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Hike in daily hostess hiring leads to college gals hooking on the side

Shukan Jitsuwa Oct. 24
Shukan Jitsuwa Oct. 24
A 24-year-old hostess employed in Tokyo’s Ebisu district tells weekly tabloid Shukan Jitsuwa (Oct. 24) that she is envious of the opportunities now available to female college students being hired by clubs on a part-time basis.

It is not only the nice hourly wage, she says, “but there is also the easy money available in compensated dating.”

“Compensated dating” is the time-worn euphemism of prostitution. The tabloid says that an increase in part-time girls being dispatched by agencies is leading to more entering the world’s oldest profession.

The magazine says that the fuzoku, or commercial sex, trade cites agency Try 18 as being the biggest of its kind. The company has 5,000 girls on its books and sends between 400 and 500 of them to clubs girl’s bars and clubs each day.

According to Try 18’s Web site, registration is free and girls are paid on the spot by the shop after each shift ends.

In Tokyo, a whopping 80 percent of employees in the hostess biz are part-timers, with office ladies and college students looking for extra pocket money making up the majority. As to how the hooking enters the picture, a 23-year-old bank employee registered with a dispatch agency for evening work explains one possible scenario.

“Some time ago, I was working at a club in Shinjuku,” she says. “I was helping a part-time girl who was sitting with a customer from a big-name company. It was a very blunt conversation, which ended with her raising two fingers (meaning 20,000 yen). I was shocked.”

The magazine says that girls may choose a club if they find one to their liking. But a legal problem may arise: For part-time employees working more than 31 days, unemployment insurance payments become mandatory.

“Due to this, clubs are wary of using dispatch agencies,” says a different fuzoku writer. “Further, popular part-time girls are able to snatch away customers (for enjo kosai) from full-time hostesses, which creates tension in the clubs.”

Shukan Jitsuwa wonders if the customers are appreciative of the effort. (A.T.)

Source: “Hiyaitoiu kyaba-jo gekizo de kasoku suru joshi daisei no ayaui enjo kosai jijo,” Shukan Jitsuwa (Oct. 24, page 49)