The promised land for men the rising popularity of hosts in contemporary japanese society

SUMMARY Since the mid/end of the 1990s Japan has witnessed the rapid growth of an adult entertainment business called the “host club” hosuto kurabu where young Japanese heterosexual men

A PROMISED LAND FOR MEN:

THE RISING POPULARITY OF HOSTS IN

CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE SOCIETY

REIKO YAMAGISHI

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

2009

A PROMISED LAND FOR MEN:

THE RISING POPULARITY OF HOSTS IN

CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE SOCIETY

REIKO YAMAGISHI (M.A Women’s Studies, The University of Alabama)

A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

2009

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

One of my professors once told me, “Writing a dissertation is one of the most stressful events of life.” Perhaps But I did not find this to be true in my case My dissertation, on the other hand, was my lifesaver

On April 12th 2006, six months after I had returned to NUS from fieldwork in Japan, I was rear-ended by a car which had not stopped at the stop-sign at the road junction, while cycling to an appointment The accident left me physical, financial and emotional drained

On top of having to write my dissertation, I had to look for doctors and lawyers who could help me Being a foreigner, and student, did not help My unfamiliarity with legal and medical matters caused me to be misled and taken advantage of The ongoing search for medical and legal support, attending physical therapy, and consulting with lawyers all-in-all was extremely time-consuming, difficult, and emotionally taxing, taking away

so much valuable time from my writing And was it not Shakespeare who said “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.”?My life during this period proved him right Since the accident, like the script of a bad soap-opera, more and more unfortunate incidents unfolded I felt I was in a dark tunnel that had no exit

It was however the writing of my dissertation that saved me from collapse I knew that what I had done was something new and interesting I believed that my work would contribute to studies in this field of research But most importantly, I was totally in love with my research Yet, the completion of this dissertation would not have been possible without the kind assistance of many people helping me over the last two years I would like to take the opportunity here then to thank all these people for their support

I had the best advisers Prof Maribeth Erb and Prof Hing Ai Yun did everything they could possibly do to support me in getting this dissertation done They constantly challenged me intellectually, while at the same time they were mentors who were so encouraging, providing emotional support They believed in me and that kept me going

At one point, it became critical that I obtained some financial support in order to continue with the Ph.D program It was Prof Tong Chee Kiong and Prof Pauline Straughan who lent their hand in this area Without their kindness, it would have been impossible for me

to continue

Prof Thang Leng Leng, Prof Chua Beng Huat, and Dr Eric Thompson: thank you very much for your great advice and continuous encouragement Saroja and Chaar, I truly appreciate your sincere concern and unconditional offer of help to alleviate my pain And Roland at the Fujitsu repair center, your technical support was very essential for me

Finding doctors who understand patients’ physical and emotional pain and who treat patients as individual human-beings was amazingly hard A visit to the doctor would often be stressful because of the negative and unsupportive attitude But I have also met caring doctors and nurses over the last two years Dr Lee and nurse Joyce at the acupuncture clinic at NUS, chiropractor Nancy, masseurs Suzanna and Lay Hoon, and

surgeon Siegal Bernie—you were all so inspiring and your friendship has meant a lot to

me

Life without laughter is not worth living Especially during hardship My friends and mates —Noorman, Grace, Meisen, Bambi, Charan, Naoko, Maki, Geklin, Momoko, Rob, Nhidi, and Taberez—were always there for me, helped me whenever I was in need, and most importantly, made me laugh And I would like to especially thank Kelvin Low and his family—his parents Mr and Mrs Low and his brother Les—for having taken great care of me and for treating me like family

flat-This dissertation would not have been completed without the tremendous help and dedication of Mr Eric Goh He is an excellent editor who is positive and encouraging And he has tried his best to support me, unconditionally

Lastly, Ai Jin, this dissertation is dedicated to you One day she said,

There is a man who has nothing and when he finds ten cents on the street,

he picks it up and makes a call to his friend for help Reiko, we still have

steps to take, so we have to take them And when we run out of steps, we

think of how we can push it further until there is really nothing more to

take

What I have learnt in the past two years is that “life is hard and unfair.” My journey has been rough and rocky But there was always Ai Jin, who tried her best to make my path as smooth as possible, and had put her head together with mine to find a step My journey continues, and the tunnel called “life” seems to be too long and too dark sometimes But I know I will make it Whenever I think of you, Ai Jin, I can picture you crying and smiling with the joy of seeing me happy again I will make this happen Yes, we will be smiling together—soon

Prelude: A Taste of the Hosts’ Wonderland 1

c) Junior Hosts vs Senior Hosts 23 d) The Modern Host Club Industry vs the Host Club Industry,

and the Modern Host Club Industry as “Industry” 24 e) Profiles of Hosts and the Media Sources 25

Constructive Interpretivist Approach 29

b) Research Methods and the Research Participants 36

Game: The Nature of the Researcher-Hosts Relationship 50 Issues of Ethics: “Covert” Participant observation 56 III THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: WHEN HOSTS BECOMES

Feminist Theories and Sex Workers 63 Sex Tourism and Male Sex Workers .69 When Hosts Gained “Citizenship” .74

PART II: BACKGROUND OF THE MHI

The Birth of the Japanese Postwar Hegemonic Masculinity 98 a) The Mechanism of the Japanese Management System (JMS) .98 b) The Salaryman as an Ideological Class .102 The Crisis of the Hegemonic Masculinity in the Postwar Era .108 a) The Fall of the Salaryman 108 b) The Youth and Their Unemployment Issues 111 Rebirth of the Hegemonic Masculinity 115 a) The Emergence of a “New Japanese Management System”

The Hegemonic Masculinity Deconstructed or Revised? 123

“Industrialization” of the Post-Bubble Sex Industry 151

VI INVITATION TO THE WORLD OF MODERN HOST CLUBS .157

Location of Host Clubs in Kabukichō .163

Legitimacy of the Modern Host Club Business 173

b) Legal Minorities and Shizumeru—Sinking Clients 174

c) Permit and Nibu Eigyō (The Second-Part Business) 176 The New Marketing and Recruitment System and the Development

Female Sex Workers as the Ultimate Target 188 Temporary Escape for Sex Workers:

When Women Patronize a Host Club 191

PART III: THE WORK OF HOSTS

The Intimate Therapeutic Approach .202

The Strategies of Doing Irokoi 205

Other Strategies 216 VIII THE LABOUR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN THE MHI 220

b) You Get a Job, You Start a Job 226 The “Ultimate” Merit-Based System in the MHI 228 a) The Semi-Independent Employment and

b) Rewarding the Best, Punishing the Rest:

b-1) The “Number-One” as The Brand Name:

b-2) The More Money, The More Authority:

b-3) The “Carrot and the Stick” Management System 238 b-4) “Endeavour Worship”: The Host Club Propaganda 242

Transformation of an Image of Hegemonic Masculinity 247 The Host as a New Entrepreneur:

The Organizational Representation of Hosts 251

The Host as an “Androgynous Professional Outlaw”: Men’s X 257

The Host as a Yandoru (Young Idol): Host Clubs and Happy 266

PART IV: DESIRES TO WORK AS A HOST AND ITS PARADOX

Characteristics of Hosts in Kabukichō 278 a) The Host as a Japanese Heterosexual Man 278

d) The Host as Lacking Elite Educational Background 282 e) The Host as a Trendy Androgynous Man 284

The Host as a “Lovable Stranger” .294

a) The Production A Charismatic Host .303

b) The Desire to be a King (Ou) 309

c) The World of Flamboyance (Hanayaka na sekai) 312 Entrepreneurial Spirit: Money, the Entrepreneur and the Sense of Challenge .315 a) Money and the Ultimate Merit-Based System 316

b) Keieisha (A Business Owner) 321

c) Yarigai (Rewarding) and the Merit-Based System 323 Go To Tokyo, Go To Kabukichō 326

a) The Lure of Tokyo: Tokyo as the Symbol of “Success” 327 b) The Lure of Kabukichō: Kabukichō as the Zenith for Hosts 338 XII THE PARADOX OF THE ULTIMATE MERIT-BASED SYSTEM Reasons behind the High Turnover Rate .345

The Neoliberal Blues in the MHI 351

XIII CONCLUSION: BEHIND THE DYNAMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE MHI .362

Future Research Implications 367

Epilogue and the Future of Host Clubs 370

BIBLIRIOGRAPHY 375

APEENDIX A 404

APPENDIX B 405

APPENDIX C 411

APPENDIX D 412

APPENDIX E 413

APPENDIX F 414

APPENDIX G .420

APPENDIX H 423

APPENDIX I 426

APPENDIX J 428

APPENDIX K 430

APPENDIX L 433

APPENDIX M .436

GLOSSARY 439

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .vi

Illustration A: Map of Tokyo 32

Illustration B: Map of the Central Shinjuku Area 33

Illustration C: Map of Kabukichō 164

SUMMARY

Since the mid/end of the 1990s Japan has witnessed the rapid growth of an adult

entertainment business called the “host club” (hosuto kurabu) where young Japanese

heterosexual men—hosts—provide young Japanese women, often sex workers themselves, with various kinds of “companionship.” Despite the worst and longest economic recession in the 1990s which made Japan suffer severely for a decade, and although most of the night entertainment spots historically served by females targeting were heterosexual male clients, host clubs continued to grow And it was during this time that the job of hosts, which was stigmatized previously, gained positive social acceptance, attracting thousands of men into the industry

This thesis aims to analyze the nature and development of the Modern Host Club Industry (MHI) It will illustrate and examine the historical development of host clubs, the causes

of its growth, the characteristics of the business activity, and women’s motivations in patronizing hosts However, the primary focus will be on the rising popularity of this type

of work, that of being a host

Yet, this thesis goes beyond just describing hosts’ motivations and the nature of their work Their accounts showed complex connections between their motivations and the nature of the labour system employed by the MHI, woven together with the overall societal changes The thesis thus examines the popularity of the job of hosts in a multi-tiered context: 1) the micro (motivations of men entering and working in the MHI), 2) the meso (the nature of the work and the labour system in the MHI), and 3) the macro (socioeconomic structures revolving around male work in Japan)

It is my thesis that the magnification of the MHI, and the popularity of the career of hosts, were triggered by the economic recession of the 1990s, which resulted in the deconstruction of the Japanese postwar hegemonic masculinity—the “salaryman.” With the Japanese Management System (JMS), the postwar government had institutionalized

the male worker system known as the “salaryman” (sararīman)—a male corporate

white-collared worker employed by Japanese corporations The salaryman also represented a specific state-led labour management system that was the core institution that played a significant role in the postwar nation-building process Borrowing the concept from Robert Connell (1987), the salaryman is what I refer to in this thesis as the “Japanese hegemonic masculinity” On the other hand, I define men working in the MHI as

“marginal-cultural brokers”, those who intentionally or unintentionally deviate from the hegemonic masculine life course that is the salaryman’s

When the hegemonic masculinity and its work system experienced a crisis, the work of hosts, which is totally different in philosophy to that of the salaryman’s, came into its own to gain positive recognition in society At the same time, together with the media, the MHI began to actively advocate a new image of hosts and its neoliberal labour model as a better system, in comparison to the salaryman’s And there were “marginal-cultural brokers,” who had strong desires of making it “big,” while often struggling to find a job during the severe economic downturn This thesis thus reveals the structural and

perceptional changes of Japanese contemporary masculinities—male work, career aspirations, and the qualities of a “legitimate” male worker in the new age—through the window of the host club phenomenon

PART I: SETTING THE SCENE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Prelude: A Taste of the Hosts’ Wonderland

It was Friday May 11th 2005, at the East exit of JR Shinjuku station The heavy rain had become a drizzle As usual, I looked up at the large digital clock hanging at the top of the building 12:30 a.m and 15 ˚C it read The same clock had shown 1 ˚C three months ago But on this night, there was a summer breeze, and the streets had become more crowded This side of Shinjuku has a wide range of night entertainment for diverse groups of people—from teens to seniors, men and women, homosexuals and drag queens, rich and poor, Japanese and foreigners It is almost 1 a.m and the last trains have just left, yet there are people all over the streets, as if there is a carnival going on in this sleepless city As usual, this will last till the first train rolls in again around 5 a.m

I am standing in front of Alta shopping center, a popular meeting place in front of Shinjuku JR St East ext I am waiting for my old friend, Misaki We went to college together in the U.S but we had not seen each other in the last five years She had been back in Japan for the last three years and is now working as a computer programmer in Tokyo Like many of my female friends she had been curious about visiting a host club but did not have enough courage to go by herself So we decided that I would escort her

to a host club in Kabukichō tonight

She sent me a sms message a while ago “Still at work No time to go home to change Can I go in the business suit?” “Business suit?!” I said to myself, knitting my eyebrows In host clubs that I had visited in Kabukichō I had never seen a single woman

in a business suit The majority of women patronizing host clubs in Tokyo are engaged in some form of sex work Most of them are young in their late teens to early twenties And some of these women, when they visit host clubs, come without changing their work clothing So I have seen women in long evening gowns in white, black and bright red colors, with their hair done-up like Cinderellas Others are often in smart-casual dresses, wearing above-knee-mini-skirts and knit tops with long boots or stiletto high heels, or spaghetti-strap black-mini dress, or jeans with fashionably coordinated tops and accessories Women do not usually wear a business suit, T-shirt or short pants to a host club However, as far as I know, there is no dress code So I replied, “Business suit is fine.”

Now 12:40 a.m Misaki said she would be here in about 30 minutes So I decided

to walk down Central road—the street toward Kabukichō through the Yasukuni

intersection There were about 20 hosts soliciting (kyacchi) at the intersection; some

alone while others were in groups Across the intersection, Central road, which is about

150 meters long, there were over 100 hosts doing kyacchi At the first site the whole area

is like a black ocean: the crowds of hosts, all in their black suits, are making the darkness

of the night seem even blacker In April 2005 the Tokyo Metropolitan Government

banned the act of kyacchi as it disturbs passers-by, especially young female pedestrians

who are their targets The immediate affect was hosts disappeared from the street But after a month had passed, it was as if the ban had been lifted; the hosts were back in business, swarming the entrance to Kabukichō as they used to do

My phone rang “Where are you now?” It was 1:10 a.m She had finally arrived

“Just come down to Koma theater I am here now.” This is the end of Central road and

many hosts are doing kyacchi here I saw her coming down, walking rather timidly, and

the moment she walked into the “black ocean,” like a cheetah stalking prey, a host approached her, followed her, soliciting After she escaped from him, two other hosts immediately walked toward her and asked her to visit their host club with them

Just a moment earlier when I was walking up and down the street several times, none of the hosts approached me My key informant, Host Taka, explained that hosts

kyacchi “women in all ages above 18, even women in their 60s.” But in the past few

months, I found this to be a usual platitude Whenever I walk into the middle of the black ocean, I always walk “slowly to get the attention of hosts” as my informants had advised

me, but I had never been solicited For Misaki, it was different Three had approached her within the first 10 meters as she walked into Central road She is 26 and I am 32 They do not usually bother to target older women like me because their major clients are the younger women who often work in the sex industry, or who are qualified to join the industry

Misaki is obviously inexperienced in dealing with the hosts’ kyacchi Some

women completely ignore hosts, walking as fast as they can to get through Others very confidently and intentionally walk by slowly, teasing and insulting them But Misaki is now totally blocked by two hosts She looks at me, asking for help like a rabbit caught by

a poacher “It is only 3,000 yen1 Please come with me?,” one pleaded while both of them politely passed me their business cards “Which club?” I asked “Club Diva.” “I have already been there.” For a first-time visitor to any host club, there is a large discount Usually the total cost is 5,000 yen, including drinks But if one re-visits the same club,

1

As of May 10th 2008, the exchange rate for a dollar to yen is 102 yen This is the rate that is used in this thesis Thus taking off two zeros from the yen-price becomes an approximate US value (e.g 3,000 yen =

30 dollars)

she will have to pay the regular price, which could be at least 20,000 to 30,000 yen

“When was that?,” he asked “About three months ago.” “Then that is o.k I can let you

in as a first-time visitor again.” “Well, I have this monthly promotional coupon for the first-time visitor at Club Sensation It is only 100 yen So we are going there.” They begged us to visit them after Club Sensation “Call us, we will come and get you.” We said we would and moved on

We walked down Kuyakusho-Dōri to about five minutes, and we arrived at the six-story building where Club Sensation is located Two tall heavy glass doors, framed with metallic silver, were pushed half-way into the building, creating a narrow opening The building was dark, but soft yellow and white lights lighted up the entrance space with

a glow like a Christmas decoration As we walked into the building, we noticed several host clubs advertised on canvas stands Later at Club Sensation a host told us that there are a total of eight host clubs in this building Two of them are well known nationally, which they said made it even more competitive

We took the elevator up to the top floor and walked down the hall There are two nightclubs on the floor One is Club Sensation At the door, like other host clubs, there is

a showcase exhibiting pictures of their top five hosts in ranking order This ranking is based on their total individual earnings in the previous month The moment we entered, a

chorus of “Irasshai mase” (“Welcome!”) greeted us All the hosts noticed our arrival,

called a very cheerful greeting and came to the entrance to welcome us There are about seven hosts in front of us A man with long dyed hair in his mid-20s is sitting behind a counter waiting to check our ID to make sure we are old enough to visit a host club—over 18 From the entrance, we cannot see further inside as there is a wall blocking our

view

A host came and escorted us inside to a sofa Usually at host clubs, there are walls with holes, smoky-glass dividers, glass-cabinets, etc to create a sense of “peeping.” By so doing women who appoint the same hosts are separated geographically, yet they can still see how their hosts are treating other clients and how much the women are spending on their hosts etc This makes women jealous, competing with each other to get attention from their hosts by spending more on their hosts

But it was different at Club Sensation The entire club was a big round open space with sofas against the wall all around the room We sat on a sofa nearest the entrance A karaoke set-up is placed on the wall across the room from us But the lighting here is much dimmer Owners I talked to told me that nowadays it is popular to use brighter white lighting and light-colored furniture in order to counter the negative image of this business Here, it is the opposite The interior is totally black: black wall, black ceiling, black tables, back sofa; even the Karaoke set-up was all black This made the room much darker, which successfully created the “peeping” effect as clients cannot clearly see interactions of other clients and hosts who are sitting further away from us But then in this darkness, I could still see a client seated next to the Karaoke unit as she stood up and walked into the center of the space and began singing Other than ourselves, she was the only client in the host club I looked at my watch It was 2:30 a.m.—still too early for regulars to be here

She looked in her mid 20s Her long hair was pulled up She was short and slim but had the curved body of a Latin dancer Her perfectly shaped long slender legs extended from her micro mini denim skirt Her stiletto-high-heeled shoes made her legs

look even longer, and sexier Her full breast bulged through her tight T-shirt She staggered a little as she sang Four hosts sitting at her table quietly followed the rhythm with their hands

The host who escorted us sat on a stool in front of us In between him and us, there are two small square coffee tables In the center of the table, glasses and an icebox

are placed on the tray “Shisturei shimasu” (“Excuse me”), the host stretched his arms and

placed a white, stiff ironed napkin on our laps and put a hot hand towel in our hands With ceremonious politeness, he served us at a lower position of our eye levels, making

us feel being more powerful than he is

“What would you like to drink?” “What are the free drinks that come with the

discounted set-price for the first-time visitors?” “Shōchū, green tea and water are free.”

So we ordered shōchū A second host joined us and sat on the stool while the first host went to the kitchen to get our drinks “Irasshai mase,” he welcomed us with his young cheerful smile “My name is Juna Yoroshiku onegai shimasu (“It is very nice to meet

you”).” While introducing himself, he pulled out a business card case from the pocket of his jacket and handed his business card to us His host name, Juna, was written

inside-calligraphically at the center of the card, which was made from Japanese paper (washi)

Hosts’ business cards are often very creative and sophisticated, and they look luxurious as they like to use colors like gold and unique paper materials His was no exception The telephone number, address of the host club, his hand-phone number and mobile Internet address are all listed

Juna is about 165 cm tall, slim, with his long hair falling below his shoulder His hair is dyed orange except for the top 3 cm which is black since he did not re-dye his hair

Like everybody else, he was in a black suit The first three buttons of his white shirt were unbuttoned, showing off his necklace “What is your name?,” Juna asked “I am Reiko and this is Misaki.” We only gave him our first names He wrote our names on a coaster from the table and rested it against the icebox Any hosts coming to sit with us from now

on will know our names without asking us repeatedly As first time visitors, we are expecting to meet many hosts tonight: every ten to fifteen minutes a manager will send us

a host, especially new ones, so that they have chances to obtain new clients

A bottle of shōchū arrived “How would you like to drink this?,” the host politely

asked as he made a drink for us, and then he served from a lower position, treating us as

if he was serving on queens Now there are four hosts at our table “Would you mind if

we have a drink with you?” “Oh please, be our guest.” A junior host then served shōchū

to other hosts One of them said, “Would you like to take a look at otoko menyū” (the

menu of men)?” That was my first experience with such a menu though I later found that

it is common in the industry The menu came It was a black colored album with photos

of all the hosts working at this host club The order of their pictures was based on their rankings Each photo featured a host naked from the chest upwards The average age of the hosts seemed to be in their early 20s We were told that the youngest host working was 17 years old and the oldest in his late 20s All the men in the menu had snow-white bodies without any noticeable muscles; they were lean, pale and effeminate

One of the hosts excused himself and told us that he has to go to visit a host working in another host club located in the building The relationship among host clubs

in Kabukichō is very close, so hosts at different host clubs frequently visit each other, especially when they have events He then lifted his glass, tilted it in our direction, and

said “gochisō samadeshita” (“Thank you very much for treating me a drink”) We

returned to the menu, giving the hosts our evaluation of each of them At the very last page, we saw a host who looked like a seven year old girl His picture was not taken from the chest up but from the waist up, naked His body was skinny and pale so much so that his light-pink nipples were so visibly apparent in the picture He looked underage to be working at a host club But this was the host sitting in front of me “Is this you?” He nodded “Why are you showing-off your naked body here?” I teased him Blushing, he said, “Please do not talk about this picture anymore Everybody (female clients) says the same thing and I am so embarrassed!” “Oh, sorry! I am sure you cannot send this picture back home and let your friends and parents believe that you are working as a host You look more like a call-boy in this picture!” Everybody laughed and started making fun of him By then, two new hosts joined us so that we now had five hosts sitting with us

In about two hours of our visit, we had ten hosts join us A host comes, welcomes

us, gives us his business card, joins our conversation and then leaves to attend to other clients This is the cycle A senior host or the floor staff supervises the hosts, sending them cues to let him know when to leave or when to join a client Whenever our glass is half empty, they are very solicitous in re-filling the glass or providing other varieties of drinks When we need to go to the toilet, a host escorts us, waits for us to come out, hands us a hot towel and escorts us back to our seats The conversation with these ten hosts lighten up the atmosphere, discussing humorous and diverse subjects: the prefectures they are from, their reasons for working as a host, unique clients they have met, a devastating earthquake in Niigata, a beautiful tiger tattoo on a host’s arm which was done by a traditional bamboo carving technique, psychic power that one of the hosts

claims to have, living conditions in their dormitory owned by the club, how to masturbate

in their dormitory where four hosts share a room, etc Hosts did not introduce conversational topics, nor do they dominate the conversation They were however good listeners and some were very good at spicing up the conversation with repartee, making

Kabukichō—the red-light district that is known as fuyajō, the castle that never sleeps

“We have to go now We want to visit another host club tonight,” I said They pleaded with us to stay longer, telling us what a great time they were having “We will be back again.”I stood up and walked toward the door The seven hosts followed, escorted to the elevator Five of them squeezed into the small elevator and went down with us “Thank you so much for coming,” “Come again!,” “See ya!,” they cheerfully shouted, waving their hands to send us off

The Research Focus

Known as a country with a patriarchal social order, Japan has conventionally accepted the practice of the male consumption of women’s bodies Although a large variety of sex businesses exist in Japan, most of the adult and night entertainment spots are served by women, targeting heterosexual male clients (Aikawa 2005; Allison 1994; Hinako 2003; Mori 2007; Muraoka 2005; Ōtsuki 1999; Sekikawa 1998; Yamada T 1999;

Yamamoto, N 1999) However, the end of the 1990s saw the rapid growth of a unique

sex business called the “host club” (hosuto kurabu), where young Japanese heterosexual

men provide young Japanese women with various kinds of “companionship.” For the most part hosts serve women with conversation-based entertainment inside a host club However in order to increase their profits, they often strategically intimacize their host-client relationships Thus going on a date or having a physical relationship outside the club, if the two parties are agreeable, can be part of their business (Fukazawa 2002; personal interviews 2004 & 2005; Takeyama 2005)

The host club is not considered traditional adult entertainment for Japanese Triggered by the social dance boom in the 1950s, the first club was launched in 1965 in Tokyo (Aida 2004; Kurashina 2006) Before the mid 1990s, the clubs existed more as an underground activity, known only among limited clients (Naito 2003a; personal interviews 2004 & 2005) But since the mid to late 1990s, there was a significant growth

of host clubs In early 2000s, host clubs appeared not only in major hankagai

(commercial districts with adult entertainment outlets) in Tokyo but also in many other districts all over Japan (Fukuzawa 2002) By early 2000s, it was estimated that approximately 1,000 clubs and 12,000 hosts existed in Japan (Fukazawa 2002; Sakai 2001), producing $1.4 U.S billion annually (Fulford 2004; Nobu 2004) It has become a popular form of entertainment in Japan

Among all the hankagai with host clubs, Kabukichō in Shinjuku, Tokyo—the

largest red-light district in Japan—has experienced the most significant growth In the early stages of the development of the industry, in the 1960s in Kabukichō, there were only about five This increased to about twenty in the 1970s According to my informants,

the total number of host clubs in Kabukichō was between thirty and fifty in the early

1990s One kōshūnyū zassi (a want-ad magazine listing “sex work” for women) reported

that there were about forty-five host clubs in 1999 (Naito 2003a) Then, the number increased quickly to over 250-3002 by 2003 During my fieldwork conducted in Kabukichō from July 2004 to June 2005, Kabukichō was considered the mecca of the modern host club industry (MHI) in Japan It was estimated that over 5,000 men in their early 20s worked as hosts in this 600 square meter red-light district

Such a rapid and dynamic growth of the MHI was fostered by diverse structural changes taking place in the sex industry After the booming economy in the late 1980s, Japan suffered a severe economic depression during the entire 1990s and early 2000s

Due to its severity, this period is known as the Lost Decade (ushinawareta jūnen) My

research shows that the MHI emerged when the sex industry was forced to change the nature of its activities in order to survive during the long and hard economic recession of the 1990s By accident, this transformation provided host clubs with a new clientele—young female sex workers The same economic crisis also brought down rentals and property values, allowing successful hosts to open up their own clubs There were also people, especially those in the advertisement business, who actively collaborated with the host clubs, helping them to launch new nation-wide marketing channels for them to survive in the economic stagnation To add to these advantages, host clubs capitalized on the emerging digital society in the late 1990s, through which host clubs began to reach out to the masses, appealing to a wider range of social groups of women to visit, and of men to work, at a host club (Chapter 5 & 6)

2

Due to the illegal nature of this business and their unique way of setting up (which I will discuss in Chapter 6), the exact number of host clubs is hard to pin-point However, according to my informants, about 250 to 300 host clubs existed in Kabukichō in 2003

While these macro aspects contributed to the rapid growth of the MHI, the phenomenal success of the MHI would not be as significant if being employed as a host did not appeal to men A key informant Host Taka said that in Kabukichō alone, tens of thousands of men come to this red-light district every year to try their luck at being a host The job was no longer looked upon as being in the sub-entertainment culture as it was before It has instead become a recognizable career path, involving a large number of men from different social backgrounds and with greater positive media coverage But in Japan, any kind of sex work historically had been regarded as predominantly done by women On top of that, during postwar Japan, the “salaryman”—a white-collar corporate man—had been institutionalized as being the ideal career and life path for men (Dasgupta

2000 & 2003; Koyama 2004; Roberson 1998; Roberson and Suzuki 2003; Taga 2005a)

In the conventional Japanese context, a host is therefore not the type of job through which men would attain social respectability Why then has the job become popular among young men? What is it about this career that attracts men? What does this career aspiration tell us about youth and their attitude to work in contemporary Japanese society? And, does the devastating historical period known as the “Lost Decade”—the worst and longest postwar economic depression in Japan—have anything to do with it?

While this thesis analyzes and illustrates the development and nature of the MHI, the primary focus is from the perspective of the hosts in relation to conventional perceptions of Japanese “male work.”This thesis, however, goes beyond describing just hosts’ motivations, and the nature of their work observed within the MHI Their accounts showed complex connections between their motivations, the nature of the labour system employed by the MHI, and the larger structural changes This thesis then examines the

popularity of the job of hosts in relation to multi-level contexts: 1) the micro (motivations

of men entering and working in the MHI), 2) the meso (the nature of the work and the labour system in the MHI), and 3) the macro (socioeconomic structures revolving around male work in Japan) Overall this thesis discusses the structural and perceptional changes

of “male work” in the late 1990s and early 2000s in Japan and the changing career aspirations among the youth, through the window of hosts’ work and their motivations The larger goal of this thesis is to sketch a perspective of Japanese contemporary masculinities—male work, career aspirations, and qualities of a “legitimate” male worker

in the new age—from an examination of this emerging alternative masculinity represented by hosts

It is my thesis that the magnification of the MHI—the popularity of this career—was greatly impacted and triggered by the economic recession of the 1990s and the consequent deconstruction of the old and emergence of the new hegemonic masculinity

of Japan With the Japanese Management System (JMS), the postwar government had

institutionalized a male worker system known as the “salaryman” (sararīman)—a male

corporate white-collar worker employed by Japanese corporations The salaryman also represented a specific labour management system, and it is the core institution that played

a significant role in the postwar nation-building process Borrowing the concept from Robert Connell (1987), the salaryman is what I refer to as “Japanese hegemonic masculinity” in this thesis On the other hand, I define men entering and working in the MHI as “marginal men” who intentionally or unintentionally deviate from the hegemonic masculine life course that is the salaryman’s When there was a crisis in the hegemonic masculinity and their work system, the work of hosts, which is totally different in

philosophy to that of the salaryman, came into its own to gain positive recognition in society At the same time, the MHI began actively to advocate their neoliberal labour model as a better system than the state-led salaryman system, together with their new positive representation of hosts as they refer to as “charismatic hosts.” It was in this context that the job of hosts came to attract some of these “marginal men,” who had strong desires of making it “big,” while often struggling to find a formal job during the severe economic stagnation Thus, their entry motivations were closely connected to the macro and meso factors as will be further explained and illustrated in this thesis

Rationale of Study

The topic of investigation in this thesis—“heterosexual” “male sex workers” who work in a “host club”—is a relatively new subject since earlier studies of the sex industry have tended to scrutinize “female sex workers,” particularly with regard to “prostitution.” Heterosexual male workers and other people working in various other indoor sex-related entertainment have not been sufficiently studied

Black (2000) states that the contributions of Foucault and the feminist movement have opened up research interest in sexuality In the field of social science, there has been increasing research in adult entertainment activities However, as Ronald Weitzer (2000) critically points out, these studies have exclusively looked at 1) “female” sex workers and not the “male” and 2) only certain adult outlets, such as prostitution and pornography, but not various others

In the case of studies of female sex workers, a wide range of research has been documented Scholars have examined female sex workers’ entry motivation and/or the nature of their jobs (Barton 2002; Brewis and Linstead 2000a & b; Kramer and Berg

2003; Perrucci 2000; Price 2000; Sweet and Tewksbury 2000) Others have looked at the power relationship between a female sex worker and her male clients (Hart 1997; Pasko 2002; Ryan and Martin 2001), aspects of women’s empowerment in relation to their work

in the sex industry (Ho 2000; Jenness 1990), coping strategies for female prostitutes (Sanders 2005), issues in private intimacy for female sex workers (Warr and Pyett 1999), and methods for commodifying intimacy appearing in various female sex works (Flowers 1998; Frank 1998) Additionally, the global market economy has brought a growing number of researchers into investigating sex tourism and the participation of local female sex workers and male tourists (Bishop and Robinson 1999; Brennan 2001 & 2004; Kempadoo 1999 & 2001; O’Connell 1996 & 2001; Oppermann 1998a; Phillip and Dann 1998; Wonders and Michalowski 2001) There have been, therefore, significant numbers

of researchers examining various aspects of female sex workers

As some scholars have pointed out (Editorial 2001; Scott et al 2005), research dealing with the sex industry has gradually shifted from exploring female sex workers to scrutinizing various other actors involved in the sex industry, such as male clients (Allison 1994; Frank 1999 & 2003), female clients (Loe 1998; MaCaughey and French 2001; Smith 2002; Sonnet 1999), male sex workers (Ayre and Barrett 2000; Browne and Minichiello 1996; Gaffney and Beverley 2001; Leichtentritt and Arab 2005; Minichiello,

et al 2000 & 2001; Scott et al 2005), and heterosexual local men and female tourists as clients of sex tourism (Albuquerque 1998; Beddoe 1998; Cabezas 2004; Dahles 1998; Herold, Gracia and DeMoya 2001; Kempadoo 2001; Lette 1996; Malam 2004; Phillips

1999 & 2002; Pruitt and LaFont 2003)

However, there is still much less academic work done on the nature of the work

and motivation of male sex workers, especially heterosexual ones, compared to female sex workers engaged in heterosexual commercial sex activities Also the social inquiry into male sex workers has often been narrowly stereotyped by linking them to homosexual activities (Altman 1999; Browne and Minichiello 1996; Leichtentritt and Arab 2005; Weitzer 2000) or the perception of their engaging in deviant acts (Brown and Minichiello 1996; Scott et al 2005) One example of this predisposition is the large volume of research on male sex workers in relation to HIV/AIDS Leichtentritt and Arab (2005) critically assess this issue and argue that:

Male sex workers have mostly been studies not on their own right, for their own benefit or as members of society who can offer a valuable contribution to knowledge, but rather as a group worthy of research only as vectors of HIV into

‘normal’ society (p 484)

Other than the lack of attention to the heterosexual male sex worker, there are two other problems in earlier studies dealing with the sex industry First, not many studies have investigated various types of “indoor” adult entertainment outlets, such as brothels, telephone sex businesses, massage parlors, etc The majority have often focused on street prostitution and striptease (Wetizer 2001) When heterosexual men appear in academic work, it is often in the context of sex tourism (Beddoe 1998; Dahles 1998; Herold, Garcia, and DeMoya 2001; Lette 1996; Phillip and Dann 1998; Pruitt and LaFont 2003; Zinovieff 1991) or prostitution (Ayre and Barrett 2000; Leichtentritt and Arad 2005) Only a few have looked into indoor entertainment (Gaffney and Beverley 2001) Secondly, earlier studies on commercial male sex workers, who engage in both heterosexual and homosexual activities, tend to pay more attention to relatively micro perspectives, such as their demographic backgrounds, motivations, characteristics of their relationship with their clients and the nature of their work (Minichiello et al 2000 & 2001; Phillips 1999 &

2002; Leichtentritt and Arad 2005; Zinovieff 1991) Considering these rather limited

topics of research interest and the exclusive focus on the individual, some scholars have

raised a concern that these works fail to provide a broader, more complex picture of commercial sexual activities as they lack to examine interactions between individual actors and a specific historical context as well as social, economic and organizational institutions revolving around their life and work (Bernstein 2001; Weitzer 2000)

This tendency is also evident in Japanese studies on hosts and host clubs Due to the increasing popularity of this business, there has been a growing literature on the MHI and hosts in Japan, although the majority of them are not scholarly works but more popular literature, such as comic magazines, non-fictional and fictional stories3 Despite the large volume, few of them attempt to provide a comprehensive analysis of the industry Instead, among non-fiction literature, many of them illustrate personal experiences of working as a host and the nature of their business, and they are often written by hosts and former hosts (Aida 2002 & 2004; Eguchi 1999; Hosokawa 2001; Houjou 2006a, b, & c; Inoue 2006; Jun!?pei 20024; Mukaidani 2002; Nakatani 2001; Sawamura 2001 & 2001; Shirosaki 2005; Reiji 1999 & 2001; Yoritomo 2003 & 2007; Yura 2005) There are also journalistic articles introducing host club activities to foreign readers (Fulford 2004; Prideaux 2003; Sakai 2001) Some female writers write from the clients’ perspectives (Naito 2003a & b; Nakamura 2006) Yet generally, their focus is more on micro actors, mainly hosts and host-client relationships, and often written in a subjective manner Similarly, one of the first academic works on the host club also

3 The media materials on hosts, including books, comics, DVDs and CDs, are listed in one of the most popular host club search engines According to this search engine, in 1998, the total number of such material was only one, which then increased to 9 in 1999, 18 in 2000, 24 in 2001, 42 in 2002, 39 in 2003,

51 in 2004, 37 in 2005, and 79 in 2006 and 60 in 2007 (“Host club official website ON-Stage Book & Review Corner: http://www.on-sta.com/book_video/book_video_01.html , Retrieved on May 3rd 2008)

4 This is how the author’s name appears in the title

approaches this phenomenon from rather a micro aspect, examining the commodification

of intimacy (Takeyama 2005), but not conducting a multi-level (macro, meso and micro) analysis of this phenomenon These works fail to show the broader picture behind the rapid growth of the MHI despite the dynamic transformation of this business and the increasingly positive social recognition of the job of hosts It is then important to look into the social and organizational circumstances of these men working in the MHI

Considering the academic trends discussed in this section, this thesis draws attention to young Japanese heterosexual male sex workers who work in the indoor sex industry called a host club A multi-perspective approach is applied to investigate the dynamics behind the rising popularity of the work of hosts and their entry motivations

By scrutinizing the nature of their work, motivations, and work experiences, and by examining their labour organization, and the socioeconomic conditions fostering the popularity of this career, this thesis attempts to bring new perspectives to an understanding of this new sex worker phenomenon—the host

Research Limitation, Objectives, and Questions

Through examining the growing popularity of hosts, this thesis examines changes

in contemporary Japanese masculinities Because of difficulties in obtaining data from female clients, this thesis will focus on studying the MHI’s phenomenon primarily from the male workers’ perspectives not from the clients’

The objectives of this thesis are:

1 To document the historical development and ethnographical characteristics of the MHI

2 To examine the nature of their work, especially from the following three aspects: 1) the commodification of their services, 2) the MHI’s labour management system, and 3) the new organizational and media representation

of the hosts

3 To research the social backgrounds of men joining and working in the MHI

4 To investigate the entry motivations of this particular sex work that target young Japanese men

5 To address the realities and the paradox of working as a host

6 To establish a theoretical framework that explains the phenomenal growth of the MHI in relation to Japanese “male work.”

The overarching question of this thesis is:

Why did this industry become such a popular work choice for young men in this particular socioeconomic climate, when Japan was suffering from the worst and longest economic stagnation?

To seek answers for the above objects, the following questions were asked in this thesis:

1 What are the socioeconomic and industrial conditions that allowed the MHI to evolve? (Chapter 4 & 5)

2 What is a host club? What do they sell? Where are they found? How do they operate? (Chapter 6)

3 Who patronizes the host clubs in Kabukichō? Why do they frequent there? What does this tell us about the work and leisure choices of these clients? (Chapter 6)

4 What is the job of a host? How do they strategize their companionship to maximize their value? (Chapter 7)

5 How is a host club business organized? What is the dominant organizational culture? What does it tell us about male work in contemporary Japanese society? (Chapter 8)

6 How has the image of hosts changed since its begining? How do hosts today portray themselves? What kinds of discourses do they use to appeal to the masses and why? (Chapter 9)

7 Who are these men joining the industry? What are common social attributes and previous career backgrounds of these men? How do they understand their social locations? (Chapter 10)

8 What attracted men to this career despite the fact that sex work has always been a woman’s job? What are their career aspirations? (Chapter 11)

9 What are the realities and paradoxes of working in the MHI? (Chapter 12)

10 What do their motivations and realities of working as hosts indicate employment conditions and career aspirations of the youth in Japan? What do the findings tell us about masculine landscapes of the modern Japanese society? (Chapter 13)

Issues in the Representation of Hosts and their Work and Operational Terminologies

a Japanese Terminologies

Many Japanese words that are used in this thesis are unique to Japanese culture and/or the culture of the Japanese sex industry as well as the MHI As Executive Kobayashi says, people in the Kabukichō community use their own slang Language is a cultural product, reflecting values and norms of the society and specific community we study Thus some words are impossible to translate into English while I also would like to maintain their original meanings Because of this, I will use these Japanese terms throughout the thesis When they appear first time in the text, direct translations and/or definitions of these terms will be provided in English Further explanations of each term will be also listed in the Glossary

b Hosts as Sex Workers?

Host clubs primarily provide women with conversation-based companionship Sex between a host and his client occurs, but not inside a host club, and only when the two parties come to an agreement Sex is not a primary commodity that is sold in this business Rather it is often used as a part of a host’s strategy to prolong their host-client relationship Thus money is not always involved in sex The industry also frowns on it The hosts I talked to, particularly seniors, consider these to be lacking in the professional skills necessary to entertain women Some clubs even prohibit hosts from having sex with clients because they see it as degrading the “professionalism” of hosts As such calling

hosts “sex workers” creates a false impression of who they are and the nature of their work (Yamagishi 2006a)

The problem with using the terms, “sex work/ worker,” is that it has often been used interchangeably with “prostitution/prostitute” in academic writing and in popular discourse, especially in the western context, although technically the liberal feminist idea

of sex work encompasses all adult entertainment outlets (Weitzer 2000; Yamagishi 2006a) Because it is a western-innovated term connoting their cultural concept, paying a

“sex worker” for non-sexual activities, such as in a host club, does not make sense to westerners People I have encountered during my research, who are not familiar with Japanese culture, often understand “hosts” to be “sex workers” (male prostitutes) who provide sex in exchange for money If not, as the foreign media favorably use the term a

“male geisha” to refer to hosts, they “orientalize” hosts and then framework them into their culturally familiar context of “gigolos” whose living depends on women’s financial support (Asian lives 2005; Brown 2003; Fulford 2004; Lah 2008; Wee 2008) This completely misunderstands the nature of their work and social status of hosts That is why some hosts who often travel to the U.S shared the same experience as I did Mr Ogawa and Mr Jo who frequent to the US said that Americans often cannot understand why women pay money for companionship that does not end in sex There is thus a cultural disparity in the understanding of this profession, and the use of “sex worker” to describe hosts further compounds the problem

Another problem of using “sex worker” lies in the Japanese understanding of the

term Its usage in Japanese (ie sekkusu wākā) describes activists who advocate and fight

for human rights for women working in the sex industry The term does not appear in

popular discourse and is not known among hosts Initially, out of respect, I used sekkusu

wākā to refer to them whenever I talked to a host But they did not know of this word

This means that they did not perceive themselves as sekkusu wākā

Instead, they simply refer to themselves as “hosts” and nothing else If not, they

classified their business as mizushōbai: a night entertainment outlet which is based on

providing companionship to clients It was important for them to want to be identified in this manner as it meant a higher positionality within the sex industry and in society as compared to other jobs which predominantly sell sexual acts

The Japanese sex industry (sei sangyō) has innumerable services available The

degree of stigmatization depends on the degree of sexual acts involved in the activity So hosts draw the line clearly, at least publicly They want to maintain their image as men who earn money by providing “companionship,” not by selling sex, even though some are doing so For them, they are not prostitutes That is why my key informant, Mr Jo, says that hosts are male versions of a hostess, especially ones found in Ginza—the upper-end red light district in Tokyo That job is considered to be one of the most prestigious in adult entertainment It requires workers to have not only a good appearance but a certain level of intelligence and conversational skills, to serve upper-class male clients As such, throughout the thesis, I only use the term “host” to identify Japanese men working in the MHI according to their own definition

However, for the readers in English, the terms “sex worker” and “sex industry” will also be used to identify their work Some scholars are critical of the use of these terms as liberal feminists invented them to empower sex workers while overlooking discriminatory factors surrounding lives of sex workers (Cabezas 2004; McIntosh 1996)

I agree When I use these terms, they simply indicate a job existing in the sex industry but

it does not necessarily connote “prostitute,” “sex,” or the liberal feminist-political meanings of “empowerment.” The particular definition I use for this thesis is then given

by Weitzer (2000): “’Sex work’ is a generic term for commercial sexual services, performances, or products given in exchange for material compensation” (Weitzer, 2000: 3) Similarly, “the ‘sex industry’ refers to the organizations, owners, managers, and workers involved in commercial sex enterprises.” (Weitzer, 2000: 3) “Adult entertainment (outlets)” and “night business” are interchangeably used in this thesis, and they both mean businesses existing in the sex industry

c Junior Hosts vs Senior Hosts

The terms “junior” (kōhai) and “senior” (senpai) are understood differently in this

industry Because Japanese corporate organizations conventionally use the seniority system with the lifelong employment, “senior” means a person who is older in terms of age, has longer years of service, and who enjoys a higher hierarchal position over juniors However, in the MHI context, because it is based on what is referred to as the “ultimate” merit-based system, the relationship between “juniors” and “seniors” is different from the conventional understanding A senior in the MHI is a person who has longer years of service in the industry, but he will not hold a higher hierarchal position if his sales is low Within a host club, one’s hierarchal position depends solely on one’s income level If one’s sales are high, one’s income increases proportionately Therefore if a junior host is doing well, he can easily have much higher financial power than seniors who came into the business earlier than he did And hosts making higher sales are given greater decision making authority in the club’s management—thus his overall power increases

However, because the key informants in this thesis tend to be seniors who served

in the MHI for a long time and who also have achieved a certain level of success as a host, the term “senior” here then indicates their seniority in terms of both their years of service

in the MHI and their good job performance On the contrary, the term “junior” in this thesis indicates hosts who are new to the industry and who have no clients This is because I did not meet juniors who had a high rank since I visited the clubs under the

scheme of shokai seido (the discount system for the first time visitor) In this scheme,

new host or junior hosts were often sent to clients because they needed to develop a clientele (see Chapter 2)

d The Modern Host Club Industry vs the Host Club Industry, and the Modern Host Club Industry as “Industry”

Takeyama (2005), who is one of the first to publish an academic work on this subject, and many other authors who have written about this industry, do not pay much attention to the historical transformation of this business They also pay little attention to differences among the host clubs My findings however show the dynamic transformation

of the nature of the host club business and activity over the last decade Because of this,

in this thesis, I avoid using the phrase “the host club industry” and I intentionally added the word “modern” to the description in order to differentiate host clubs that existed before and after the dynamic changes took in place from the mid/late 1990s

The first host clubs were launched in the mid 1960s However my research shows that the organization which appeared after the mid/late 1990s takes a very different form from the ones that existed before in terms of scale, labour organization, nature of service, business styles, workers, owners, clients, advertising method, etc (Appendix A) So the expression “the modern host club industry (MHI)” indicates host clubs with these new

factors The vast majority of host clubs in Kabukichō have now adopted them

More importantly, the host clubs are constantly evolving, even now, due to the many social factors, such as legal conditions (Chapter 12) So, by stating “the modern host club industry,” I am discussing the host clubs that existed from the mid/late 1990s to the mid 2000s in Kabukichō Its historical development and characteristics will be further discussed in detail in Chapter 5 and 6

I also use the term “industry” because this was how my informants, and the media,

refer to the business now (hosuto kurabu gyōkai) The transformation of the business has

been so dynamic and significant that the host club business, as I will show in this thesis,

is no longer an underground activity with a limited clientele and workers Instead it has become popular entertainment It is now a large scale, organized economic activity, with frequent media attention and with other industries involved in it There is also a standardized business model and management system that the vast majority of host clubs utilize It is in this sense that I use the word “industry” and its aspects will be further discussed in Chapter 8 and 9

e Profiles of Hosts and the Media Sources

All people appearing in this thesis have pseudonyms A brief profile of the main participants is presented in Appendix B However, I modified their profiles if I interviewed them and their books were also used in this thesis Famous hosts and host club owners are often authors of non-fiction books They write about their work experiences, etc While some of my informants are only interviewees, others are also authors In such a case, I treated them as two different people in order to protect their identity In addition, while I used several materials from related internet sites, when I felt

my informants’ identification was at risk, I eliminated the addresses of these sites However, when I did not interview the hosts personally and I quoted them in this thesis, I did not change their profile nor hide the site address But they were still given pseudonyms

I have also given pseudonyms to media materials used in this thesis if I interviewed the companies.Internet sites and media information, which I did not cite here, will be given to researchers upon their written request Because host clubs are currently run in an illegal manner and because there is a yakuza (Japanese mafia) involvement in the sex industry as well as in some of the websites and publications that deal with adult entertainment, and also because my life was threatened once during the fieldwork, in order to protect my informants and myself, I have to conceal as many details as possible because of potential risks

Based on their occupation, I also gave a title to people who appeared in this thesis For example, “Editor Fukuda” indicates her job is an editor Host Taka’s job is a host For owners of host clubs, I used “Mr.,” such as Mr Jo Owners who run adult businesses which target male clients appear as “Owner Oda.” My informants come from different fields, so by presenting their accounts in this manner, I hope readers can identify who said what in this study

Thesis Structure

This thesis is divided into three parts The first part is “Setting the Scene,” which consists of Chapter 1 to 3 Chapter 1 introduces the background of the study, goals, research objectives, questions and operational terminologies Chapter 2 is on methodology It introduces participants and the field of the study, and discusses how I

gained access and collected data Chapter 3 provides a theoretical framework to explain the popularity of this job—the host

The second part of this thesis is “Backgrounds of the MHI,” which constitutes Chapter 4, 5 and 6 The growth of the MHI was situated in a particular socioeconomic period in which the institutionalized male work and the management system characterized by salarymen were seriously challenged, and social change was sought Chapter 4 explains the historical development, and the rise and fall of the salaryman system, together with the employment conditions of the youth and their changing perspectives towards work in contemporary Japanese society Moving away from the social conditions surrounding the MHI, Chapter 5 sketches the detailed historical development of the MHI while Chapter 6 illustrates characteristics of the contemporary host club business

The third part of the thesis, “The Work of Hosts,” explores the nature of their work from various perspectives As will be shown in Chapter 11, these aspects have a great impact on entry motivations for men First, to understand the nature of their work, Chapter 7 analyzes how hosts commodify their companionship in this business Chapter 8 pays attention to the management system in the MHI In contrast to the JMS, the MHI is based on what is referred to as “the ultimate merit-based system.” Its characteristics and the dominant culture will be highlighted here Chapter 9 describes the new image of hosts Together with the media, renowned successful hosts and host club owners have actively produced and perpetuated a new and positive image of hosts, which they refer to as a

“charismatic host.” The features of “charismatic hosts” will be then analyzed

The last section of the thesis is “Host in Action.” Chapter 10 illustrates the social attributes and career backgrounds of the men entering into and working in the MHI Tying with the theoretical framework discussed in Chapter 3, I define these young men entering into and working in the MHI as “marginal cultural brokers,” who are intentionally and/or unintentionally on an alternative path aiming to be “big” as an entrepreneur, and not on the one that leads Japanese men to the hegemonic masculine life course Then the chapter discusses social backgrounds and characteristics of these men

Chapter 11 examines the three most dominant motivations of my informants: 1) akogare

(yearning), 2) entrepreneurship, and 3) upward social mobility While their accounts indicate their strong interest in becoming “big,” and their rather optimistic outlook in this career, in reality, the turnover rate in this business is extremely high, with the vast majority of hosts’ earnings being very little Chapter 12 then discusses the realities and

the paradoxes of their hopes In the concluding chapter, Chapter 13, I address the recent

changes in the MHI and the future outlook of the business It also summarizes the findings of this study, review the objectives raised in Chapter 1, and points to opportunities for further research

CHAPTER TWO METHODOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES

Constructive Interpretivist Approach

The goal of this thesis is to gain a broader, multidimensional understanding of the popularity of the job of hosts in the MHI With this intention, the constructivist interpretivist approach was employed for this research since it allows a researcher to understand “culturally derived and historically situated interpretations of the social life-world “(Crotty 1998: 67) Thus this research is framed with an ontological orientation acknowledging constructive, multiple realities and an epistemological stance which challenges claims of objectivity while emphasizing co-creation of knowledge in complex interaction between the researcher and the researched

Methodologically, this research employs a qualitative research approach Because

of the nature of the research which was of potentially great risk, and because of the difficulty in gaining access, the interpretivist methodology was particularly useful for this study especially because of the following three characteristics: 1) inductive orientation, 2) multi-methods, and 3) reflexivity Gaining trustworthy data was attempted by 1) applying methodological triangulations and 2) interacting with people who engage in this phenomenon at different locations By understanding the organizational system, by talking to as many and as diverse people as possible, and by locating myself in different events and places, I attempted to discover a consistency and an inconsistency in accounts

of my informants, examining the credibility of their accounts

The rest of the chapter provides the description of the 1) research site, 2) research methods, 3) research participants, and 4) the way I gained access to the field and my

informants At the end of the chapter, the nature of the relationship between the researcher and the researched and ethical issues involved in this study will be discussed Outlining Fieldwork

a) The Research Site

The largest red-light district in Japan, Kabukichō, was selected as the research site because this is the region with the highest concentration of hosts and host clubs and the greatest media attention is focused on this area A rough calculation shows nearly one third of the host clubs existing in Japan today are located in Kabukichō It is certainly perceived as the mecca for the MHI, attracting men from all over the nation According to

my informants, there are about 5,000 hosts in Kabukichō and every year, tens of thousands of men come to this area to try to become a host

Kabukichō is situated in the busiest and most accessible city in Japan—Shinjuku, Tokyo Shinjuku is a city of power and desire The business district, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office, and Shinjuku Police Station are located in the west side

of Shinjuku There is a wide range of shopping and commercial activities in the south Then in the east, the sex, food and beverage industries are concentrated (Kawamura 1999) (Illustration A & B)

As the hub of the Japanese train system, Shinjuku carries the largest number of passengers everyday5 Train service stops for only about three hours in the early morning

hours This is why Kabukichō is called fuyajō (the sleepless castle), providing a wide range of adult entertainment to mainly Japanese clients throughout the night (Kubo 2003)

The development of Kabukichō as a red-light district can be traced back to 1699 when a renowned brothel district for travelers was developed in the region (Ieda 2004;

5 There are about 3,400,000 people using stations in Shinjuku (Kawamura 1999)