Deaf author Rie Saito quits politics for Ginza hostess club

Readers with long memories may recall the story we published in 2015 about Rie Saito, the beautiful hostess who happened to be deaf from childhood.

At the time, Saito was a single mom, Ginza hostess, and author of a bestselling memoir that was turned into a TV drama in 2010. She was also an aspiring politician.

She successfully ran in an election for Tokyo’s Kita Ward Assembly in 2015, serving her full four-year term. She had national ambitions and was subsequently selected as a proportional representation candidate for the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan in the House of Councillors election in 2019, but didn’t get a seat.

She won a seat in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly in 2021, again on a Constitutional Democratic Party ticket, after previously running in an assembly by-election in 2020.

In July, she again lost in the upper house election, this time as a proportional representation candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party, after leaving the more left-leaning Constitutional Democratic Party earlier in the year. Her campaign poster is above.

The news now is that Saito has returned to doing what she does best: hostessing in Ginza.

Now 41 years old and a lovely jukujo, Saito recently made the announcement.

“When I was 21 years old, I stepped into the world of Ginza at Le Jardin, and later had the opportunity to work at the club Subaru. After giving birth, I spent some time in the world of politics, and ran for the House of Councillors election this summer. While I was able to learn a lot and gain a lot of experience, my political aspirations ultimately didn’t come to fruition, but it was an important opportunity to reflect deeply on myself as I reached a turning point in my life.”

Though claiming not to have completely given up on politics, she has decided to return to the profession that first made her famous. “I now have a strong desire to carefully weave connections between people in a more familiar place, and I have decided to work in Ginza again.”

“Subaru has now changed owners, but thanks to the thoughtfulness of the former owner, Ritsuko Takada, who has supported Ginza for many years, I was able to reconnect with the club. At Subaru, where Ritsuko’s aspirations have been carefully passed down, I hope to once again experience the atmosphere of Ginza and take one step at a time,” Saito said.

“I am truly grateful to have been able to return to this place after 15 years. Even in these ever-changing times, I am once again struck by the dignity and warmth of the Ginza district. I hope to be a person who can face people a little more deeply and quietly than before, and I will continue to live each day carefully.”

Saito reads lips (though we imagine this is harder in a dark hostess club) and when with people who don’t know sign language, uses a pen and notepad to communicate.

Rather than hinder a hostessing career, her disability seemed to become a charming point about her appeal as a beautiful young woman who needs saving by male clients.