The other day, I interviewed “Ataru.” He’s a graduate business student who enlightened me more about the quirky subcultures in Japan. He did a few projects on them while in college, and even strayed into some of those worlds on occasion. A few days ago, we had a conversation about hostesses in Japan. He was quite knowledgeable about it, given that two of his former girlfriends had experience with hostessing. Contrary to popular belief, a hostess is not a prostitute, but is considered to be more of a modern day geisha.
The first hostess he dated did it on a whim while she was in college and started dabbling in it after she started dating him. He was perplexed back then because the girl was extremely smart, and was a classmate at his prestigious university (which is comparable to an Ivy League.) She did not do it for cash or material goods. He said it was simply to satisfy her curiosity.
How did you find out?
Ataru: She told me. I think at that time I was working as a bartender and I think she said something like ‘I also started working during the night time in Ginza.’ And then I think she worked for at least two years. She became really popular in that club. She was bragging that she became the number one hostess. So when the customer comes, instead of getting a random person to attend, the customer actually calls the girls name. That would get her an extra credit, a bonus point. So the girls compete on the number of calls that they get, which means they are valuable to the club.
What did you find interesting?
Ataru: She started to receive a lot of expensive gifts like Chanel suits, Rolex watches. I’m not sure when she was wearing that because she didn’t change much in school so she wasn’t at all flashy. But, one time when her mother came to visit she had to get rid of all those expensive clothes so she brought it to my house [to hide.] There were about 15 Chanel suits.
How does hostessing work?
Ataru: It’s all about teasing. Well, think about it. If you sleep with the guy, it’s going to decrease your value. It’s going to satisfy his desire. It’s always better to hang the carrot in front of the donkey to make sure the horse keeps running. You just go out to dinner and you just make a phone call to make sure he comes back to the club to drink.
How much did she make?
Ataru: I think she made good money. She wasn’t working full time, but I think she made 5,00,000 yen (or USD$5,000) a month. But, in addition to that she gets the nice presents.
Apparently, his ex is in law school right now, and the second girl he dated has a high-paying job at a large Japanese company.
