Host club (Japan)

Hostess clubs are a common feature in the night-time entertainment industry of East Asian countries. They employ primarily female staff and cater to males seeking drinks and attentive conversation. The modern host clubs are similar establishments where primarily male staff adhere to females. Host and hostess clubs are considered part of mizu shōbai (literally "water trade"), the night-time entertainment business in Japan.

In Japan, two types of bars are hostess clubs and kyabakura (キャバクラ), a portmanteau of kyabarē (キャバレー, lit. "cabaret") and kurabu (クラブ, lit. "club"). Hostesses who work at kyabakura are known as kyabajō (キャバ嬢), meaning cabaret girl, and many of them use professional names called "genji name" (源氏名, genji-na). Hostesses light cigarettes, provide beverages for men, offer flirtatious conversation, and sing karaoke to entertain customers. Hostesses can be seen as the modern counterpart of geishas, providing entertainment to groups of salarymen after work. A club will often also employ a female bartender, who is usually well-trained in mixology, and may also be the manager or mamasan. Hostess clubs are distinguished from strip clubs in that there is no dancing, prostitution, or nudity. The idea of hostesses usually will implicate sentiments of gender inequality throughout the social aspects of Japan.

Hostesses often drink with customers each night, and alcohol problems are not uncommon. These problems are derived from mass consumption of alcohol by which many consequences may arise. Most bars by a commission system by which hostesses receive a percentage of sales. For example, a patron purchases a $20 drink for the hostess, most of the time which are non-alcoholic concoctions like orange juice and ginger ale, and the patron has purchased the hostess's attention for the subsequent 30–45 minutes. The hostess then splits the proceeds of the sale with the bar 50/50. The light or no alcohol content of the drinks maximizes profits and ensures that the hostess does not become intoxicated after only a short time at work.

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