Meet Kurumi Hoshino, the top hostess in Japan

It’s a job that apparently one in four Japanese women have some experience of doing, but how well do we know the role of the hostess?

Meet Kurumi Hoshino (星野くるみ), who is described as the “number 1 hostess in Japan.” The 28-year-old Hoshino is currently based at Club Lalah in Roppongi, where she is the biggest attraction and earner at the club where 50 women are working each night.

For 15 minutes, Hoshino talks about her life and work, going from the rural sticks in Kumamoto, toiling away at a local karaoke joint, to earning nearly $1,000 a day in Tokyo.

She helpfully starts by clarifying the general difference between a hostess club and hostess bar, and then runs through the particulars of her shifts.

And on her relationship with her clients? There is this frank admission. “Every client wants sex. What do you expect? We’re human.”

Here’s the video.

We’ve seen similar profiles like this before, such as a notable one back in 2014 and another looking at Canadian hostesses in Tokyo, though we think the grim life of being a less famous and success (and older) hostess is also worthy of attention.