The New Kings of the Night

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.

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.

The World of Hosts

Unlike hostesses many times hosts go out and try to recruit customers to come and drink at their club. While some of the more famous clubs have enough exposure and can be more selective about their customers many less known clubs actively recruit outside of their establishment, on crowded street corners and outside train stations. They usually start recruiting around 7 or 8 at night and are fully dressed in their designer suits, hair gel, etc. The world of hosts was recently idealized by the hit Japanese "telebi dorama" (tv series) Yaoh, which can be translated as "Kings of the Night". The fictitious series depicted the life of an ideal host, one who believes that the job of a host is to make women happy, not a job to have sex with customers or cause customers to use obscene amounts of money. At some point the host is challenged and must become "number one" within the next three months or else he will be fired. The series follows the host throughout the three months full of situations that threaten his ideals in his battle to win the top position.

In real life however the number of respectable hosts such as the one depicted in Yaoh are relatively few. There are few managers in the host world that strictly monitor the actions of their employees like the Mama-san of a hostess. However, despite this reality there are several hosts and host clubs that do not allow shady practices as a way of increasing revenues.

Kakkoii is essential

For most male host clubs the scene is like one high-class party. The sounds of corks flying from champagne bottles and hysteric laughing fills the air. For hosts, a projection of "kakkoi" (loosely translated as cool, charming or a combination of both) is very important to be a crowd pleaser. Another important characteristic of a successful host is to be an "ikemen" (good-looking or hot). One last characteristic of a successful host is the projection of status or money. This is usually achieved by wearing expensive designer suits, watches, suits, and by always keeping plenty of cash in their wallet to impress the ladies. It's not uncommon for a "number one" host to be spotted carrying 1,000,000 yen (around 10,000 dollars) around in his wallet.

Like the hostesses, hosts are relatively respected in Japan and many Japanese female celebrities are known to frequent male host clubs. There are also a handful of hosts that have been spotted dining and dating Japanese celebrities. Just as Geisha were once misunderstood by foreigners as being prostitutes rather than entertainers, both the host and hostess industries are also quite often misunderstood. However, within Japan these industries seem to be quite accepted and understood. Just by turning on the TV or by listening to the news one can see that this industry is increasingly being followed by reporters and being dramatized by television shows to the point that it is becoming infused into modern Japanese culture.

While this article cannot speak for the entire industry as a whole and of course there are several instances that contradict this article, it is my hope that this information provides a better insight into the world of hosts and hostesses.