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The first bar we were taken to was primarily a Romanian bar. I was surprised at the interior of the place. It was rather small, and not at all the sort of place I would expect to dance. There were shelves immediately to the left. These shelves were filled with whiskey and shouchu bottles with men's names written on them; The regular customers. We were greeted by the clientele, which happened to be girls in VERY revealing dresses (or lack there of). We were brought to a table and a few girls soon followed with an ice bucket, glasses, and alcohol. There were about 6 tables with couches around them, with Japanese men and hostesses sitting with them. The men appeared to come in small groups, and every groups sat at a table and had at least 2 girls. The room was rather empty. There was a small "stage" with a sound system and TV for karaoke. In front of the stage there was a big pole that was decorated on top with silk flowers and copper wires. The place had the feel of a college party, but with skanky prom dresses. The girls skirts just covered their butts, and many also had lots of cleavage showing. Most of the girls died their hair blond, but a few kept their natural colors. For the most part, the girls were average looking, though some weren't pretty, and some were a bit chunky. The average age was about 21. The youngest was 18 and the oldest I met was 23. These night clubs have very strict schedules. You pay for 70 minutes, which includes 3 features: karaoke, dancing, and what we happened to walk in on... a strip show. Not all the girls strip - it's their choice. One girl was in charge of the music and lights. The stripper wore a belly-dancing costume; It was a bikini top with long beads attached, and a thong bottom, with beads and white veil material. The girls would shake to the fast music, and hug the pole to Celiene Dion. They faced the wall most of the time, so I most often saw their backs. But they would travel to each table to let the men slowly put money in their tops. Sometimes, the girls would give the men a kiss on the cheek after receiving money. Then, eventually the girls would take off their tops, and shake around a bit more. All in all, they were pretty tame strip shows. After strip time was karaoke time. The girls brought us books to choose our songs. We would write them on a pad of paper, then the girls would put the song into the machine for us. It was an amazing thing, because I didn't even notice them gone, then suddenly the song we chose was on the TV. This was a particularly funny thing to see. The Japanese men would usually pick Japanese songs ( there were many English ones in the book). So a man would go on the stage, followed by his hostess. He would sing, and she was his side kick, getting the audience to cheer during the interludes, and doing everything to entertain, short of actually singing the songs. The third part of our 70 minutes was the dancing. The lights were dimmed, the music was turned up (but not enough to prohibit conversation), and everyone got up to dance. The girls would scream when a new song came on. They would get their clients to boogie. Then there was a final slow dance (Celiene Dion), the lights were turned up, and everyone sat down. Time for another strip show. Time for us to leave or pay for another 70 minutes. At fist, I felt really awful about being in this club. The strip show didn't ease my mind. Angie and I felt awful because this was not for foreigners and definitely not for girls. But we were able to talk to a couple girls. I met Ingrid. She is a 22 year-old Romanian. She came with 3 of her friends. Everyone gets 6 month visas, and they were on month 4 of the visas. We asked her why she came, and she wouldn't say anything. But she did tell us about the club. She was the prettiest girl there by far. He English was very good, and she was a great conversationalist. She also didn't dress like the other girls. She had on a short skirt, but she was wearing a turtle neck, and didn't do anything wild with her hair. She also wasn't as accommodating to the men as the other girls were. Paul, and AET who cam with us, was less than admirable Friday night. He was a marine in Okinawa a few years ago. I'm not putting the military down, but he encompasses all the bad military stereotypes you've imagined. His email is "getsome@ohtanet.ne." I think that sums up his personality quite well. He talked all night long about how different this hostess club was from all the Filipino clubs in Okinawa. He had this awful expression on his face the whole night, and I thought he was going to drool over himself from the prospect of touching somewhat willing girls. Well, he was on the prowl all night long. He really wanted Ingrid, and we could tell that Ingrid didn't like him, so we rescues her. Paul has way too much alcohol, and was talking about how these clubs are way better than dating and was trying to touch the hostesses. He even bragged (when he was sober) about paying $20 for a hand job! We voted him "ichi-ban sukebe", the most perverted person, and he was proud. But enough about Paul. To sum up my thoughts about this hostess bar. If I discount the strip show, I still wouldn't be comfortable about a hostess bar. Yes, the girls can choose to date their clients, the service is incredible, but... I guess in some ways the hostess is your very own waitress that sits at your table and tries to anticipate your needs. And she is very good at it. But there are other factors. The client is in the right. The girls have to pretend they like the men, and they must allow them more privileges than they would normally. Paul could put his arm around the girls, put his hands on their legs, dance closely with them. But they didn't know each other at all. I think it is perverse. Like false ownership. I felt guilty being in there, having to watch these girls attend to the men. Yes, they made the choice, and some of them probably really love their jobs, but I never could, and I could never understand it either. I also have a hard time respecting the men. Every man in the place was married. I am sure every man in the place didn't see anything wrong with their activities. This is one of the most popular forms of entertainment for businessmen in Japan. And I was taken to the tamest club in town. This is a reason why I could never live in Japan for a long time. I don't understand this culture. I don't understand some people's idea of entertainment and marriage and acceptable business parties. I did all this: drinking, dancing, eating, etc. at the expense of the Ota Chamber of Commerce. Valerie Straayer |