Japanese Hostess

When evening darkens in Ginza, foreigner might wonder about the beautiful women in their shiny kimonos and zori sandals. They can't be geishas because they don't have the white make up or glorious kimono. And still their expression has sense of similar dignity and attraction.

They are Japanese hostesses. The entertainers with glamour. They exist only in Japan.

I have discussed about them with various Japanese, and what struck me at first was that similar to geishas, Japanese hostesses are often viewed as a very central part of Japanese culture. Everyone know that they exist, but nobody really knows who they are.

Japanese hostesses are not part of Japanese culture. Japanese hostesses are Japanese culture. General concensus seems to be somewhat loving towards them. They have seen as simply stylish artisans of entertaining their customers. They know what's cool to wear. Many young women say that they are curious about their world, and that "it must be a fascinating job to do". They don't have to wake up eight a clock and commute from suburb to that grey world of ordinary life. Japanese hostesses are maybe the single, only category (after geisha's ofcourse) which rise above other professions. Hostesses are not a common crowd. It has a sweet taste of mystery.

But when asking the same question from foreigners, the answers seem to be much more reserved and judging, and very often foreign people say "hostesses are shady", or "it's not a delightful career choice". Maybe the lack of common knowledge is to blame. But another part comes from difference of culture. Some compare them to prostitutes, which is a shame really because that is not the case.

Something like "a rental girlfriend for relaxed chatting" would be more close. For hostess, you can complain about your boss, tell about your worries of your 18 years old son who just brought his girlfriend at home. She might not take you to love hotel to comfort you, but she will listen to your story, no matter how boring it would be.

No matter how you look at it, hostesses cannot be compared to escort services. Hostesses are never required to engage in sexual activity with customers. That's not part of the job. Thus, I will give an advice to all of you foreign business men who might have chance to encounter a Japanese hostess: Do not expect that anything else than exciting conversation would take place. Keep this in mind, and you can enjoy the night much more.

The lack of perspective in westerner's mind, might come from the fact that western world does not know the concept of female entertainer. People will view it automatically as something "shady" at best. There is nothing to compare in west.

Most often, a group of businessmen go to a bar, and hostess simply keeps them company, tells them jokes, pours them shouchu. And in the evening, they go home, if they are not too drunk. If they are too drunk, they are sometimes allowed to stay in the bar over night. The people in the bar will lock the doors, pull a blanket over them and make sure they are safe and sound to go back to work in morning. And they can probably the entire story to their wives.

Once, when I was late at night in a bar in Ginza, the bartender showed me an album. I was thinking he was going to show me photographs of his climb to Mount Fuji, since we had a delightful conversation of it before. But no, in front of me did not arrive a photos of glorious glittering peak of the still active volcano. There were pictures of glorious women in kimonos, and the sheets included information of them, such as their height, age. Not much less than mount Fuji (!). Anyone of them, just a phone call away. He asked if I was interested. I checked few pages, and apologized that I had not enough money at that time. The prices started from 20,000 yen and did not include drinks, of course. What exactly was included in the service, I did not know. I thought it was cheap, considering what I had read before of a Japanese hostess. Nonetheless, there were some, more than 50 000 yen and so.

Often, a customers of a hostess bar becomes regulars, and I suspect some hostesses have their group of patrons. Some bars have system of "bororu-keepu" (Bottle Keep) (I'm not sure if that system still exists). Which means that customer can buy an entire bottle which is kept in the bar, and then they are served from that bottle.

For a hostess, to have circle of reliable customers might be the ideal case. They can keep the level of their salary stable, while knowing what kind of people they meet. Of course they get free drinks and free snacks. I remember talking to a Japanese man who used to be a regular customer of one hostess, and he is surprised how well she remembered every detail of conversation they ever had. Maybe that skill comes when you do this kind of a job many times. He seemed to long for the conversations he had with her. I was astonished how beautifully he discussed about her. "This is not a western world", I thought.

Of course, every occupation has it's hazards, and then I'm sure hostesses need to deal sometimes with misbehaving customers. In my imagination, I'd like to imagine that they spend their free time practising judo, so they can drop a gentleman who lacks "proper sense of humor" with a standard practice wrist-lock (maybe some man enjoys that?!).

Nonetheless, a curtain of mystery seems to be cast on these professionals of social entertainment, and foreigners will have hard time understanding them in the future as well.

It goes without saying that becoming a regular in hostess bar is not for poor students. You might end up paying 30 000 yen an evening, for a delightful conversation. And drinks are not included in that. In addition, there are some dangers also, if you don't know where you go. There are cases when a guy entered a wrong place, wrong time. And bunch of guys looked up his mother's number from his mobile phone, and threated to call his mother if he didn't pay them enough.

Conversation activities

1. How do you think about difference between Japanese hostess and foreign bar-maid?
2. Could foreign woman become popular hostess in Japan?
3. Does Japanese wives accept if they know that their husbands went to hostess bar? Try comparing to western situation.
4. Can Japanese man admit in public that he is a regular customer of a hostess bar?

Comments