misunderstanding by the foreign eye
As stated before, hostesses are often misunderstood by foreigners as prostitutes or women trained to tease men for money. In Japan, a woman's ability to make a man feel loved and comforted is a virtue, one that a good hostess strives to achieve.
For a good hostess the ability to make men feel this way comes first and the money is nothing more than a bonus to achieving such a virtue. This is one reason that this industry is relatively held in high respect in Japanese society. Although there are some bad impressions of host/hostesses clubs in other parts of Japan, the impression of the host/hostess clubs in areas like Ginza goes virtually unflawed.
In some ways, Ginza is simply viewed as a bit too classy for
such things.
In fact, backgrounds of many of the wives of Japan's prominent businessman and many of Japan's celebrities can be traced back to a "number one" ranking at a famous hostess club in Ginza.
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