TOKYO (TR) – A heated debate over the strict hierarchy of Japan’s nightlife industry has erupted across social media after a prominent hostess used a derogatory slur toward a sex worker during a popular YouTube reality show, reports ZakZak (July 14).
The controversy exploded during a recent episode of “Last Call,” an audition program for aspiring kyabakura (hostess club) employees. When sex worker Hotaru Shirahoshi appeared as a contestant, popular hostess and program judge Remiremi bluntly pushed back against comparisons between their jobs, stating, “Hostesses aren’t whores [baita].”
Fellow judge Yuipisu, who previously sparked outrage for making similar remarks to a contestant working at a soapland bathhouse, attempted to defend the comment. She insisted hostesses were not looking down on sex workers, but merely drawing a hard line between cabaret clubs — where women pour drinks and converse with clients — and businesses offering direct sexual services.
However, Shirahoshi calmly rejected the excuse. “The word used is a discriminatory slur, so to me, it sounds exactly like you are looking down on me,” she said, highlighting the brutal superiority complex maintained by those working in the “lighter” side of the nightlife industry.
“Hostesses are sex workers”
The on-screen clash echoes a wider online controversy recently sparked by internet entrepreneur Hiroyuki, who infuriated cabaret hostesses by grouping them together with sex workers during a separate YouTube broadcast.
When faced with fierce backlash from hostesses, Hiroyuki pointed to the law. He noted that hostess clubs operate under the exact same legal framework as the sex industry — the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Business (fueiho).
“Legally speaking, hostesses are sex workers,” Hiroyuki stated, delivering a factual reality check to the hostesses’ pride. He further stoked the flames by stating that while the adult industry is socially necessary, it is “not a profession children should aspire to,” noting that mainstream media casting directors actively shun former nightlife workers.
Dream job
This prompted a sharp counterattack from Erika Kononova, a former adult video (AV) actress currently working at a high-end Roppongi cabaret club and a contestant on “Last Call.”
Kononova brushed off Hiroyuki’s concerns about Japanese teenagers ranking “cabaret hostess” as a dream job.
“I don’t see a problem with it,” Kononova argued. “If kids are aspiring to be hostesses, isn’t that just because other professions have completely lost their appeal?” Her remarks effectively shifted the blame from nightlife morals to a bleak Japanese economy that fails to offer lucrative dreams in traditional fields.
The ongoing social media war has laid bare the complex pride and deep-seated rivalries within Japan’s entertainment districts, exposing a toxic hierarchy where legal definitions, public perception, and economic survival violently collide.
