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Out-call sex services in Tokyo compete for piece of papa-sans’ pensions

Shukan Post May 25
Shukan Post May 25
The weather was poor for most of this year’s “Golden Week,” and at the office of a deri heru (out-call sex service) in central Tokyo, the phones kept ringing and ringing.

Deri heru clubs, short for “delivery health,” offer sex workers on a dispatch basis. They were accorded legal status following a revision of Japan’s law on public morals back in 1999, as part of a crackdown against businesses that operate from fixed locations, which are increasingly regarded as urban eyesores. Currently, reports Shukan Post (May 25), some 15,000 such services are said to be in operation nationwide, with their annual turnover estimated at 2.4 trillion yen.

Akira Ikoma, editor of a monthly sex guide called Ore no Tabi (My Journey), tells the magazine that the male customers of such businesses typically look at the faces and profiles of girls employed by the dispatch service and request their choice by telephone.

“They might ask questions like ‘Does she have a light complexion?’ or ‘How do your other customers rate her?'” says Ikoma. “These kind of queries are helpful in avoiding disappointments or problems.”

“While some men are reluctant to having a hooker visit their home, the major services, which operate sites on the Web and are mentioned in sex publications, are registered with the police, so they shouldn’t worry. They can send a girl to a hotel instead, but that will cost the customer more,” Ikoma adds.

What kind of males utilize such services? According to the operator of the “Uguisudani Erotic Novel Club,” which has been in operation for eight years, 80% to 90% of the customers “are age 40 and over.”

Such males were also determined to enjoy their recent Golden Week holiday, despite the inclement weather.

“Our phones kept ringing and ringing,” the operator relates. “Some nights the staff had to sleep over in the office to take calls.”

The service, which charges 15,000 yen for an 80-minute visit, claims that its customers, who include university professors and company presidents, “Seek to enjoy being scolded by a stern but gentle lady who reminds them of their mothers.”

The operator of a service in Shibuya says that to find “high quality” damsels who will keep demanding customers satisfied, outlays for classified advertising and other recruitment costs can run as high as 500,000 yen per employee.

“But even then, they can’t put in long hours, or work nights at all, since they have to look after their kids and husband,” he says.

Nevertheless, many females who toil for the deri-heru are said to be housewives whose budgets have been hard hit by the prolonged recession.

Shukan Post’s reporter visits a shop named “Kororo-awase” (meeting of hearts) that turns away prospective clientele who have yet to reach age 60.

The charge for admission is 15,000 yen for one hour.

The business card of Kokoro-awase’s female boss bears the job description of “sex counselor.”

“There aren’t many places for seniors to have fun,” she tells the magazine. “Even if they are interested in screwing around, they are shy about phoning. They feel embarrassed if they go limp during sex, and so on. So we opened this place to provide specialized services for the old fellas, with the aim of dispelling their anxieties.”

Most of the shop’s female staff are amateurs, such as housewives, and they are summoned to service the seniors exclusively on an appointment basis.

“Sometimes I’ll spend 20 minutes or so with a customer on the phone, during which time I’ll tell him about several of our girls. Most of them tend to request inexperienced amateurs. For an additional 3,000 yen, we also have a popular “Koibito (lover) course” that includes a ‘date’ followed by sex.

“I get the impression that most our customers are just as satisfied from kissing and holding hands — which gives them the feeling they’re back in their youth — as they are with the sex,” she remarks. (K.S.)

Source: “Deriheru ‘shirubaa sedai’ kakutoku senso saizensen,” Shukan Post (May 25, page 146)