Fuzoku is a complex term to explain, and the two kanji characters that it’s written with aren’t very helpful. The first, 風, usually means “wind,” but as we’ve seen before, it can also mean a style or manner of doing things. The second kanji in fuzoku, 俗, is even harder to pin down, as it can be used to express concepts ranging from “common” and “popular” to “base” and “profane.”
Putting those kanji together as fuzoku created, originally, a word used to indicate the idea of “manners and customs.” That then got extended to the idea of “things people do for entertainment or amusement,” and eventually that got narrowed down to how the word fuzoku is most commonly used in modern Japanese conversation: to refer to in-person sexual and sexualized entertainment such as hostess bars, strip show theaters, and sensual massage parlor/dispatch services.
Fuzoku is an especially tricky word to translate into English since it encompasses things that might seem, in English-speaking regions, laughably quaint (“You can pay to have a pretty lady sit next to and talk with you while you drink!”) and also startlingly scandalous (“You can pay to have a woman get naked, lather herself up with soap, and wash you like her body is a sponge!”). But here’s the important thing to remember: fuzoku businesses aren’t brothels. Customers don’t pay a fee in exchange for permission to have sex with the workers, and there are limits, which vary by establishment, as to what customers can ask for and do.
This distinction seems to have been lost on a 69-year-old American man traveling in Japan. On the afternoon of February 3, the man, who is a retiree living in Thailand, visited a fuzoku business in Sapporo, the capital of Japan’s northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido. While there and in the company of one of the female employees, he began asking for/attempting services that the establishment does not allow. When a member of the staff, a 39-year-old man, cautioned the customer about his behavior, the senior citizen allegedly became angry, and in the ensuing altercation knocked the male employee down a flight of stairs within the building the fuzoku establishment is located within. The employee suffered contusions to the head, arms, legs, and chest in the fall, as well as a sprained neck.
The customer then fled the scene at approximately 3:20 in the afternoon, but investigators were able to track him to the hotel he was staying at in Niseko, one of Hokkaido’s most popular ski resorts, where he was arrested on charges of assault on February 6.
It’s about a three to three-and-a-half-hour train ride from Sapporo to Niseko, so no, the police were not fooling around on this case.
The man, who reportedly does not speak Japanese, is disputing a portion of the charges, though precisely which part is unclear. Regardless of whether he’s convicted or set free, though, the whole incident serves as a very important reminder that fuzoku establishments are, once again, not brothels, and that going beyond the limits of what that particular location allows can get customers in serious trouble.
Source: Hokkaido News UHB, HBC, Sapporo TV
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- https://soranews24.com/2025/02/14/american-tourist-arrested-in-japan-on-charges-of-pushing-sexual-services-worker-down-stairs/
26 Comments
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Sanjinosebleed
enough said!
TaiwanIsNotChina
Are the same rules applied regardless of the customer's national origin?
Newgirlintown
”Sexual services worker”, well that’s a new one.
kurisupisu
Casey seems to imagine that ‘Fuzoku’ means a practice where men fork out large amounts of money just to sit down to be served drinks.
Casey has no idea.
The majority of establishments offer some type of service which usually relates to the frequency of patronage.
Now, most of us know well that Niseko is full of free spending tourists and a rip off!
The Niseko club most likely attempted to charge the tourist some ridiculous amount whilst promoting this image.
Jonathan Prin
Such article make think that the cliznt is crazy but what is the real reason he got angry is not even mentioned. He did not become violent because he was cautioned only for sure.
stickman1760
Was is Sapporo recently and it was overrun with foreign tourists. It’s sad what is happening to Japan.
kohakuebisu
I'm pretty sure it is incorrect and actually quite insulting to call hostesses "fuzoku". It is "mizu shobai", bar work. There is very different licensing.
Japantime
In Thailand everything is included. He expected the same in Japan. I wonder what his wife will say when he explains what happened on his trip to Japan.
Mocheake
What's happening to Japan? They are content with letting the yen depreciate, barely raising wages, if at all, while companies like Sony make billions in profits. THAT'S what's happening to Japan. People don't want to get married or have children. THAT'S what is happening to Japan. THE cost of living is still pretty high. THAT'S what's happening to Japan. I could go on and on. They are self-inflicted wounds. The vast majority of tourists do absolutely nothing wrong. One story about one person's misstep and all tourists are bad. Maybe Japan can ban tourism then and that will solve all of the problems in the country. Yeah. Uh-huh.
TokyoLiving
Why some people think that in Japan they can do the same stupid things that they usually do in their own countries??..
Enjoy jail..
And deport..
hooktrunk2
Perhaps I'm reading too much into this, but possible outcomes I see:
Jail/prison, a fine plus having to pay for the victim's injuries and or lawsuit, deportation from Japan, perhaps getting evicted from place in Thailand while in prison/jail if he can't do banking from there(if he rents), possibly being deported from Thailand if Thai authorities catch wind of his trouble in Japan.
I doubt the guy has a wife, but there could also be a divorce.
Well done.
Zaphod
kurisupisu
No, the type of service depends on the rules. (Which often are difficult to explain to foreigners, hence the frequent "Japanese only" signs. If you are a regular customer and make private off-site agreements with a girl, that is on you.
Did you read the article? It says the incident happened in Sapporo, and he fled to Niseko.
Zaphod
Japantime
How do you know he has a wife?
DanteKH
Except for being refused the full service, what was the exact reason the guy lost his temper in such a way? Usually the rules are explained beforehand.
NCIS Reruns
The first three paragraphs are just wasted space. Nobody wants that kind of verbose explanation. I would translate Fuzoku as "public morals" and leave it at that.
grc
Dangerous and confusing to be a tourist in Japan, isn’t it? Perhaps air tickets should come with a health warning
falseflagsteve
An evil perverted man who needs to feel the full force of the law. I would recommend the police to check his phone and any devices he has in his possession. These vile geriatric perverts are the lowest of the low and deserve serious prison time.
BertieWooster
I wonder what it was that made this guy so angry? Was it the massive cover charge? The bill for drinks? Or the disappointment at no happy ending?
Methinks there is more to this story than what is being reported here.
リッチ
The headline is so misleading thinking he pushed a woman down the stairs. He pushed a man and probably a very aggressive pimp. Who cares. Honestly pimps should be pushed down the stairs more often for what they are doing.
GillislowTier
Of course hes an old European man that lives in thailand lol. Japan ain't thailand sir, go back to your underage ladies back home. Stuff like this is why I always roll my eyes when people complain about no foriengers allowed establishments. It's places like this that have signs for these exact moronic customers. We know you are trying to do something naughty, stop pretending you care about the social defamation that a no foreigners allowed establishment brings lol
Jeremiah
Is this point somehow expected to justify these businesses? Purchasing porn is not going to a brothel but is still an immoral act that also objectifies women.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Going to a bar is naughty? Shouldn't foreigners be allowed to be just as naughty as the locals?
TaiwanIsNotChina
Ah, yes, the rules that can't possibly be written down or translated. Maybe it is because racism doesn't translate so favorably.
Nibek32
This is why most fuzoku places don’t allow foreigners. Ruining it for all the expats. Lock him up to send a message.
Alan Harrison
Methinks there is more to this story than what is being reported here.
SoraNews24 always starts with a little lecture, instructing non-Japanese as to what is a so-called Japanese social norm. Then it prints a vague story with no hard facts. Cheap news.