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kuchikomi

Women-oriented 'fuzoku' - women 'buying men' as never before

27 Comments

It seems an idea whose time has come. Long tilted toward men, the sex industry has turned a corner, says Spa! (May 18), and women lately are “buying men” as never before – perhaps enjoying them as never before, too.

A leading website tracking women-oriented fuzoku (erotic entertainment) lists 185 establishments nationwide that cater to female clientele. Add 100-odd that aren’t listed for a more realistic idea of the extent of the trade, says Momoko Taguchi, a writer on the subject and an entrepreneur in the field. The women come for drinks, conversation, massages, flirtation, seduction, “counseling” – whatever takes their fancy, and at a cost of 20,000 to 30,000 yen, two golden hours are theirs to command.

It’s not new; the concept has been around for a while, but Spa! detects a “quiet surge” in the industry and wonders, “Why now?”

COVID-19 is part of the answer, as it is of almost every question arising over the past 14 months. With travel curtailed by the virus, time and money that would normally be spent on trips are channeled elsewhere – here, for instance. (That the virus might check eros no less than wanderlust is a point not dealt with, oddly enough.)

More generally, of course, women today are freer to express their sexuality than ever before, and more women work than ever before, which means they have less free time. Which means they seek sexual encounters they can fit into their crowded schedules – a major attraction.

“Tomomi” is a 28-year-old designer whose first experience as a fuzoku customer was in the winter of 2019. The occasion was a fight with her boyfriend. It shook her, opening her to new experience. This one proved a turning-point in her life. She’s now “hooked on hosts.” She’s spent more than a million yen on host clubs. Her day job alone, with its 400,000-yen-a-month salary, can’t finance a hobby like this. She took a night job – hostessing. She has no regrets. A host is better than a boyfriend. Hosts don’t fight.

“Yui,” 31, is stuck in a sexless marriage. So she found a “sex friend.” Who stood her up one evening. What was she to do, poised as she was for an erotic encounter – go home to her husband? She was in Shibuya, in the vicinity of its concentration of love hotels. Clicking here and there on her smartphone, she found a fuzoku place in the neighborhood and said, “Just set me up with the tallest host on call.”

The host who materialized was more than tall. He was handsome, personable, a good conversationalist, an instinctive “therapist,” and he gave his client, she feels, more than her money’s worth. She’ll be back, she says.

A woman needn’t be young. “Tomomi” at 48 seems as amorous ever. It was only this past January that she first heard of host clubs. Since then she’s been 10 times, dropping 300,000 yen for what she claims is the best sex of her life. Hosts aim to please and know what pleases. What more can a client ask? Does it matter that the host is young enough to be her son? Not to Tomomi.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

27 Comments
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I wouldn't mind helping a few of those lonely women free of charge...

3 ( +4 / -1 )

This article is vile. It's sick.

-10 ( +0 / -10 )

Interesting how hung up we can be about sex, a normal expression of our humanity.

Men may who play wham, bam, thank you, mam soon play alone.

A gentleman insists on ladies first.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

As much as I love this country and it's people this is one area they really don't do well, developing deep relationships and marriages. There are so many lonely people here. It's sad. I hope the Japanese can do better.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

starpunkToday  01:44 am JST

Men and women are not cars. Cars are not people.

I think you totally missed the point. Ah well, I really can't be bothered to explain.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Having been in Japan for 20 years, I hear this disgusting news a lot. For them it's the norm.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

@bakakuma

The empty lives of Japanese Women. I dont even feel sympathy for these shallow women. In the end, it comes to the values that country instills in their women people. They dont know meaning of true relations friends, family, or coworkers. People that rarely sees beyond their nose.

This is a joke right? So men here have been selfishly doing this to women for generations. They get them pregnant, leave them home to take care of the children, and go out and enjoy themselves with prostitutes. But it is seen as okay. Men at work take group trips to places like this all the time. But if a woman does it, they are shallow? They don't know the meaning of family, friends, and coworkers? This is laughable.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Kniknaknokkaer May 14 06:55 pm JST

So what if women are getting their desires fulfilled, what's good for the goose it's good for the gander.

Dear Kniknaknokkaer, this is not criticism but, as a biologist, I can't let it go. In this situation, the saying should really be "What's good for the Gander is good for the Goose." ...I apologize for my trained obsessiveness...

In this Era, when speaking of gender, one must be accurate is assignment of terms or approbation is one's reward.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

The empty lives of Japanese Women. I dont even feel sympathy for these shallow women. In the end, it comes to the values that country instills in their women people. They dont know meaning of true relations friends, family, or coworkers. People that rarely sees beyond their nose.

The empty lives of Japanese Men. I dont even feel sympathy for these shallow Men. In the end, it comes to the values that country instills in their Men people. They dont know meaning of true relations friends, family, or coworkers. People that rarely sees beyond their nose.

[sigh] And here we have the crux and point of this story...the sad state of male self awareness...and the fact that women are Human also...

BTW bakakuma: "Bjorn" means 'bear' in Norske and is the root word for "berserker' in case 'crazy bears' are your muse...

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

samuraivunylMay 15  07:23 am JST

So, if women cheat on their partners it's seen as movement forward for women whereas if men do it, they are seen as scum bags? Cherry picking at it's worst.

A cheat is a cheat is a cheat, period. No excuses or justifications or defending it.

Harry_GattoMay 15  10:35 pm JST

If a person doesn't want the hassle and expense of owning a car but needs to drive occasionally then they rent a car for however long they need it for. Both men and women do this.

Men and women are not cars. Cars are not people.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

If a person doesn't want the hassle and expense of owning a car but needs to drive occasionally then they rent a car for however long they need it for. Both men and women do this.

7 ( +10 / -3 )

Hmm, this article is a bit confused because regular host clubs are not really fuzoku. They are mizu shobai, just conversation and titillation. They do it this way because it's much easier to string people along and get them to keep coming back and paying again and again. Sex destroys the mystery and risks the customer moving onto the next host. Individual hosts may sleep with customers, but only because it is impossible for the bars to stop. What the bars want is the customers in the bar buying expensive bottles of booze.

That said, some Japanese women have always paid men for sex. The most famous place for it to happen was Bali. Any Japanese woman who goes there will be propositioned by the locals in crude Japanese, "nice oppai" or whatever. Some women would also go to Okinawa not to buy but definitely to score with US servicemen. The story isn't really describing anything new.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

@samurai

Now everyone can be equally toxic, is all! (in regards to cheating)

3 ( +4 / -1 )

The first "Tomomi" needs a good therapist so she can work out whatever happened in that fight that scared her so much she turned her back on normal relationships, and even got a second job to support her host habit. I'm all for women spending their time and money how they want, but that lady sounds like she's developed some unhealthy coping strategies from a traumatic experience. The hosts can probably identify someone who has been hurt, and just milk the situation for what it's worth. They're really just parasites in that kind of situation.

There was a good documentary about the host club situation in Osaka called "The Great Happiness Space" a while ago. It really opened my ideas to what kind of broken people are hosts and their clients.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Its immoral.

-14 ( +4 / -18 )

Don't hate the women hate the husbands in this case. My dad always told me if you don't take care your women some other man will! Correction, nowadays some women/man will!!

6 ( +11 / -5 )

@Reckless, I hope you won't mind me altering your comment to: "Good sex is fun, and a lot of Japanese marriages are fun-less." I know 'fun-less' isn't a word, but I think you get my drift.

13 ( +17 / -4 )

“Tomomi” at 48 seems as amorous ever. It was only this past January that she first heard of host clubs.

Tomomi is also a liar.

10 ( +18 / -8 )

bakakumaToday  09:08 am JST

The empty lives of Japanese Women. I dont even feel sympathy for these shallow women. In the end, it comes to the values that country instills in their women people. They dont know meaning of true relations friends, family, or coworkers. People that rarely sees beyond their nose.

People are more valuable than sex.

Prostitution is just that, whether it's for men, women, straight or gay. Trafficking people for sex hookups and trysts is still protistituti9on no matter how you slice it. I feel no sympathy whatsoever for these idiot shallow people either. None.

-18 ( +10 / -28 )

The empty lives of Japanese Women. I dont even feel sympathy for these shallow women. In the end, it comes to the values that country instills in their women people. They dont know meaning of true relations friends, family, or coworkers. People that rarely sees beyond their nose.

-7 ( +21 / -28 )

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