You may never have heard of Marie Tachibana, but pretty much everyone in Kabukicho seems to have heard of her.
Perhaps the first thing to remark about her is that she is biracial (her father is American). The second is that she comes from a Christian family (that father was a missionary) -- and a big family at that, with seven siblings.
Instead of pursuing the conventional academic path, none of the children went to high school. Marie went to volunteer in India when she was 15, for instance.
If you were following J-Pop closely in the 2000s, you might have already seen Marie Tachibana ...
It's not just top businessmen and politicians who frequent the pricey hostess bars of Ginza and elsewhere. Male celebrities also have expensive tastes, including spending time with the attractive younger ladies who (as long as you keep buying them over-priced drinks) will pretend to find your conversation interesting and hint that they might be willing to sleep with you.
However, large consumption of alcohol and the sense of privilege that comes from paying for a woman's time can lead to trouble.
One of Japan's most famous and popular actors, Teruyuki Kagawa, was forced to apologize on ...
Retired adult video star Kirara Asuka is hoping to build a second career for herself (beyond her successful YouTube channel and apparel line, CPITO) with a new venture.
She is "producing" a hostess club, which is set to open on August 2 in Ginza, the district of central Tokyo known for its luxury boutiques, restaurants, and, yes, hostess bars.
The club, J-Vogue, is now recruiting its "cast" of hostesses, offering hourly (yes, hourly!) wages of up to ¥30,000.
Asuka, who retired from the JAV industry in 2020, made the announcement on her official social media accounts on Monday, and it was ...
The 39-year-old gravure model and celebrity Yoko Kumada is "working" at a luxury hostess club in Ginza. Well, kind of. The initial media headlines were a little misleading.
Kumada's entrepreneur husband was arrested last month for assaulting her, including allegedly hitting her in the face, but was released without charge two days later. She has announced her intention to start divorce proceedings, though there are also reports that the incident was prompted by her husband's suspicions of her adultery, which might complicate things. She and her husband have three young children.
She shared ...
Formerly known as Tenka Hashimoto (橋本甜歌), Tenchim (てんちむ) is a 27-year-old Chinese-Japanese tarento and model.
She has relaunched her career after more than a decade gracing people's TV screens and magazine pages -- and now she's raising things up a sexy notch (or several).
This has come about due to a scandal in 2020 with "bust-boosting" products she endorsed on her popular YouTube channel, which turned out to be fake -- since she had, in fact, has a boob job. She also admitted to taking marijuana on an overseas holiday.
With her income drying up, she started working last ...
Just as the second wave was beginning to hit Tokyo late last month, the country entered a four-day weekend that was originally intended to mark the triumphant start of the Olympics in the capital.
Things were not as they were meant to be and the holiday was subdued.
Netizens, though, found plenty of entertain themselves by finding TV news interviews with women on the streets of Tokyo about the need for self-restraint during the long holiday weekend.
Naturally, they were pleased to see how busty these interviewees were. You don't have to be a cynic to wonder if the news people deliberately ...
In a further sign that hosts and hostesses are skillfully trying to reframe the media narrative that has demonized their trade as hotspots for spreading coronavirus infections in Tokyo, the city's metropolitan government has released educational videos on COVID-19 that see two hosts and a hostess ask doctors questions.
After host clubs began cooperating with the Shinjuku government to initiate testing for employees and stem the spread in Kabukicho (and the demonization in the media), and the government started handing out cash payments to clubs that agree to close and to individual hosts and ...
Tokyo is experiencing a second wave of coronavirus infections, with upwards of 200+ infections announced per day. Almost all of these, so far, are younger people able to cope with symptoms and the pressure of the city's health facilities is currently minimal. Let's hope that this situation does not worsen.
As we have continued to write on these pages, much of the blame for clusters has focused -- we think, overly and unfairly so -- on the mizu shobai "water trade" world of nighttime entertainment, particularly host and hostess clubs, which have been almost demonized by the mainstream media ...
Hostess clubs are really suffering in the new normal that is living with the coronavirus.
People are understandably wary of spending prolonged periods inside small bars and clubs running up a hefty drinks tab -- even when the company of beautiful women is included. Given the proximity required for the experience, face masks -- even ones specifically designed for hostesses -- are not likely to reassure moneyed clients.
Host clubs have particularly faced media scrutiny as the cause of several coronavirus infection clusters, though are now working with the Shinjuku government to increase ...
Infections continue to rise in Tokyo as we enter the second wave of the coronavirus in Japan, though numbers remain very modest compared to other countries.
Much of the blame and media attention has focused on hostess and host clubs. We have followed this as part of our monitoring of how the COVID-19 is affecting the adult industry in Japan, where sex workers, gravure idols, strippers, and hostesses are facing a sudden and serious decline in income.
There has also been some name-calling between Ginza and Kabukicho, as the hostess clubs in each district try to claim that they are not the ...
