The stories about the victims of male hosts' exploitation seem to become more sensational week by week.
Last week, we wrote about the schoolgirl who was allowed to build up a huge bill at a host club and had to prostitute herself to pay off her debt.
Now comes a story in which this latest moral panic seems to dovetail with another recent trend: the tales of Japanese women going abroad to earn money as sex workers and take advantage of the weak yen.
This has become so common that a crackdown has started in the United States.
China, Hong Kong, and Macau remain popular destinations, however ...
The gentrification of Kabukicho, which has turned the main strip and square into a cleaner, more tourist-friendly place, has not changed the fundamental nature of the district. Just turn a corner and you'll find blowjob parlors and host or hostess clubs galore, not to mention Shinjuku's massive love hotel area right behind.
The dark side of Kabukicho, which gets its name from an unfulfilled plan in the postwar years to build a kabuki theater in the neighborhood, reared its head over the weekend -- in two very unpleasant scenes.
A few weeks ago, someone was thankfully prevented from jumping ...
It's no secret that the Tokyo Kinky team has a thing for Mariya Nagao.
The former AKB48 hottie now works as a model, actress, and general TV celebrity.
And though it's hardly a surprise that a woman of her age, beauty, and social opportunities would not have lovers, we can't help but feel a bit peeved and sad at the news that broke recently about her new boyfriend.
Apparently, Mariyagi is in a relationship with a former Kabukicho host, having met through a mutual friend.
Fresh off releasing a ravishing photo book earlier this year, she's been spotted by weekly tabloid Shukan Bunshun in ...
Times are tough for host and hostess clubs, since they were demonized during the first wave of coronavirus infections in Japan and, inevitably, even their loyal patrons don't want to risk the close quarters of such clubs during these times.
But if you are brave enough, now is actually the best chance to visit the clubs. They are likely to be empty and you will have the pick of whichever host or hostess you fancy talking with. Plus you can get a discount.
We came across a photo report about a first-time visit to host clubs in Kabukicho in the coronavirus era. The young Japanese woman makes ...
In a further sign that hosts and hostesses are skillfully trying to reframe the media narrative that has demonized their trade as hotspots for spreading coronavirus infections in Tokyo, the city's metropolitan government has released educational videos on COVID-19 that see two hosts and a hostess ask doctors questions.
After host clubs began cooperating with the Shinjuku government to initiate testing for employees and stem the spread in Kabukicho (and the demonization in the media), and the government started handing out cash payments to clubs that agree to close and to individual hosts and ...
Tokyo is experiencing a second wave of coronavirus infections, with upwards of 200+ infections announced per day. Almost all of these, so far, are younger people able to cope with symptoms and the pressure of the city's health facilities is currently minimal. Let's hope that this situation does not worsen.
As we have continued to write on these pages, much of the blame for clusters has focused -- we think, overly and unfairly so -- on the mizu shobai "water trade" world of nighttime entertainment, particularly host and hostess clubs, which have been almost demonized by the mainstream media ...
Infections continue to rise in Tokyo as we enter the second wave of the coronavirus in Japan, though numbers remain very modest compared to other countries.
Much of the blame and media attention has focused on hostess and host clubs. We have followed this as part of our monitoring of how the COVID-19 is affecting the adult industry in Japan, where sex workers, gravure idols, strippers, and hostesses are facing a sudden and serious decline in income.
There has also been some name-calling between Ginza and Kabukicho, as the hostess clubs in each district try to claim that they are not the ...
As the city reopens following its soft lockdown, one establishment has made headlines for changing its operating style to fit the new normal that is post-COVID-19 Tokyo -- and also opening itself up to a broader demographic ahead of its closure.
The host club Ai Honten (literally, Love Head Office) will open only on Saturdays and Sundays as a cafe. For once, male customers will also be admitted. So this is also a kind of education project, helping people experience what a host club is like without having to pay the usual costs entailed.
First opened in 1971 and one of the most renowned ...
Host culture in Japan is so big now that apparently even pre-teens aspire to look like the hirsute Kabukicho drinkers-for-hire.
Ryuchalo is the son of a beauty blogger called Chiimelo (yes, the names are pretty wacky), and apparently he wanted to celebrate his 8th birthday as a host.
In fact, he even celebrated his birthday at a host club in Kabukicho, a notorious red-light district if you discount the recent partial gentrification (or should that be Godzillafication?).
Ryuchalo spent his big day in August at Superstar club, which is owned by Jin, a famous host.
He even got to ...
Rejoice! If you are a little overweight, you can still enjoy the unique charms of the naked restaurant.
Japan's first nudist eatery, The Amrita, opens on July 29th. Frankly it's so hot and sweaty right now that my home it a permanent nudist camp.
Originally it had made a big thing out of how you couldn't be more then 15kg (33 lbs) over the average weight for your height -- and that they would be weighing patrons at the entrance to check! After all, the logic went, who wants to be put off their dinner by excess flab?
Guests are served by near-naked hot guys, meaning this is a host ...
