Gen Z “lying flat” trend growing among Japanese sex workers

An article by former porn star Aya Takanashi (pictured below) in Maidona News recently reported on the Japanese version of the tang ping or “lying flat” trend that originated in China for rejecting overwork and the pressure to achieve.

It is similar to the notion of “quiet quitting” or NEET, a sociological term for people not in full-time work or education/training that became popular as a label in Japan in the years after the bubble economy collapsed.

The article focuses on the nightlife version of this phenomenon, claiming that such “lying flat” people account for 30 or 40 percent of workers (we are not sure how Takanashi arrived at this estimate). They don’t care about being top of their field or even earning a lot of money, nor are they interested in romance or marriage. They just want a stress-free, easy life.

One of the interviewees is 27-year-old Hana, a pseudonym. She has five years of experience working in the nightlife industry. She started as a hostess at 22 and has since worked in bars, including cabaret clubs and lounges.

She wanted to move out of her parents’ home and live on her own. When she first joined the club, she was super-motivated and worked every day except for when the club was closed.

“I was too overconfident at the start. I was living a laid-back life, but felt uncomfortable at home, and I needed to earn money to move out. Bars offered a higher hourly wage than regular part-time jobs, and at first I thought it was fun, so I tried my best, but I couldn’t keep up the motivation.”

Hana admits, “I’m not a hard worker.”

From her second year, she gradually decreased her work hours to four days a week, then three, and eventually was only allowed to work shifts on days when regular customers came to the club.

Thanks to her clientele, she was able to avoid being fired, and her sales are around ¥500,000 yen per month. Her monthly income is less than ¥300,000, which is low for a nightlife job, but she is satisfied with it.

“If I were in the city center, I’d be fired, but it’s a small cabaret club in the Shitamachi area. I’ve been there for a long time, and I’m contributing to the club, so I’m allowed to stay here. I don’t have any desires for material things, and as long as I can pay my rent and phone bill, I’m happy. I don’t particularly want to get married. I kind of wish this lifestyle could continue forever!”

While the vast majority of cases involve people who work hard at night but then gradually lose interest, there are also some true night workers who make their debut in the night industry because they “just weren’t motivated to work.”

The 29-year-old Airi, another pseudonym, initially worked as an office lady after graduating university. Working five days a week didn’t suit her, though, so she quit after just two years. After about a year of doing nothing as a NEET, she worked at a girls’ bar and then a brothel.

She wasn’t doing this because she wanted lots of money. It was simply about earning the minimal amount she needs in as short a time as possible.

“The hourly wage at a girls’ bar is around ¥1,500, and drink kickbacks are low,” Airi explains, “Even if you work from the evening until the morning and attract big customers, your salary is low. I wasn’t making much by working four days a week like that, so I thought it would be more efficient to sell my body for just over ¥10,000 an hour.”

She currently works at a brothel where she can earn at least ¥30,000 per shift. She works five-hour shifts two or three days a week. For this, she gets around ¥250,000. It’s enough for Airi to do what she loves, which is stay at home and watch endless TV shows, movies, and content on YouTube.

“I’m the type of person who doesn’t mind staying at home all the time. I admire my classmates who work hard, but I don’t feel any sense of urgency when I see them. At my age, everyone around me is getting married, but I really don’t feel anything. About the future, I have no plans. I stay at home on my days off, and I’ve been able to save a little bit at a time.”

Gen Z’s famed tendency not to push themselves too hard and rather minimize stress and hardship is also evident even in the nightlife industry.