High cost of ‘service’ on the Ginza

Press, 30 August 1980, Page 15

High cost of ‘service’ on the Ginza

By

BRONWEN JONES,

who visited Tokyo

on Air New Zealand’s inaugural flight.

Some visitors to Japan have brought back stories of discrimination from the centres of Tokyo’s night life. “After walking through the Ginza for a while we decided to go into a club,” they say. “But our entry caused great alarm and embarrassment, and the manager wouldn’t let us in. When we demanded to know why, he just ushered us to the door and ran.” This is the usual story. Yet the visitors were probably saved from a financially painful evening, and the staff’s poor English will probably be the reason for no explanation being given. Most of Tokyo’s nightlife descends from a Japanese tradition in entertainment and business as old as Mt Fuji: the art of service. And in hostess clubs and most discos and bars, the service includes far more than a smile from the management and staff. It includes the best Japanese and imported whiskies and brandies, a keybottle service for those regular “guests” who wish to keep a bottle at the club with their name on it, snacks that arrive at the table whether ordered or not, and hostesses to get the party going, pour the drinks, and to make the male customers feel

important and listened to. These services cost plenty. A few hours in a Ginza hostess club, for instance, can cost more than $230 for one person. It would include the services mentioned, as well as a new keybottle, a door charge, and drinks for the girls. For a customer who had bought a keybottle on an earlier occasion and did not need to buy another, the cost would be about $l4O. One reason for this whacking bill is the whacking cost of running a hostess club on the Ginza, one of the most prestigious night-time play areas in Japan. One club typical of the 5000 or so in the area is paying more than $3600 a month in rent for about 100 square metres. To move in, the club’s owner will have paid at least three months’ rent in “gift money" to the owner of the building for the pleasure of being able to rent from him. Altogether, the club took $6.8 million to set up, including the red “velvet” furnishings and grand piano. Staff wages are enormous. The club employs about 30 Japanese hostesses, three foreign hostesses, ' and 13 men, including manageand three “girl catchers.” ment, waiters, a bartender,

These gentleman patrol the other late-night play areas, offering Japanese women the privilege of working in the Ginza. The hostesses earn anything from $65 a night. The ones who dress particularly smartly, have a large following of customers, and in the case of foreign hostesses speak reasonably fluent Japanese, can earn more than $l2O a night. But what do the girls have to do for their bulging pay packet? To be good, the girls must be able to read the mind of each customer they sit with. If t’~ cus-

tomer wants to talk, they must listen attentively and contribute encouragingly to the conversation. They must soothe, hold hands, and massage the tired aching back and temples of tie customer who has had a hard day at the office. If he wants a party, then they must turn on the sparkle. In everything they do, they must be professional and never let the insecure and often neurotic Japanese businessmen think that they are being attentive because it is their job.

The hostesses take the incredible responsibility of collecting the money from those customers who sign their tabs. And if at the end of the month they have not been able to collept, then the unpaid bill comes out of their own pockets. Customers usually pay up eventually, but a professional hostess must keep about $90,000 in her bank account.

The girls work in the club between 7 p.m. and

midnight, but often go with, their customers to a late-night club or bar after work. Before work they often meet customers for dinner or coffee. This earns them an extra $lO or so for “enticement” and they may be an hour or two late. Once in the club, the management settles the customer in for the evening and surrounds him with a rotation of warmhearted, chatty hostesses. The girls pour his . drinks, flatter his ego, encourage him to sing a song with the small band, and clap when he does.

Meanwhile, he pays about $5 a drink for each girl who does not drink whisky from his keybottle, and about $lO for requesting the presence of any particular desirable lady. When the customer leaves, the hostesses see him to the street and bow a thousand good-nights and thank-yous. Prostitution in the high class Ginza clubs is usually discouraged; it gives a club a bad name, according to the club’s owner. (For convenience, let’s call him Akio.) “Ginza is like a dream town, with its fashions, money spending, and beautiful girls,” Akio says. “We don’t like prostitution houses. We give the customers a beautiful dream, but if the hostess makes love with him, it is because she loves him. She won't take money. “It is a very lucky customer that gets to make love with his hostess. But some go with the customers eventually, because if he comes twice a week for five years or so, he spends a lot of money.” Most - foreign visitors cannot understand the hostess system, many being of the mind that, buying a girl a drink

means she is his for the night. For this reason, club owners are afraid there will be trouble when the hostesses wish their foreign customers goodnight at the door. Whether or not the Japanese hostess grants her favours, she dedicates time and attention to her customers, who in return give her gifts and their patronage. They also tip her. For example, when she goes with them to another club after work, they will probably give $45 for her $lO taxi fare home. Sometimes, a hostess will become her customer’s second .or even third “wife.” The number one wife, the lawful one, is usually known by her husband as “our dragon at home,” where he will spend less than half his nights. According to Akio, his club grosses nearly $lO,OOO on a good night and about $7OOO on an ordinary one. About 80 per cent of the customers do not and cannot pay personally for the club’s services. Their companies give them large expense accounts for their own entertainment and for that ’of company clients.