Women are finding it easier to work in the sex industry year by year, as some increasingly take up management roles in what insiders say is a trend to attract more male customers by eschewing the trade’s seediness in favor of cleanliness and peace of mind.
A male employee at an advertising agency for the fuzoku trade tells weekly tabloid Spa! (Nov. 28) that men are more comfortable when a sex parlor is managed by a woman. “There is a feeling that there won’t be any overcharging or lies from a woman,” the insider says.
This business model is proving to be successful so far for a woman going by the name “Ayumi Mama,” who runs Comte Rose, a so-called “delivery health” out-call service established 13 years ago in Osaka. In a city with some 2,000 such businesses, Comte Rose is said to have a customer base that ranks rank second, if not first, in the metropolis.
Clean and open image
“I once worked in the sex trade myself, but I hated its shady, dubious image and went into managing because I wanted to set up a business that would be easy for girls to work at and also accessible for clients,” Ayumi said. “I value a clean and open image above all else, so I ended up showing my face more and more in advertisements. Our phones were also eventually being handled by women, myself included, 99 percent of the time.”
Customers feel more at ease knowing a career woman owns Comte Rose, according to Ayumi, who claims the shop sees many first-time deri heru (short for delivery health) customers. The roster includes 170 women, all of whom can work comfortably, Ayumi said.
“In addition to interviews, I also scout girls at my favorite bars and nail salons,” Ayumi said. “We’ve been getting a lot of ‘virgins’ over the past year. We hired five of them already, just this year alone. I usually send [new workers] to regulars I trust, and I tag along with them at first. Sometimes the customers would be like, ‘Oh, the mama-san came all the way out here to say hello,’ and I’d get snacks and fruits and such. This is how I smoothly handle debuts for everyone.”
“Peace of mind”
The female employees are amateurs. Ayumi builds trust with them by providing a kind of thoughtfulness that can only be offered by a woman, which results in customers being provided with better service.
“The thing is, they’re amateur women, so they tend to ‘graduate’ once they make a certain amount of money. But some of those girls end up wanting to try working in management,” Ayumi said. “They are given advice on appearances and manners, as well as how to work the phones. We have a nice work environment where anyone can easily talk about issues, like if a customer gets rough during a session.”
Six women work at Comte Rose’s office, which is nestled among skyscrapers that afford a clean image — a stark contrast to the typical escort agency.
“We even get prank callers once they find out the receptionists are women, but I don’t plan to change a thing about the way things are right now,” Ayumi said. “If anything, I’d like to go from 99 to 100 percent and achieve a deri heru business that makes customers feel like they can truly call with peace of mind.”