Interview with a Tokyo Hostess

We recently came across a bilingual interview with a hostess on Jagr Magazine. It seems genuine, though the hostess is apparently not Japanese (shame!).

Here are some highlights.

Interviewer: How does a hostess club work?

Hostess: I came to Tokyo years ago, and I never knew what a hostessing job was, but my dad’s friend told me if you want easy money, hostessing’s the right job because you’re a pretty girl.

I thought hostessing was escorting, but it’s actually like a relationship with the men. Ginza hostessing clubs are five stars. The one that I worked at was one of the top three Ginza clubs.

Interviewer: Your dad’s friend got you a job?

Hostess: Normally at the club that I worked at it’s a huge process getting a job. You have to have a uni degree. There’s a certain way you have to look. But you have to be Japanese, because the people that came into our club were politicians and movie stars. It’s members only.

I got $85 an hour as a rookie to start off. First of all, you have to go to a hairdressing salon, and you have to get your hair and makeup done, or you get 50 percent deducted off of your daily pay. There are so many different rules. Once a month you have to wear a kimono. Once a month you have to wear a dress that the clients buy you. The main thing to do as a hostess is drink because it’s commission for the girls and commission for the club. I’m [nationality withheld], so I know how to drink well.

Interviewer: How are Ginza hostesses clubs different from the rest?

Hostess: Ginza’s the number one. The highest end. Best chicks, quality women, quality behavior. The whole level is just different. Our club was members only, it was secret. The people that would come into our clubs were famous people.

Interviewer: Politicians go to hostess clubs?

Hostess: Yeah. That’s why it’s secret. They act like dicks. They get drunk and perverted.

Interviewer: Are the A‑list celebrities as weird and perverted as the politicians?

Hostess: Yeah.

Interviewer: How often did you work?

Hostess: I started off just doing it twice a week when I was living with my boyfriend, but when we broke up, I worked four times a week. 99.9 percent of the girls that work in Ginza work Monday to Friday.

Interviewer: What are the hours?

Hostess: I was at the hairdresser’s by 6. If you’re a rookie you have to be at the club at 7. The club opens at 8 and closes at 12, maybe 1 AM is the latest. Then you go to afterhours with the clients until 4 AM, whether it’s karaoke or dinners or hotel rooms. If the client wants to keep drinking with really pretty girls all night, then he’ll pay extra.

Interviewer: How much does it cost?

Hostess: To sit down at that club, you at least have to pay four grand.

Interviewer: $4,000?

Hostess: Yes, and most of the clients already have their bottles there. They have all different types of bottles. But the girls don’t like to drink whiskey or all that, so we order champagne. We have Cristal and Dom and all that. But the most expensive bottle would be about three grand.

Interviewer: Three grand?

Hostess: If we ordered a three grand bottle it doesn’t mean that we get any money. I was a rookie the whole time, so even if I was ordering a three grand bottle of champagne, the client’s girl gets the commission. She gets 10 percent of that bottle.

Interviewer: 10 percent of the bottle.

Hostess: Say her name is Sayaka, and Sayaka has four clients coming in that night. We’re called helpers, so she’ll be like, “Oh [name withheld], he likes you, come sit with us.” I’ll sit with Sayaka and her clients, say that bill’s $5,000. Then her next client comes in at $7,000. At the end of the night, she has the bill. She doesn’t share that commission with any of us because she’s the head bitch.

Interviewer: How much can a hostess make a night?

Hostess: On average night you can make six grand.

Interviewer: What about a great night?

Hostess: $10,000. I knew a girl who made 25 grand in a night.

Interviewer: What are the clients like?

Hostess: They just throw around money. Sometimes they would touch you. If they’d touch my boob it’s $100 per boob.

Interviewer: So they can touch your boob?

Hostess: Yeah.

Interviewer: A single boob and it costs $100?

Hostess: $100, yeah.

Interviewer: How does it work when you get in the club?

Hostess: The clients order which girls they want to sit with. We introduce ourselves, and there’s already bottles of what they order with their name tags in gold on the chain around the bottles. We start mixing drinks for them, and then once they start getting a bit tipsy, that’s when we ask them if we can we get a bottle of white or red or champagne.

Interviewer: You’re there until about midnight, right?

Hostess: I always wanted to leave at midnight because I couldn’t afford a cab home. I had to take a train home every time. The girls that worked there had their own clients. They had so much money that a cab’s not an issue. If you stayed afterhours with the clients they’d take you out for another meal at midnight or you’ll go to karaoke until 4 AM and they’ll pay taxi fare and it’s always $100. Girls would stay until whatever hour just to get that $100 taxi ride.

Interviewer: How were the dinners?

Hostess: Best dinners, so amazing.

Interviewer: You’re getting wined and dined.

Hostess: Wined and dined, presents, everything. But you have to be able to converse with them well.

Interviewer: So what’s your job? I thought it was about sex?

Hostess: It’s not about sex. Basically all the clients are married. In Japan, most men have mistresses. It’s just known. The wives are meant to stay at home, take care of the kids and take care of the house. Once they finish a hard day’s of work, the men want to go to a bar where they feel special, where they feel like a king, and sit with women that are beautiful and young and laugh at their shit jokes, and touch their boobs.

I didn’t want to mention this, but most of the clients have sex with the girls. They take them overseas and they have functions in Sweden or they have a meeting in London. They will take that chick with them to fuck them, obviously, but also shower them with gifts.

It does turn into a relationship because if you want to be a good hostess, you have to call them every day, text them every day, hang out with them on weekends when you’re not even getting paid, because you’re making and building a relationship. They’ll keep coming in and they’ll keep bringing in more clients and more money into the club.

There was an incident when the girl came in with their client and she would call him her boyfriend, even though he was married. We all knew that was her guy and she would tell us she went to Australia with him. She’d come and show her diamond rings and her new bag. Some girls got bought cars. Most of the girls have their clients pay their rent. The only way to get their rent paid though, is the client gets a key. When they feel like coming to the apartment, they can come and sleep over or get a blowjob or whatever. You don’t really get much freedom. A hostesses job is to be in a relationship with as many men as possible, but keep it a secret and make them feel like they’re the only ones in the room.

Interviewer: What were some of the weird sexual requests?

Hostess: Japan itself is very perverted because men don’t know how to express themselves. They keep all their sexual thoughts inside. When they actually do get to do it, they’re really perverted. Some of guys like to drink piss. Most of them like to torture the hostesses. Not fuck them, but play with their nipples until they’re bleeding. The whole torture thing makes them feel more masculine. Tying them up, pouring hot candle wax on them. They want to feel like they’re in complete control. It’s not a normal, “I love you, let’s go to the hotel room and make love.” It’s like, “Let’s get fucking weird.”

Interviewer: Everything you’re saying so far is pretty crazy. Tell me the normal stuff.

Hostess: All of the clients like to get bathed. Most of my clients would talk about their sexual wants and needs at the table. They have this thing about women’s pheromones. They love when they stink. They love BO. A lot of the clients would put their hands in the girls’ underwear and then smell their hands. The girls didn’t budge…they didn’t do anything.

Interviewer: Were there slutty girls who worked at the club?

Hostess: There were the slutty girls, yeah.

Interviewer: Would they just fuck anyone?

Hostess: They wouldn’t say that they’d do it, but I’ve seen a few of them go home in a taxi wasted with clients. There were some western guys that would come into the club and they’d always sit me with them, because I could speak English. We’d have fun and I’d drink with them and they’d laugh at my jokes, but at the end of the day, I’m not going to fuck you. So they would see that really smashed japanese girl with her tits out and she’s flirting with everyone. They’d be like, “Oh, I want to sit with her.”

Interviewer: What have you heard a girl’s done for money?

Hostess: Taking a shit on someone.

Interviewer: Jarrett Reynolds

Read the full interview on JAGR Magazine.