Host clubs that don’t have a strong SNS will be hit hard”…The contents of the new “two major bans” that are shaking up Kabukicho
The reality of Reiwa 5 years later, Kabukicho is now ...... No.78
A catch calls out to a woman on the street – a familiar sight in Kabukicho.
How would you like to be a host for the first time, sister? We’ll give you a discount.
They are affiliated with several host clubs and earn a few thousand yen from the clubs by pimping out female customers to the clubs. In some rural areas, the hostesses themselves catch the customers during business hours, but Kabukicho’s host clubs have outsourced the calling of customers completely to catchers.
At the end of last month, however, the “catch situation” changed drastically. It all started with the arrest of a catch and a host on suspicion of violating the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s anti-bargaining ordinance by allowing a woman to enter a Kabukicho host club after she had been illegally touted by the host. In response to this incident, all host clubs have banned the practice of “catch,” which had been practiced tacitly, even though it was known to be a violation of the ordinance. From now on, host clubs need to avoid the risk of arrest and attract new customers completely on their own.
Host clubs that don’t have a strong social networking presence will be hit hard.
Masato (pseudonym, 23) is a mid-level host with a modest number of customers. He is able to make sales with his current customers, but the only way he can attract new customers is by attracting first-time customers through his catches.
He said, “I have to become famous on social networking sites to get people interested in me, or I have to go out and get customers on my own. I think there will be more hosts who get romantically involved with a girl on a matching app and then later make her a customer. I think there will be more girls who don’t intend to enjoy hosting from the beginning and pay money to host clubs for their ″boyfriends″ while the relationship is left ambiguous. But I don’t think we can afford to pretend to be anything more than we are in order to get customers.
The author was contacted simultaneously on his phone by several hosts with whom he had exchanged contact information several years ago. The content of the message was, “We’ve made the first time free at your current restaurant, so if you’d like to come, why don’t you? Since the ban on catching a host, many stores have been trying to attract customers by offering a “first-time free” offer. Some offer ¥5,000 cash back in addition to the free first-time offer, and some even take the initial fee and serve tequila and other drinks. On the other hand, those catchers who have lost their livelihood are making a living by touting for customers at late-night bars and other places other than host clubs. In addition, on November 30, the Consumer Affairs Agency made it known to the public that the “sex-love business,” in which hostesses make customers with limited social experience believe that they are in love with the host in order to continue their romantic relationship with the host, is considered a dating business, and that payment may be invalidated.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Nao (pseudonym, 24), who is both a company employee and a sex worker, said, “You and I are just customers and a shop.
What’s the point of paying money to a rather good-looking guy who doesn’t look like a lover? It’s a bad business practice to charge a lot of money for a relationship that’s not much different from a friend’s. Is it a dating business when idols tell their fans that they love them and make them buy their CDs? Nowadays, there are no hostesses who can keep their customers without any sexual love. That is the only way they were taught, and that is what their customers demanded. There is no reason for a prostitute to be so salty with an old man who is in love with her, saying, ‘No, you’re just a customer.
Host clubs are where men and women enjoy pseudo-love affairs that are too wild to be clearly defined. Will the adult social scene, where a certain line should have been drawn, disappear along with excessive criminal behavior?
From the December 22, 2023 issue of FRIDAY
Interview and text： Sasaki Chihuahua
Born in Tokyo in 2000. After attending an integrated school in Tokyo from elementary school to high school, he went on to Keio University, where he has been living in Kabukicho since he was 15 years old and has a wide range of personal connections. At university, he is studying the sociology of the downtown area, including Kabukicho. His book, "Pien" to SNS Seikatsu to Seiketsu no Shohi" (The Disease of "Pien": Consumption and Approval of the SNS Generation) is now on sale.
