When I interviewed host club expert Sasaki Chiwawa, she said something that rang true – and that’s proven prescient.
To recap for those of you just joining us, host clubs are nightlife businesses where a young, attractive man (the host) engages in drinks and conversation with women. Prices can range from 10,000 yen ($68) for an hour of drinks up to thousands of dollars for overpriced bottles of champagne.
Enamored customers go to great lengths to make their favorite host a club’s “number one player.” Encouraged by the host themselves, some rack up huge debts they can only pay off via night work (hostess clubs, girls’ bars) or prostitution.
Japan’s government recently cracked down on host clubs in an effort to prevent women from falling into this trap. Sasaki was dismissive of the effort, saying it reduced women to helpless naifs in need of saving. “For those women who spend money they don’t have because they want to be loved, yes, I’d say they brought that on themselves,” she told me.
She also said that, ultimately, it wouldn’t work.
“The government can’t regulate issues of love. They can control the most severe issues, but the people who want to go will go.”
Recent events seem to be proving her right. According to recent reports, hosts are still using the same tactics they always have to ensnare women into debt. And the gentleman’s agreement meant to prevent the worst abuses isn’t helping, because clubs had already figured out a workaround.
Malicious hosts use the same tactics as scammers
Yūna (pseudonym) is a young woman who was introduced to the world of Kabukicho host clubs by her senpai at her college. What started as a simple 1,000 yen for an hour of all you can drink fun soon turned into something far darker.
Yūna’s host didn’t just encourage her to come to the club often. He cajoled her to purchase expensive bottles of champagne so he could become number one. To grease the wheels, he professed his love for her. She even moved in with him at one point and he asked her to write up a marriage application for them.
It quickly spiraled out of control.
