Kasumi Mori becomes high-class hostess for one night

The television announcer and model Kasumi Mori has become a high-class hostess.

Well, kinda. She pretended to be one to film a TV show.

Mori is riding high now from lots of media appearances and exposure as she tries to follow the likes of announcer-turned-actress Minami Tanaka and break out into the mainstream as a model and general celebrity.

The 28-year-old recently released her debut photo book that featured some pretty sexy shots and has been a minor hit, it seems.

In the show, which was broadcast on TV Asahi (and with the full version available on Abema), Mori wore an alluring white dress and sat at a table with male patrons. She smiled a lot, appeared coquettish, and charmed the customers with her good looks and conversation.

The dress was so short that, as netizens and viewers quickly ascertained, you could see her panties when she was sitting down.

Kasumi Mori declared it the “best night.”

We have seen this kind of gimmick before. There’s a kind of TV subgenre where producers make celebrities pretend to do jobs and hostess is a common one for attractive women. The model Yukina Kinoshita recently did this in a different show on Abema, hoping to cement her comeback.

For guys, they get to watch a hot famous lady in very expensive clothing doing their utmost to keep men happy. The appeal is obvious.

And for female viewers, they get to see something aspirational. Despite their often seedy portrayal in tabloid news media or in foreign media, hostesses in Japan are generally seen as glamorous and admirable by other women. They have beauty, money, and charm. In other words, a modern-day geisha.

Of course, the reality for a hostess (and indeed, a geisha back in the day) is far less glamorous, having to deal with a high alcohol intake and passive smoking, work antisocial hours, entertain older and probably unpleasant men, allow themselves to be constantly objectified, and potentially suffer sexual abuse. It’s little wonder that hostesses are often regular clients at host clubs, where they hope to get a bit of pampering themselves.