Asia After Hours

There’s flaky and then there’s outright weird. With the prolonged business recession, Tokyo’s mecca of glitzy nightlife, Ginza, looks like a ghost town these days.

Not surprisingly, reports Nikkan Gendai (Nov. 13), the hard times have made life all the more difficult for the hostesses who toil in Ginza’s clubs, and more than a few have found themselves facing financial failure.

At the end of 2009, cabaret and club workers joined forces to form the Kyabakura Union, an affiliate of the Freelance Worker’s Union, which has undertaken negotiations on behalf of 38 former shop employees.

In one such case, three former hostesses at a pricey Ginza club went so far as to sue their former employer in the Tokyo District Court, demanding 4.3 million yen in unpaid back wages.

“I didn’t receive any salary for the first seven months of this year,” one of the litigants told the tabloid.

According to the terms of the hostess’ employment when she was recruited last December, she was to receive 46,000 yen for working three and a half hours per evening (slightly more than 13,000 yen per hour). But hostesses who fail to meet quotas or whose customers are in arrears on their bills are subjected to fines or are otherwise penalized.

What’s more, the shops typically deduct certain nominal expenditures from hostesses’ wages, such as the cost for toilet paper and bathroom deodorizer, which can add up to as much as 30,000 yen per month.

To make matters worse, business this year has been terrible.

“The shop paid me no salary at all since January,” one hostess told Nikkan Gendai. “They claimed that unless I paid them the money I owed — for those fines, penalties and so on — they weren’t obliged to pay my salary. Even for Ginza, this treatment is exceptionally severe.”

The hostess went on to relate a tale of woe, which culminated in eviction from her residence for failure to pay rent.

The attorney representing the club lambasted the hostesses for “one-sidedly bad-mouthing the club at a press conference.”

According to a hostess union representative, to escape their financial liabilities quite a few Ginza establishments are engaging in such underhanded stratagems as shutting the shop and filing for bankruptcy, after which they re-open under a different name.

“In such cases, the girls who previously worked there are just discarded,” the rep says. (K.S.)

Source: “Ginza hosutesu zankoku monogatari,” Nikkan Gendai (Aug. 13, page 5)

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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In January the media was abuzz with reports over the arrest by Saitama prefectural police of a citizen of the Philippines, who had entered Japan by means of a fraudulent marriage with a Japanese man, after it was learned the individual in question — charged with violation of the alien registration law — had undergone a sex change operation.

Writing in Shukan Kinyobi (Mar. 12), Takehide Mizutani notes that cases of fraudulent marriage have soared since March 2005, when Japan’s Ministry of Justice, in response to criticisms of abetting human trafficking by the U.S. State Department, cracked down on admission of women from the Philippines.

In 2004, a record high of 85,000 “entertainer” visas had been issued to Filipinas. The following year the number had fallen to half and has continued to decline.

One result of the tightening restrictions was a surge in spurious marriages with Japanese males. In 2005, some 10,200 couples tied the knot — a rise of 20 percent over the year before and the first year ever to exceed 10,000. Last year as well the number is said to have risen by 20 percent amount.

The process is abetted by marriage brokers who circulate in Manila’s bar districts searching for women willing to take a chance on a job in Japan.

The prospect of repatriating several million yen, which would enable their families to live in relative luxury, apparently makes it worth the risk.

Mizutani introduces a woman named Karen (a pseudonym) who last July wed a Japanese gent 30 years her senior. After a civil wedding, a party was held for several dozen friends and family members. The two barely spoke.

Karen was already lined up to work at a hostess club in the Kansai area, with a contract, conditions and precautions to prevent her from reneging on the deal. She was told that as long as Japanese immigration could not come up with watertight evidence to show she was living apart from her husband, she could maintain the ruse.

A Japanese source involved in such investigations tells Mizutani that “questioning over just a few days is usually insufficient to enable prosecution, and in some cases investigations took months, or even years to wind up.”

“It’s a cumbersome process,” he adds.

Even though these impoverished Filipinas know they are breaking the law, their earnings in Japan are still better than what they could earn back home. Some 8 million, nearly one-tenth of that country’s population, now works abroad, many at menial jobs to support their families. Despite the risks involved, it’s unlikely they will abandon efforts to gain entry to Japan. (W.W.)

Source: “Dekasegi no tame giso kekkon suru mazushii onna tachi,” Shukan Kinyobi (Mar. 12, page 13)

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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Usually entry to a high-end Ginza hostess club requires an initial outlay of tens of thousands of yen. Yet the wave of deflation is causing one new establishment to charge a mere 12,800 yen for an hour of all-you-can-drink and — get this — food and lodging.

Shukan Shincho (Feb. 25) reports on the latest project by mama-san Shiho Masui, 41, who has appeared in the media numerous times since 1995, when she opened the hostess club Futago-ya (Club Twins) in Ginza’s 6-chome district. This separate pricing venture began on the first of the month.

“I wanted more and more customers to enjoy the tradition of Futago-ya,” says Masui, whose twin sister operated a club in Ginza that closed two years ago. She adds that whiskey, brandy, shochu and wine “can be enjoyed on an all-you-can-drink basis for an hour while viewing the show put on by our hostesses.”

The rate for single rooms depends on the day of the week (and includes weekdays only), but reaches a maximum of a mere 12,800 yen and includes a room at the Ginza Capital Hotel and a choice of sushi or pasta for dinner.

Masui is often asked by customers how she can offer such a deal. She responds in the article by emphasizing the recession-manageable pricing at the Futago-ya club, whose entry rises from 5,000 yen to 10,000 yen over the course of each evening. Further, since she is the owner, she doesn’t have to employ a separate mama-san to manage the hotel guests. She claims that Futago-ya has racked up sales totaling 300 million yen over last two years.

Shukan Shincho views this separate offer as an aggressive move in an area where the economic downtown is very apparent.

“In the late afternoon, I checked in at the Ginza Capital Hotel and received two vouchers, one for dinner and the other for club Futago-ya,” says one male customer, who selected the pasta dish. “The room is bit small, but it is typical of a business hotel.

“The pasta came with tuna, squid, anago (eel), shrimp, red snapper, egg and tekkamaki (tuna rolls). It’s usually 1,500 yen for this alone. So I was pretty satisfied.”

The guest adds that the hotel may use the Ginza tag but its address is actually for nearby Tsukiji, known for its large fish market.

“When I arrived at the bar [in Ginza], I was shocked because the girls were all in mini-skirts and dancing to loud music,” says the same customer. “For those expecting a quiet evening in Ginza, it may be a disappointment, but it may be a good chance for you to have some fun with your friends.”

So far, five people have used the package. Another 30 people have reserved spaces through March.

Shukan Shincho wonders if other clubs in the area are getting restless.

“Even though it is called a club, it is in a different category,” says a person related to the Ginza club scene. “Uniqlo has become well-known for its store in Ginza. It now seems like we have night version of Uniqlo.” (K.N.)

Source: “Hoteru tsuki Ginza kurabu ‘12,800 yen’ de shobaijozuno reino mama,” Shukan Shincho (Feb. 25, page )

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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The Mainichi Shimbun (Feb. 10) reported that Kazune Urata, a kyabajo, or nightclub hostess, living in the Sakuradai district of Tokyo’s Nerima Ward, was arrested on Feb. 6 for arson. A surveillance camera captured the 27-year-old hostess using cardboard and a lighter to set parked bicycles alight.

This was probably not the first time for Urata. In the same building at the end of last month, a storage area and postal mailboxes had also been burned in a suspicious fire.

“My pay was really low,” she is quoted. “I thought by doing arson I would be relieved from my stress.”　

Nikkan Gendai (Feb. 11), however, believes that this was not a single incident of frustration and reports that the prolonged recession is making the lives of females working in the world of “night butterflies” increasingly harsh.

“What is troubling is that these places are yazkuza-type operations,” says an employee in the restaurant business. “With the decline in the number of customers, if a girl fails to achieve the required number of dohan (customer dates) or shows up late to work, there is a big fine. While she may get 3,000 yen an hour as a wage, with all her costs subtracted, there are girls who are only being paid 400 yen in the end.”

Even at nicer clubs, the cries of the kyabajo can be heard. “With the emergence of girl’s bars, wages for kyabajo are going down dramatically,” says Yukio Murakami, a journalist who covers the fuzoku industry. “Two or three years ago, it was in the range of 2,700 yen to 3,000 yen an hour, but now it has dropped to between 1,500 yen and 2,000 yen. Further, after a gal passes the age of 25, she will be treated like a middle-aged lady and might only bring in 200,000 yen a month for working five days a week as her number of shimei (requests by a customer) becomes less and less.”

The purchase of fancy clothes has become an issue after basics, like rent and food, are taken into account. “Moreover,” Murakami continues, “she has to make sales calls via her mobile phone. That bill has risen. A girl was saying recently that her former 20,000-yen-a-month bill has since doubled. There are girls who borrow from colleagues and keep changing the place of work as they cannot pay back the money back.” (K.N.)

Source: “Kyabajo donzoku monogatari,” Nikkan Gendai (Feb. 11, page 7)

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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Last month’s incident in the Minami district of Osaka in which comedian Tamotsu Kuroda of the group Messenger was arrested for assaulting a bar manager following a dispute over a 250,000-yen bill highlights the increasingly common practice of bottakuri, or to rip off, that is ongoing in Japan’s entertainment areas, reports Spa! (Jan. 26)

“Those rip-off joints in Osaka scrutinize their targets beforehand,” says the owner of a near where Kuroda’s altercation took place. “There’s a possibility that the bar was assuming Kuroda could afford a certain level of tab just because he is a popular comedian. There have been an increasing number of bottakuri cases here in the Minami area.”

There are about 100 “girl’s bars” in Minami. Their sales reps solicit pedestrians with coupons that can be used inside. Cases involving fraud, however, are gaining attention. The local chamber of commerce has sent out a warning and the Osaka Prefectural Police has said it will take necessary measures, including legal penalties for violations, where applicable.

“With the recession, there are so many vacancies in buildings,” explains one owner, who used to operate 4 to 5 girl’s bars in Minami and claims to have earned about 10 million yen per location via fraud. “You can simply move in since most of the infrastructure is still intact from the previous owner. With no guarantee money required, you can rent a place for about 150,000 yen a month. There are many former hosts and those who used to work in that line of business who are starting up operations.”

With a revised law prohibiting solicitation of customers on the streets and imposing a closing curfew of 1 a.m. on host clubs, these new owners are recruiting gals to open girl’s bars and start bottakuri businesses.

In contrast to expensive hostess clubs, initial per client outlays are around 5,000 yen. The rip off, however, doesn’t come via, say, a 10,000-yen beer. “What they will do is a petit rip-off, or puchi-botta,” says the same owner. “Unlike kyabakura, customers do order drinks, so it’s easier to manipulate the pricing. Girls get 30 percent of what a customer pays on a commission basis. So even quiet girls become aggressive in engaging in bottakuri because they think it’s acceptable to rip a guy off for 10,000 or 20,000 yen.”

The main way to execute a bottakuri is via the size of the beverage container, where different sized glasses have different prices, maybe between 500 and 3,000 yen. Another girl’s bar operator tells Spa!, “Not knowing these price levels, drunk customers let the girls order the drinks, assuming that he will get changed for around 10,000 yen only to discover a final bill of 40,000 yen.”

Maid cafes, too, are getting in on the act. A 28-year-old gentleman was wooed by this opening line uttered by a female Minami street solicitor: “You are very handsome, please come to our place.” Upon entry, he was surrounded by three ladies. “They gave me a shoulder massage and then danced when the music went on,” he relates. “Even though they asked permission beforehand, I became bit suspicious as they were overly accommodating. Then the bill came to a whopping 15,000 yen for 30 minutes. The conversation with the maids was priced by the minute and both the massage and dancing were options. In the end, I regret that I didn’t check the pricing more carefully.”

Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment district is also seeing similar bottakuri scenes unfold, “but last February’s death of a customer, who had been slipped a mickey, has reduced substantial activities and things have shifted to puchi-botta,” says a karaoke pub owner.

The types of rip offs are varied and include overly priced pub snacks, the application of incremental fees at each step of a sexual service that culminates in intercourse and an additional charge for providing said intercourse in the first place — something of a forced gratuity.

“Small places cost you 70,000 to 80,000 yen to rent,” says an unnamed owner. “With that kind of small investment, you can start up a bottakuri and leave after six months. If you steal a client’s credit card, you will have probably have to deal with a specialized section of the police that deals with organized crimes. However, just taking some cash from the wallets of customers may not result in too many complaints if the bar operates only for a short period of time. In the long run, you can make a profit.”

A police source says, “To raid a bottakuri place, the key thing is the collection of enough complaints. Most people, however, don’t file claims, thus it is hard for us to make a bust.” (K.N.)

Source: “Fukkatsu ‘bottakuri baa’ ga oh-abare,” Spa! (Jan. 26, pages )

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.

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