HOSTESS CLUBS and BARS
NETWORKING in TOKYO!

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E-mail address at bottom
(after you have read our info).

***********************
All jobs are adver-
tised in the local 
papers and it is very 
easy to find a job.
<>
We have found over the 
past few years of mail, 
most people who write
to us are not interested
in accquiring and main-
taining customers on a 
full time basis which
is what a serious hostess 
does.  To you, we wish
you good luck for your
pleasant stay in Japan.
**********************
**********************
For other professional
hostesses who already
have been working for 
some time and are inter-
rested in networking
about customers and 
work, PLEASE write to 
us anytime!  

-Maggy

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*********************
Again, we are NOT an
agency, please do not
write us asking for 
jobs.  Thank you.
*********************

PS: If you are seeking
data for media programs,
please write supplying
your full details and
contact, whether face 
or voice is required
or can be "altered",
if any compensation
is involved and approx.
schedule in Japan.
Thank you.
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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
OUR PRESENT POLICY -

   Due to MANY inquiries
and very little input from
others who appear to be 
reluctant to share their
experience in Japan, we are 
no longer willing to simply 
dish out advice for free.

   IF you are serious about
NETWORKING, we now require
an upfront member's fee to
join our network.  This
entitles you to online advice
and IN-PERSON assistance
once you arrive in Tokyo.
*It does not guarantee you
a job.*

   Membership fee is US$200.
(or 20,000yen, whichever is
more convenient for you to
send) in advance of your
arrival in Tokyo.  You may
send us an international
postal money order, a check
(may take up to 6-8 weeks to 
clear), or a credit card 
number with prior approval.

    We hope to hear from you
soon, and look forward to 
meeting you in Tokyo!


Maggy  O.

Tokyo's club scene is extremely varied. You may work your five hours, go home and not think about work or customers until you step into that club's door the next evening. In such a club you may even be prohibited from accepting a customer's name card! This is usually referred to as part-time "albeito" hostessing.

Or you can make the most money by keeping your own customers for which you are responsible and who will travel with you to your next club when you decide to change. Every club is different with different payment systems and bonuses for Dohans and Shimeis. A Dohan means a customer (new or old) that the hostess meets for dinner in exchange for him coming to her club afterwards. The club will pay a bonus to the hostess when she brings him in the door. A Shimei (literally "request") is a smaller bonus paid to a hostess who has been requested by name. Some clubs have quotas on Dohans and Shimeis, most albeito clubs do not. If you are frequently requested, you should be earning more.

Most travelling women prefer the low-stress course of being an "albeito" (part-timer). Albeito hostessing pays between 2,000 - 3,000 yen per hour for a 4-5 hour evening's work. A professional hostess with her own customers may make the same wage plus bonuses, or she may be on a commission-based salary according to the number of tables and the value of her "accounts", making 7-800,000yen per month and more. This is where you may have heard about "9,000yen per hour jobs". No club pays that kind of "salary", it is an example of what is possible on "some" days when working in some systems, and the total each day will vary.

However, those who stay longer in Japan realize it can be more beneficial and enjoyable to view their customers as long-term investments. Geisha, professional hostesses and other "mizu-shobai" workers (meaning workers and owners of good restaurants, bars and other places of entertainment) have traditionally always taken this approach, thus establishing the world-wide reputation of Japanese personalized service.

A good hostess is first of all a good conversationalist, one who can draw out a shy person at the table and balance a more dominating speaker. She makes everyone feel important by her attention and can also tolerate the boorish, the social inept and sometimes the rude with the diplomacy of a Foreign Service Attache. And suffers the same high stress level!

For the record, a hostess is NOT a sex worker!!! Japanese men have a wide variety of sexual services available to them so they do not have to spend an average of 20,000-50,000yen and beyond (US$500) just to sit and have drinks with a lady merely in hopes of having sex. A man can obtain basic sexual intercourse for as low as 10,000yen, and oral satisfaction for as low as 4,000yen (this information is easily available to anyone who can read a daily "sports" newpaper in the Japanese language.

Japanese men in this manner, have risen above the western common denominator of men who think anytime is a good time for a pick-up, a score. They want MORE than mere physical gratification. But both have their proper time and place in Japan and it seems to be generally accepted by men and women alike. A hostess club is not for procuring sex.

Although a lot of sexual innuendo and flirtation goes on in hostess clubs, it's usually on a playful and somewhat coquettish level. Men don't expect nor want a serious proposition while there! In fact some clubs could fire you if they find that you have propositioned a customer. In the smaller clubs, it could be the mama-san's boyfriend!

The Japanese men are usually extremely well-behaved and tend to revert to boyhood when drunk as opposed to westerners who can become beligerent or even violent. The western men who occasionally visit hostess clubs "cannot believe" there is no sex involved and may continually push a foreign girl to go out with them and can be the most insulting. In the west, women are rarely paid for their charm, style and facilitating skills as "entertainment." Isn't it a pity? This is a generalization, but I'll leave it up to you, after your experience in Japan, to decide who is the most sensitive and civilized.

Whether hostessing, modeling, dancing or any other entertainment be cautious about being hired through an agency. The troubles I've heard of were all from agency hires! Of course the well-known agencies and the ones where you have known several people who have had a good experience there may be just fine. In the fall of 1997 a former Miss USA tried to sue the Sultan of Brunei when her passport was kept kept by her AGENCY and she was not allowed to leave the palace when she wanted...

It's better to come to Japan first and check out the whole scene instead of trusting your eyes and ears to others who may have made different promises to their employers... Japan is a free country, many jobs are advertised in the paper, and if you don't like one place, you can always change to another (unlike while with an agency where your accomodation and even your return ticket are usually tied into your completing your contract)! There are also waitressing jobs and English teaching (no teaching experience reguired!). Try to get a "working holiday" visa if possible, otherwise just come to have fun a have a look around for the first time.

In the past five years, "exotic" foreigners imported from Las Vegas and elsewhere have flooded the scene with more explicit distraction for the guys, so hostessing should not be viewed as "risky" as it once was. If anyone can give some first hand accounts of dancing in Japan please write to me so I can pass along any important information to others who might need it. Unlike other parts of Asia, in Japan a hostess (or dancer) is never allowed to leave the club before closing. Any information from hostesses in other parts of Asia would also be appreciated.

Thanks!