Champagne Salary: Diary of a Tokyo Hostess

Host and hostess clubs

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There is also a hostess club in Tokyo catering to lesbians. Hostessing is a popular employment option among young foreign women in Japan, as demand is high. However, work visas can be difficult to obtain, so many choose to work illegally. The clubs sometimes take advantage of the precarious legal situation of the women.

The government promised to crack down on illegal employment of foreigners in hostess bars, but an undercover operation in found that several hostess bars were willing to employ a foreign woman illegally. Now under strict laws, it is only legal for foreign women to work as hostesses if they are Japanese citizens or have a legal spouse visa.

In December , a trade union , called the Kyabakura Union , was formed to represent hostess bar workers. The union was formed in response to complaints by hostess bar employees of harassment and unpaid wages by their employers. Although they do not charge an entry fee and often have no set prices on their menus , they usually either have an arbitrary and expensive bill or charge a set hourly fee plus a "bottle charge". Customers purchase a bottle in their own name, and it is kept for future visits.

Hostess bars are also found in other east Asian countries, Hawaii, Guam, and California. In Hawaii approximately half of Oahu's bars are licensed as hostess bars. Some bars in Thailand label themselves as hostess bars; these are loosely related to the East Asian practice, although they are basically a class of the local go-go bars that do not feature dancing. A host club ja: Some host clubs also specialize in female-to-male transsexual hosts. Customers are typically wives of rich men or women working as hostesses in hostess clubs.

The first host club was opened in Tokyo in A women's studies professor explained the phenomenon by Japanese men's lack of true listening to the problems of women, and by women's desire to take care of a man and be loved back. Male hosts pour drinks and will often flirt with their clients, more so than their female counterparts. The conversations are generally light-hearted; hosts may have a variety of entertainment skills, be it simple magic tricks or charisma with which to tell a story.

Some host clubs have a dedicated stage for a performance, usually a dance, comedy sketch, etc. Hosts are often an age between 18 and their mids. Men who become hosts either cannot find a white-collar job, or are enticed by the prospect of high earnings through commission. A common look for a host is a dark suit, collared shirt, silver jewellery, a dark tan, [4] and bleached hair.

Recently clubs where hosts wear casual clothes have been increasing, but still the norm is the smart suit look. Pay is usually determined by commission on drink sales with hosts often drinking far past a healthy limit, usually while trying to hide their drunkenness. Because the base hourly wage is usually extremely low, almost any man can become a host regardless of looks or charisma depending on the bar. However, hosts who cannot increase their sales usually drop out very soon, because of the minimal wage.

The environment in a host bar is usually very competitive, with tens of thousands of dollars sometimes offered to the host who can achieve the highest sales. Many of the clientele who visit host bars are hostesses who finish work at around 1: The business time changed in the past years due to police order. The reason was the increased incidence of illegal minor prostitution of host club visitors who could not pay the debts they accumulated by chalking up the host club fee. Karaoke — The music is typically an instrumental version of a well-known popular song.

Lyrics are usually displayed on a screen, along with a moving symbol, changing color, or music video images. It is also a used by recording engineers translated as ghost orchestra meaning there is no vocal track. The primary difference between Karaoke and sing-along songs is the absence of the lead vocalist, sing-alongs fundamentally changed with the introduction of new technology. There are various disputes about who first invented the name karaoke, One claim is that the karaoke styled machine was invented by Japanese musician Daisuke Inoue in Kobe, Japan, in Although the audio company Clarion was the first commercial producer of the machine they may have invented the machine.

In Japan, it has long been common to provide entertainment at a dinner or a party.

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Japanese drummer Daisuke Inoue was asked frequently by guests in the Utagoe Kissa, realizing the potential for the market, Inoue made a tape recorder-like machine that played songs for a yen coin each. Instead of giving his karaoke machines away, Inoue leased them out so that stores did not have to buy new songs on their own, Karaoke machines were initially placed in restaurants and hotel rooms, soon, new businesses called karaoke boxes, with compartmented rooms, became popular.

In , Daisuke Inoue was awarded the tongue-in-cheek Ig Nobel Peace Prize for inventing karaoke, Karaoke soon spread to the rest of Asia and other countries all over the world. In-home karaoke machines soon followed but lacked success in the American and Canadian markets, home theater systems took off, and karaoke went from being the main purpose of the stereo system to a side feature. As more music became available for machines, more people within the industry saw karaoke as a profitable form of lounge. It is not uncommon for some bars to have performances seven nights a week, commonly with high-end sound equipment superior to the small.

Dance floors and lighting effects are becoming common sights in karaoke bars. Lyrics are often displayed on television screens around the bar. A basic karaoke machine consists of a player, microphone inputs, a means of altering the pitch of the played music. Geisha — Geisha, geiko, or geigi are traditional Japanese female entertainers who act as hostesses. Their skills include performing arts such as classical music, dance, games, and conversation, traditionally to entertain male customers. Geisha, like all Japanese nouns, has no singular or plural variants.

Another name for geisha is geiko, which is used to refer to geisha from western Japan. Apprentice geisha are called maiko, or hangyoku, half-jewel, or by the generic term o-shaku. The white make-up and elaborate kimono and hair of a maiko is the popular image held of geisha, a woman entering the geisha community does not have to begin as a maiko, having the opportunity to begin her career as a full geisha.

Either way, however, usually a training is involved before debuting either as a maiko or as a geisha. A woman above 21 is considered too old to be a maiko, on average, Tokyo apprentices are slightly older than their Kyoto counterparts. Historically, geisha often began the earliest stages of their training at a young age. Before they disappeared, the courtesans were the colourful flowers and the geisha the willows because of their subtlety, strength, in the early stages of Japanese history, there were female entertainers, saburuko were mostly wandering girls whose families were displaced from struggles in the late s.

Some of these saburuko girls sold sexual services, while others with a better education made a living by entertaining at social gatherings. Traditional Japan embraced sexual delights and men were not constrained to be faithful to their wives, the ideal wife was a modest mother and manager of the home, by Confucian custom love had secondary importance. They performed erotic dances and skits, and this new art was dubbed kabuku, meaning to be wild, the dances were called kabuki, and this was the beginning of kabuki theater. These pleasure quarters quickly became glamorous entertainment centers, offering more than sex, the highly accomplished courtesans of these districts entertained their clients by dancing, singing, and playing music.

Salaryman — Salaryman refers to a man whose income is salary based, particularly those working for corporations. It has gradually become accepted in Anglophone countries as a noun for a Japanese white-collar worker or businessman, the term salaryman refers exclusively to men, for women the term career woman or, for lower prestige jobs, office lady is used. Japans society prepares its people to work primarily for the good of the society rather than just the individual.

In conservative Japanese culture, becoming a salaryman is the career choice for young men. On the other hand, the word Salaryman is sometimes used with derogatory connotation for his dependence on his employer. The term does not include all workers who receive a set salary, the term includes those who work for government and major companies. A typical description of the salaryman is a male employee who typically earns his salary based on individual abilities rather than on seniority. Salarymen are known for working many hours, sometimes up to sixty hours per week, oftentimes, because of his busy work schedule, the salaryman does not have time to raise a family and his work becomes a lifelong commitment.

Companies typically hire the salarymen straight after high school, and they are expected to stay with the company until retirement, as a reward for the demonstration of their loyalty, companies rarely fire the salarymen unless it is under special dire circumstances. There is also a belief that the amount of time spent at the workplace correlates to the efficiency of the employee. As a result of this intense and depressing lifestyle, salarymen may become so pressured that they may commit suicide.

The media often portray the salaryman in negative fashion for lack of initiative, because of this portrayal, communities may be less willing to help the salaryman with his emotional problems, which often leads to clinical depression or even suicide.

The act of escaping from the lifestyle is known as datsusara. A vivid portrait of this can be found in the Takeshi Kitano film, the prevalence of salarymen in Japanese society has given birth to many depictions by both the Japanese and American media. Some films in Japan about salarymen include Mr. Salaryman, Japanese Salaryman NEO, there is a certain expectation among the middle and upper classes for Japanese men to become salarymen. For many young Japanese men, accepting anything less than becoming a salaryman and conforming to its ideal is considered a failure, not only of him, the life of a salaryman revolves around work.

Cocktail — When used to refer to any generic alcoholic mixed drink, cocktail may mean any beverage that contains two or more ingredients if at least one of those ingredients contains alcohol. When a mixed drink contains only a spirit and a mixer, such as soda or fruit juice, it is a highball. When a cocktail contains only a spirit and a liqueur, it is a duo. Additional ingredients may be sugar, honey, milk, cream, the origin of the word cocktail is disputed.

The first definition of cocktail known to be an alcoholic beverage appeared in The Balance and Columbian Repository May 13,, editor Harry Croswell answered the question, What is a cocktail. It is said, also to be of use to a democratic candidate, because a person. By extension, the cocktail was applied to a vulgar, ill-bred person raised above his station, assuming the position of a gentleman. Hence the highly appropriate slang word used earlier about inferior horses, several authors have theorized that cocktail may be a corruption of cock ale.

David Wondrich also speculates that cocktail is a reference to a practice for perking up an old horse by means of a ginger suppository so that the animal would cock its tail up, there is a lack of clarity on the origins of cocktails. Traditionally cocktails were a mixture of spirits, sugar, water, but by the s, a cocktail frequently included a liqueur. In addition to recipes for punches, sours, slings, cobblers, shrubs, toddies, flips, a key ingredient differentiating cocktails from other drinks in this compendium was the use of bitters.

Mixed drinks popular today that conform to this meaning of cocktail include the Old Fashioned whiskey cocktail, the Sazerac cocktail. The term highball appears during the s to distinguish a drink composed only of a distilled spirit, the first cocktail party ever thrown was allegedly by Mrs. Louis, Missouri, in May Walsh invited 50 guests to her home at noon on a Sunday, the party lasted an hour, until lunch was served at 1 pm.

The site of this first cocktail party still stands, in , the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis bought the Walsh mansion at Lindell Boulevard, and it has served as the local archbishops residence ever since. Strip club — Strip clubs are venues that regularly provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease or other erotic or exotic dances.

Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or bar style, and can adopt a theatre or cabaret-style. In , the size of the U.

My nights as a Nobu hostess

The popularity of a club is an indicator of its quality. The strip club as an outlet for salacious entertainment is a recurrent theme in popular culture, in some media, these clubs are portrayed primarily as gathering places of vice and ill repute. Clubs themselves and various aspects of the business are highlighted in these references, popular Internet sites for strip club enthusiasts also have lists calculated from the inputs of site visitors. Strip clubs are frequent targets of litigation around the world, and the sex industry, some clubs have been linked to organized crime.

The term striptease was first recorded in , though stripping, in the sense of women removing clothing to sexually excite men, for example, in Thomas Otways comedy The Soldiers Fortune a character says, Be sure they be lewd, drunken, stripping whores. Its combination with music seems to be as old, the erotic dance of the bee, performed by a woman known as Kuchuk Hanem, was witnessed and described by the French novelist Gustave Flaubert.

In this dance the performer disrobes as she searches for an imaginary bee trapped within her garments and it is likely that the women performing these dances did not do so in an indigenous context, but rather, responded to the commercial climate for this type of entertainment. This routine, Le coucher dYvette, inspired French acts in theaters and brothels in other parts of the world, the first public act of striptease in modern times is credited to Parisian theater in The most celebrated segment of her act was her progressive shedding of clothing until she wore just a jeweled bra and some ornaments over her arms and head.

Another landmark performance was the appearance at the Moulin Rouge in of an actress called Germaine Aymos who entered dressed only in three very small shells. In the s, the famous Josephine Baker danced semi-nude in the danse sauvage at the Folies and these shows were notable for their sophisticated choreography and for often dressing the girls in glitzy sequins and feathers.

By the s fully nude shows were provided at such places as Le Crazy Horse Saloon, in Britain in the s, Laura Henderson began presenting nude shows at the Windmill Theatre in London. Trade union — The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with employers. The most common purpose of these associations or unions is maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment and this may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety and policies.

Unions may organize a section of skilled workers, a cross-section of workers from various trades. The agreements negotiated by a union are binding on the rank and file members, originating in Great Britain, trade unions became popular in many countries during the Industrial Revolution. Trade unions may be composed of workers, professionals, past workers, students.

Trade union density, or the percentage of workers belonging to a union, is highest in the Nordic countries. The trade unions aim at nothing less than to prevent the reduction of wages below the level that is maintained in the various branches of industry. That is to say, they wish to prevent the price of labour-power from falling below its value, yet historian R.

The 18th century economist Adam Smith noted the imbalance in the rights of workers in regards to owners. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labor above their actual rate When workers combine, masters.

As Smith noted, unions were illegal for many years in most countries, there were severe penalties for attempting to organize unions, up to and including execution. This pool of unskilled and semi-skilled labour spontaneously organized in fits and starts throughout its beginnings, Trade unions and collective bargaining were outlawed from no later than the middle of the 14th century when the Ordinance of Labourers was enacted in the Kingdom of England.

In , the Combination Act was passed, which banned trade unions, although the unions were subject to often severe repression until , they were already widespread in cities such as London. Sympathy for the plight of the workers brought repeal of the acts in , by the s, the first labour organizations to bring together workers of divergent occupations were formed. Possibly the first such union was the General Union of Trades, also known as the Philanthropic Society, the latter name was to hide the organizations real purpose in a time when trade unions were still illegal.

The Association quickly enrolled approximately unions, consisting mostly of textile related unions, but also including mechanics, blacksmiths, and various others. Host and hostess clubs — Hostess clubs are a common feature in the night-time entertainment industry of East Asian countries. They employ primarily female staff and cater to males seeking drinks, the modern host clubs are similar establishments where primarily male staff adhere to females. Hostesses light cigarettes, provide beverages for men, offer flirtatious conversation, hostesses can be seen as the modern counterpart of geishas, providing entertainment to groups of salarymen after work.

Host clubs

A club will also employ a female bartender, who is usually well-trained in mixology. Hostess clubs are distinguished from strip clubs in that there is no dancing, prostitution, the idea of hostesses usually will implicate sentiments of gender inequality throughout the social aspects of Japan. Hostesses often drink with each night, and alcohol problems are not uncommon. These problems are derived from mass consumption of alcohol by which many consequences may arise, most bars by a commission system by which hostesses receive a percentage of sales.

Patrons are generally greeted comfortably at the door and seated as far away from customers as possible. In some instances, a customer is able to choose with whom he spends time, in either case, the hostess will leave after a certain amount of time or number of drinks, offering the customer a chance to see a fresh face.

While most establishments have male touts outside to bring in customers, Hostess clubs have a strict no touching policy and patrons will be removed for trying to initiate private or sexual conversation topics. Normal hostess clubs also need a permit to allow dancing, clubs are inspected often by the Public Safety Commission. Any club found violating its permitted activities can have its business license terminated or be suspended, hostessing is a popular employment option among young foreign women in Japan, as demand is high.

However, work visas can be difficult to obtain, so choose to work illegally. The clubs sometimes take advantage of the legal situation of the women. The capital is the city of Fukushima, until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Fukushima prefecture was part of what was known as Mutsu Province. The Shirakawa Barrier and the Nakoso Barrier were built around the 5th century to protect civilized Japan from the barbarians to the north, Fukushima became a Province of Mutsu after the Taika Reforms were established in In , the provinces of Iwase and Iwaki were created, the province of Fukushima was conquered by Prince Subaru in The earthquake also triggered a tsunami that hit the eastern coast of the prefecture and caused widespread destruction.

In the two following the earthquake,1, residents of Fukushima Prefecture had either been confirmed dead or were missing as a result of the earthquake. Many residents were evacuated to nearby localities due to the development of an evacuation zone around the plant. Thanks to Fukushimas climate, various fruits are grown throughout the year and these include pears, peaches, cherries, grapes, and apples.

The documentary Shinjuku Boys by Kim Longinotto describes a Tokyo host club in Shinjuku staffed exclusively by female-to-male crossdressers. Tokyo Girls is a documentary in which four Canadian women share their experiences working as hostesses in Japan. The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief is a documentary about a host club in Osaka.

Host and hostess clubs - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core

KTVs are a source of interactive musical entertainment through the utilization of a karaoke bar by which words appear on a large interactive television. It is important to distinguish the difference in desirable environments for individuals of different age groups within the KTV.

Individuals within their early thirties to late forties typically prefer the exclusive, private realms of rented rooms rather than the stereotypical open dance floor disco enviornement. KTV's are usually encountered within East Asia nations and are a principal location for Chinese business ethics.

Chinese businessmen use various hostesses as a means of persuading the businessmen and as an outlet to earn favors in the future. This mentality is carried with many Chinese businessmen and has become the common perception on business for many of the Chinese men. These hostesses serve to please the client and allow the client to feel satisfied and trustwothy while present at the KTV.

The Chinese businessmen that visit the KTV maintain a main and sentimental priority of establishing connections within their respective companies. Hostesses internally degrade their personal and " moral appearance " in order to satisfy a sentiment of masculine pleasure.

These implications directly integrate into the creation of hegemonic masculinity for the Business world. This correlates to the value of male dominance throughout the business world and enhances the principle of hyper-masculinity which decreases diversity for Chinese ethics. This also leads to gender inequality for females not only in the KTV's, but more generally throughout many realms of life in China.

This may entail the loss of moral code and ethics for the women in the KTV. These bars and clubs proclaim that they are not a front for prostitution, yet it appears that these acts are the mere start of something much more serious, which may include aspects of prostitution as it is traditionally thought of in Western culture.

Hierarchy systems of Power generally will lead to gender discrimination throughout the future and add to the already existing gap of gender implications in China. Guanxi also maintains the business order for the owners of the KTV by creating a workplace that is managed by a hierarchal power system where again hyper-masculinity is fully engaged in the mens favor. KTV's can become a very hostile and degrading environment for women because of the Gender inequality surrounding the Chinese business practices and their infatuation with unethical sentiments.

Male Chinese businessmen will essentially bring their deemed mistresses to these KTV's to "satisfy" their clients by setting them up with various women in aspiration of forming strong business connections through loyalty. This provides a very distressing business world for women by which they are classified as inferior to the men. Throughout East Asia many women cannot attend many events hosted at KTV's or other specific locations because of how degrading and appalling these events become for the Chinese women.

Throughout East Asia discrepancies exist amongst the male worker and female workers. The female workers face inequality in the workplace because of hyper- masculinity and the implications of this device. Young female migrant workers seek the urban lifestyle as opposed to the rural lifestyle in order to escape the traditional Chinese fundamentals of a family.

The female migrants move to urban areas for a modern and innovative lifestyle. The female migrant worker [33] is a clear illustration of inequality corresponding amongst the male and females in the workplace. These ideals allude to the " inequalities " present within the KTV amongst males and females. Specifically, these principles correspond to the Chinese business world and the inequality that has existed in the past and will continue to exist within the future. The businessmen at the KTV's utilize these settings for business connections ; however, the women cannot always obtain these vital connections in the same efficient and orderly manner as the men for a multitude of reasons.

The women are typically seen as a lower social status as the men throughout the business world, although they are hypothetically equal or even better than the men in certain circumstances. The role of the mistresses within the KTV's may cause a blurred vision for the businesswomen in the KTV because the men become preoccupied with the mistresses and their sexual innuendos. These inequalities are extremely prevalent within the Chinese KTV's and lead to an increased amount of gender discrimination within China as seen throughout Anxious Wealth by John Osburg.

KTV's are a typical location for Chinese business practices by which the businessmen attempt to formulate connections and loyalty amongst other various businessmen. The businessmen will try to establish a comfortable setting by providing fruit plates , women, or Alcohol drinks. Mass alcohol consumption has very negative effects on the bodies of these individual that frequently visit KTV's.

These consequences may include mental, physical, ethical, or even moral issues for the Chinese men.

Alcohol is a very prominent factor of KTV's and suitable with the overall culture of East Asian nations. Extreme consumption methods are usually used by the Chinese businessmen in exchange for personal health and moral conduct similar to the hostesses sacrificing their moral ethics to please the male consumer. KTV's are used as a way to network within the business world through alcohol influenced cultivation of relationships with both "state officials and other entrepreneurs", [35] which positively affects their "business ventures".

This idea of networking is known as building " guanxi ". By entertaining a client, these businessmen are essentially building networks that are usually more developed and enhanced than building networks through actual relatable work. Guanxi is not based upon the actual credibility of the worker or the specific work he or she does, but is actually based on the fundamental of deriving connections. This world of guanxi is based upon social networking with other businessmen rather than having a more efficient and diligent work ethic.

Guanxi is an extremely powerful sentiment when it comes to connections and ranking up in a company or simply establishing yourself in the business world. Host and hostess clubs Hostess clubs are a common feature in the night-time entertainment industry of East Asian countries.

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