I’ve got to admit that from the moment I even picked up a copy of 小悪魔ageha, I was interested in Kyaba culture and essentially the sociology of Kyabajous, almost as much as I’d been hooked on Gyaru culture. If we’re talking just about the makeup, I always saw Kyabajous as having a look more well-put together than the average Gal (at least in Gyaru heydays since a lot of these looks toned down to what we see now in the new ageha).

So, before getting into it we may as well get the bare bones of it out for any new gen readers:

Hostess clubs are essentially cabaret clubs. The West has these except in a more explicit sense like strip clubs. The definition of a cabaret is 100% different in the East than in the West with only one real idea that ties the two of them together: cabaret clubs are of course made up of night workers. This isn’t to say that there isn’t an element of sex and danger in the East because of course there are cases where this happens, but typically the element behind a cabaret worker in Japan is based on companionship. You’ll know by now that Japan has a crazy work culture, now add the isolation of it due to long hours, and it’s a no-brainer to want to pay for companionship in the form of talking, drinking, and letting loose after a hard day’s work, and honestly who better with than a pretty and charismatic face?

Now, back to the topic!

For context, all of the information gathered here is based on a book, “The Sociology of Hostesses” in which a 23-year-old basically goes undercover as a hostess for her master’s thesis due to the fact that she saw the world of hostesses as something of dislike and hatred, so she decided to delve more into it and really see what the world of hostess clubs was really about by becoming one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4ntfY7RHeM

Kyabakura is an abbreviation for “cabaret style club”. If you trace the history of these establishments back in time, you will find a café built in the Meiji period and the female waitresses working there. In the 1980s, the popularity of “All Night Fuji” led to a boom in amateurs and female college students, and a campus pub was opened. It seems that this is the prototype of the current cabaret club. Hostesses are the women who work there.

There are thoughts that hostesses were professional women in the world of bars and nightlife, but it seems that’s not necessarily the case. Hostesses are not professionals, but people who sell “amateurism” while in the world of bars. By the way, at cabaret clubs, groups of hostesses are called casts. Women who work at cabaret clubs seem to have a negative image of the word hostess, but for most of the cast, a cabaret club is just a temporary job.

Many of the male customers who come to cabaret clubs want the cast to be “amateur-like.” The idea being: she looks like a hostess, but when I talk to her, she seems to be the most popular as an ordinary girl. Excluding some high-end shops, 90% of the women who work at cabaret clubs are part-time amateurs. It is said that men are overwhelmed by the “ordinary girl-likeness that doesn’t make you feel like a professional in the bar industry,” which is why they can enjoy fake love there. That is the world of cabaret clubs. Pseudo-romance should be enough, but it seems that some people go beyond the framework of pseudo-romance.

Feelings such as: “I want to meet the hostesses directly without going through the hostess club!” “I want to go on a date!”, It is said that there are a lot of men who approach hostesses like this. As part of their job, cast members are supposed to find out the contact information of customers who have come and send thank-you emails. There are men who misunderstand that and seek a real “relationship between lovers”.

The kyabakuras have something like a manual for dealing with such men.

Still, there are many women who feel guilty about refusing because they are amateurs, and fear that they will be pressed more than necessary. It is said that there are many cast members who get sick of it. It is also interesting to note that the way these same women heal from this attitude is through self-development.

From the cast’s point of view, “All sales are for money,” but it must be carefully hidden when working and interacting with customers because then the feeling that the men are deceived and their money is stolen comes into play, which can make one feel uneasy. In order to build a long-term relationship with the customer, the cast appeals that they are “a trustworthy hostess with no intention of deceiving,” which translates into “ordinary girliness”.

On the other hand, if “ordinary girl-likeness” exceeds “hostess-likeness”, you will be forced to meet outside without going through the store. You have to send a contradictory message to customers that basically depict, “I’m a hostess, but I’m not a hostess.”

That part tends to be the “fun” of being a hostess: the contradictory existence of oneself. With the above in mind, you have to go to a cabaret club at least once in your life.

That’s it for now! I’ll have a few more posts talking about hostesses as the month progresses, so keep an eye out for that too.