The casting couch is one of the open secrets of the idol industry. Another one is the extra money that idols (music, gravure, AV), seiyu, models, and actors earn from compensated dating. This gets exposed at regular intervals by tabloid scoops. One such scandal caused Shoko Takahashi to lose her agency as a gradol (when she worked as Shoko Takasaki) and launched her porn career. The JAV star Yuria Satomi had trouble with the tax agency in 2016 over huge amounts of undeclared income from her "boyfriends," who compensated her financially for their relationship. The latest scandal was broken ...

In December 2019, it was reported that 61-year-old Japanese politician Yasuhiro Ozata (小里泰弘) was asked to pay a "break-up fee" (solatium) by a much-younger woman with whom he was having an affair. The Liberal Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives and former Cabinet minister allegedly paid Yuno Morita (森田由乃) ¥100,000 per night during their relationship. They became acquainted through a members-only club where she worked in Roppongi three years ago. They would subsequently meet as often as three times a month at a hotel -- high-end, naturally, not some grubby ...

It's an open secret that "compensated dating" (援助交際, enjo kosai) goes on in the Japanese idol world and among even mainstream entertainers and celebrities. Just as the casting couch exists, so too does the dating table. Idols don't earn that much money and their careers are fickle, so they boost their income with dates. There doesn't always sex involved, it should be added, but it's surely not impossible. It's like a hostess "dohan" date (where the hostess accompanies you for dining before going to the club together) or services offered by "dating clubs" (交際クラブ, kosai ...