what is host club?

[louie]

A japanese friend told me about host club I forgot the japanese translation, I really got interested about this thing TOKUBETSUNA it's never excist in my area ( I think ) so what does really mean? and who works there?, and how the society looks at those who work there?and if there is any web site for anyone of them?
thank u ....

 

[SalaryMan]

If it's a hostess bar that you're on about then its more than likely to be the same as a "snack" bar. What happens in them is :

Its like a normal bar , only you "rent" a female to come and chat to you. You also buy them drinks whilst doing so. Kinda like these men here are worried about their ability to attract women so they rent them. It's all just some sort of "semi-cheat" on your wife kinda thing. You will usual spend around 10 - 20 THOUSAND yen per visit. Usualy it's the salarymen that go there after they finish work.

The ladys , degradingly , will chat to you and pretend to appreciate your opinions , laugh at your jokes and listen to what you have to say. you know like .. holywood actors? they pretend to not know what the other actor is going to say off the script? that sorta thing.

To sum them up : If you are a miserable , married , 40+ year old salaray man then you would fit right in in a snack bar. If you are a Nice , Young , buisnessman who accieves SOMETHING whilst they are at work then STAY CLEAR!

 

[louie]

but how people look at those who work in such a place? is it normal or undesirable.......

 

[SalaryMan]

The ladys which work there. Hmmm I know one lady who worked in one when she was in her 20's. I can't say that anyone at work views her has any different from the rest of us. And rightfully so! All that these ladys do is chat to someone and have a drink with them. Perhaps some establishments offer "other "services but not normaly. Work is work .. you know?

Anyway , one thing to note, aspecialy here, is that these "snack" establishments will often turn down any foreigner wishing to enter. Sometimes they even have a note on the door saying "no foreigners " or , in the case of my local snack establishment "No russians" ( which means all foreigners really ) and if you get turned down from one then DON'T go touring around different ones trying to get in. These establishments are most times the property of yakuza. A foreigners touring around all their establishments might raise suspicion. If I were you I would go to an area like roppongi which is full of people from all nations including Japanese. You are more likely to have better luck there.

 

[kirei_na_me]

Don't they also have host bars where men are the employees and the women are the customers? I thought I had heard someone mention that before?

 

[torakris]

if the HOST club, meaning the ones where men work, is what you are looking for here is a website that lists ones all over the Kanto region:

http://www.oh-club.net/host.htm

it is all in Japanse but you can search by location, type of club, and price.
You can find thousands of entries if you just type hostclub (in katakana) in yahoo japan.
I was shopping with friends in Kabukicho (Tokyo) a litle while back andthere are host clubs on every corner, we had a lot of fun walking by and checking out pictures of the men!

 

[SalaryMan]

Rofl! Now theres something new you learn everyday !! I had no idea that there were female customer orientated clubs! must be just in the big citys like osaka and tokyo. For louie's benefit here is the word host club in katakana :

ﾆ築ﾆ湛ﾆ暖ﾆ誰ﾆ停?ｰﾆ置

or you could try snack bar which is just written "snack"

ﾆ湛ﾆ段ﾆ鍛ﾆ誰 ﾂ or ﾂ ﾆ湛ﾆ段ﾆ鍛ﾆ誰ﾆ弛ﾂー