Tokyo times: Old boys still wanna have fun

“It was five or six years ago that I first began to notice more elderly men were going to soaplands,” the unnamed artist, a resident of Tokyo’s former licensed brothel quarters for over half a century, tells Sunday Mainichi (Jan. 29). “At one shop near Ueno, I’d say about 60 percent of the customers are seniors.

“Once reaching the age where their members go soft, men in their 60s can still enjoy stimulating gals with their fingers and tongues,” the artist adds. “They pray to the god of the vagina. Just according it worship is enough to give them peace of mind.”

Kazuo Hoshino, manager of a fashion health massage shop, says his oldest regular client is 85, and he gets plenty of business from men in their 60s and 70s.

“There are those who enjoy ejaculating, and others who are just content to have a drink with a gal or take a bath together,” he says. “Some just take a bath and go home. That’s enough to satisfy any sexual urges that’s built up.” Read more

Tokyo trends: Plucky pensioners picking up prostitutes with pay packets

Tokyo’s Yoshiwara district is known as the country’s largest soapland brothel area, offering a plethora of pleasures to please any punter, but exactly once every two months, reports weekly tabloid Shukan Post (Oct. 21), it’s filled with many grinning grandpas game to get it on.

Around the 15th day of even-numbered months, when pension checks are issued, the numerous bathhouses and bordellos that line the rectangular area’s streets become a playground for the Yoshiwara Nenkin-zoku, or the Yoshiwara Pension Tribe.

The magazine believes that this is one example of how the below-the-belt fuzoku industry is targeting the older generation and giving up on younger, more “passive” men, or soshokukei danshi.

“Soaplands that open early remind one of a hospital lobby since they are filled with many older men,” says Akira Ikoma, the editor of a guide to men’s entertainment called Ore no Tabi (My Trip). “That is the case with a place in Ikebukuro, where you can feel-up a gal’s chest. You’ll see many seniors smiling as they enjoy fumbling with their hands.” Read more

NPB players shunning high-end soaplands for extra-inning erotic endeavors

With the pennant races heating up, now is the time for NPB players to be at their best. Yet a feature in Shukan Taishu Venus (August 23) explains that the serious stick-playing begins after each game’s last out — albeit in a fashion that is more discreet than in days gone by.

In Tokyo, heavy hitters used to swing their bats in expensive soaplands in the Yoshiwara brothel district, and that is still true to some degree. “There’s a player with a bancho attitude that comes around,” says a beat writer with a sports paper. “He is a legend for using shops as his post-game shower room. He’ll play with three girls, no problem.”

However, a Yoshiwara street tout tells the tabloid, “We don’t see players come and play here as much as we used to.”

A fuzoku writer — that is, one who covers the sex trade — says that players are tending to use deri heru (delivery health) escort services as a means of discretion. “Since you can use your own hotel,” the source says, “there is no risk of fans or paparazzi finding out. SM clubs seem to be quite popular these days.” Read more

Fuzoku job on a gal’s work history points to rocky road for marriage

Sex workers are people too, and they yearn for marriage and family. The fact that many come from broken homes, suggests Nikkan Gendai (May 10), is all the more reason why they desire a normal family life for themselves.

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. Read more

Waka Inoue-looking H-cup hooker hustling in Yoshiwara

TOKYO (TR) – Early birds arriving at clubs within Tokyo’s various fuzoku districts appear to nowadays be getting the worm — or more correctly, their worm pulled — and for a lot less, reports Shukan Asahi Geino (Jan. 20). Read more

Maria Ozawa’s deri heru debut, popularity of ‘land mine’ gals top sex biz trends

For a rundown of the top-ten stories thus far in 2010 in the fuzoku trade — that is, businesses offering sexual services — weekly tabloid Shukan Asahi Geino (July 8) turned to Yoshikazu Murazaki, the editor-in-chief of monthly entertainment guide Manzoku.

“Shaking the industry the most has been the deri heru (out-call sex shop) debuts of big-name AV actresses Mai Nadasaka and Kei Megumi at club Muteki in Shibuya and Maria Ozawa at Club Tora no Ana,” explains the editor.

The magazine adds that AV stars had appeared at such establishments in the past but the recent trend has been with bigger names offering their services. “Over the next three months, we expect that even more girls will make their debut,” says the manager of club Muteki. Read more

File-sharing program exposes problematic sex-club patrons to public disgrace

When customers at sex shops get a little too frisky or imaginative, causing injury and/or humiliation to the female staff, management is left with little choice but to yank in the welcome mat.

It’s bad enough to be turned away from play for pay, but to make matters worse, reports Weekly Playboy (June 28), it seems that through a flaw in Winny, a notorious file-sharing program, the customer blacklist for a famous sex shop in Nagoya was leaked onto the Internet.

Along with the customer names were details of what they had done to wear out their welcomes. “He repeatedly blew air into the girl’s vagina and then pushed down on her stomach,” read one. “He bites girls’ genitals,” read another. Read more

Paper’s pride probed for ad featuring supplement-soliciting AV actress

Determining that an ad in a recent edition of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper was a tad over the top — given the appearance of a popular adult video (AV) actress — weekly tabloid Shukan Bunshun (Apr. 22) defends its typically titillating turf by calling the conservative daily into account for its actions.

Placed on page 25 of the April 2 edition was an advertisement for an “energy-enhancement” supplement. “It builds men’s confidence,” reads the copy. Positioned next to the large headline is a very sexy lady. She is 39-year-old Reiko Shimura, who is given the titles of “exclusive advisor” for Horiki, the name of the medicinal product, and “V-Cinema actress,” which refers to direct-to-video film productions. Read more

Females forced to work off debts on hands and knees

In September 2008, a 23-year-old employee of a cabaret club (kyabakura) approached real estate operator Yu Shimojo, 41, for a loan, saying she needed money to care for her sick parents. Shimojo said he would lend her 850,000 yen on the condition that she work it off in a Yoshiwara soapland.

With interest added, reports Nikkan Gendai (Feb. 10), the woman agreed to pay back Shimojo 1,030,000 yen. The shop where she toiled was one of the more reasonable places in Yoshiwara, charging customers a comparatively cheap 20,000 yen for 70 minutes of sudsy recreation. Read more

Tokyo’s dirty old men need love too

About five or six years ago, a male pensioner, while seated in a hospital waiting room to see the doctor, was informed by a fellow retired patient about a third-tier, cheapo erotic bathhouse in Tokyo’s Yoshiwara district where the cost of admission ran only 11,000 yen. He promptly began patronizing it, and never fails to pay a visit every other month after his pension payment arrives at his bank.

Now, reports the writer of the series “Heisei soap-gai onna to kane sugoi hanashi” (Fantastic tales of women and money at Heisei-era soaplands) in Nikkan Gendai (Dec. 21), it’s become quite common for elderly men to drop into Yoshiwara for some tender, loving care. Read more

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