Rie Saito: the single mother deaf Ginza hostess-turned-politician

The Japan Times published a recent article about the fascinating — and inspiring — tale of Rie Saito.

Saito, who lost her hearing at age 1, plans to run in the April 26 election in Tokyo’s Kita Ward Assembly as a Nippon wo Genki ni Suru Kai (Party to Revitalize Japan) candidate. A best-selling author who was once the No. 1 hostess at a club in Tokyo’s Ginza district, Saito was known as the hitsudan hostess who used writing to communicate with her customers.

So this hottie would use paper to keep her patrons happy in Ginza and encourage them to buy her drinks.

Being a hostess is all about looking pretty and communicating, so Saito’s disability would surely preclude her from this exclusive world — but that’s not the case.

In her autobiography “Hitsudan Hosutesu” (“Writing Hostess”), published in 2009 by Kobunsha Co., Saito revealed her past — from being teased for sounding like “an alien” as a child, to her rebellious days of getting in trouble at school and at home, to how she wound up coming to Tokyo and eventually becoming a top hostess at a club in the glitzy Ginza district.

She reads lips to listen to people (but doesn’t use sign language) and must have been charming to converse with, though obviously things would have flowed at a more leisurely pace.

Her bestselling autobiography was then made into a TV drama with Keiko Kitagawa.

This is the two of them together. Quite a fetching pair.

Now 31 and with a daughter of 4 years old (and no father around), Saito’s next challenge is to become possibly only Japan’s second ever deaf politician.