Unfortunately, happy endings are the exception rather than the rule.
Michie, age 29, has been working in a Yoshiwara soapland (erotic bathhouse) for six years, and has seen many of her colleagues desert the sudsy sex trade and head for the altar.
“Probably because of their unhappy childhoods, they all felt strongly about wanting to marry and fix things up,” she says. “But a lot of them are looking for security and tend to marry older men with money, so these gals wind up married to men the same age as their own father. I don’t know why it is, but many of them start taking classes in English conversation, and then go off on trips abroad, where they can pick up men.”
When fuzoku femmes meet customers off the shop premises on dates, one of the first things they want to know is the man’s true financial status.
“They already know through their job about men’s nasty sides, so they don’t easily accord customers their trust,” says Michie. “Some people who patronize soaplands and make a show of having money, when actually they’re up to their ears in debt. Actually men who really have money tend to be modest about it.”
Of course some working girls care more about a man’s character than his bank account. Last year a former deri heru (out-call service) worker named Yuka, age 32, tied the knot with a man three years her junior.
“I’ve had terrible luck with men,” she tells Nikkan Gendai. “Some were two-timers (or three-timers) and others turned violent. My hubby may be a bumbling oaf with a face like a hippo, but at least I don’t have to worry about him cheating on me. I’m grateful he married me. It’s good enough.”
Nevertheless, by the calculation of one veteran soap lady, marriages among some 70 percent of gals in the sex trade are destined to fail within the first three years.
A typical marital spat might take this form.
Husband: Well after all, what can you expect, from a slut who peddled her ass in a soapland?
Wife: Yeah, and I can always go back to doing it — it’s no worse than living with you!
The war of the sexes takes no prisoners. (K.S.)
Source: “Kekkon shita fuzokuzjo no nanawari ga sannen inai ni rikon suru,” Nikkan Gendai (May 10, page 20)
