24 hours in the life of a high-class Ginza hostess

Another Vice Japan short film here, this time following Kanae Murakami, a 20-year-old hostess plying her trade in Ginza’s district of high-class clubs.

For all those who have sympathetic views of hostesses as girls who have to put up with drinking a lot with ugly men in smoky bars and who are only a fine line away from being a prostitute… well, first of all, keep in mind that Kanae earns around 40,000 yen a day — something like four or five times what someone her age would be making in a job.

She works five days a week, from around 8pm to 5am or later — and must also set aside an hour a day just to get her hair done.

Kanae is also pretty frank about other hostesses, stating that they usually initiate relationships with clients purely for the money that they have. She also says that it is very difficult to pursue an ordinary relationship with someone else because her schedule is unpredictable and inevitably boyfriends will be jealous of the time she must spend with clients.

Going out properly with clients is mostly just an affair as far as the men are concerned and tends to end quickly, which also means the loss of a paying customer for the hostess who must meet her targets at the club or see her wages slip. “From a business perspective, it’s not a smart move,” warns Kanae.

Here’s the video: