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Tokyo to pay nightclubs to close as virus cases surge

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By Charly Triballeau

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Why is the Government going to give free money - our taxes - to this incidious industry?! It is controlled by the Yakuza, criminals who are a scourge on this nation. Shut down this satanic industry and drive the Yakuza out permanently! I'll pay for that.

42 ( +58 / -16 )

Isnt the only places the governments testing nightclubs?. Once they are all closed then surely problem solved, no COVID19.

7 ( +14 / -7 )

“But fans are expected to be asked to wear masks, wash their hands frequently and avoid shouting.”

It’s a baseball game. Why have fans then? Dumb

18 ( +22 / -4 )

What'? Don't have enough money for special needs training centres? Don't have enough money to support single mums, the child poverty that is 40% at best but you can bet it's a lot higher.. But the sex industry they can support, something is very seriously wrong here.

44 ( +49 / -5 )

Why is the Government going to give free money - our taxes - to this incidious industry?! It is controlled by the Yakuza, criminals who are a scourge on this nation. Shut down this satanic industry and drive the Yakuza out permanently! I'll pay for that.

Research who campaigns for and supports the LDP.

Then you will understand why.

27 ( +29 / -2 )

What is very sad is that this industry has a lot of unpaid lobbyists, most of the politicians in Nagatacho and business leaders, so they will be heard and will be compensated far faster than other more deserving groups. I say just shut them all down! What do they add to society?

19 ( +23 / -4 )

Host and hostess bars offer guests the opportunity for flirtatious conversation with attractive companions, alongside high-priced drinks.

Do it over Zoom without the expensive drinks and everyone wins!

18 ( +21 / -3 )

They need to also stop high schools from sports practices. Was out jogging yesterday to see the river side fields filled with baseball and rugby high school players out practicing as though there was no worries in the world. And they if believe it is so safe that the ojisan coaches stayed on the side lines far from the players.

-8 ( +3 / -11 )

ExJournoToday  06:57 am JST

Why is the Government going to give free money - our taxes - to this incidious industry?! It is controlled by the Yakuza, criminals who are a scourge on this nation. Shut down this satanic industry and drive the Yakuza out permanently! I'll pay for that.

You answered your own question in your comment.

9 ( +12 / -3 )

Clown world. Just leave it alone. If people want to go to a sex club and risk getting covid-19 than so be it. This is getting ridiculous.

-5 ( +10 / -15 )

God bless all those hard working gold digging hostesses risking their lives for their next Louis Vuitton handbag. God bless their tax dodging Yakuza pimps. God bless average-Taro-salaryman for risking his family's health and wellbeing for escaping his comatose marriage for an overpriced drinks and pathetic ego-massage.

We should be out cheering in the street for these frontline heros.

29 ( +35 / -6 )

But fans are expected to be asked to wear masks, wash their hands frequently and avoid shouting.

Standing ovation to this pattern of thinking. What is the point of attending a game event when you aren't even allowed to shout? Sick!

7 ( +8 / -1 )

@Since1981

You answered your own question in your comment.

I don't know what you mean. Don't be so oblique. Your time would be better spent adding your own original thoughts, rather than non-commenting on mine!

-7 ( +5 / -12 )

Japan has had a relatively small coronavirus outbreak, with just over 20,000 recorded cases and a total of 981 deaths.

Any who actually believes these numbers here has been drinking Abe's koolaid!

12 ( +17 / -5 )

@Capuchin

God bless all those hard working gold digging hostesses risking their lives for their next Louis Vuitton handbag. God bless their tax dodging Yakuza pimps. God bless average-Taro-salaryman for risking his family's health and wellbeing for escaping his comatose marriage for an overpriced drinks and pathetic ego-massage.

We should be out cheering in the street for these frontline heros.

Yes!

3 ( +8 / -5 )

Just pay them ! It is important to try our best. If it works fine, If not fine too.

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

It's a good start," she told AFP, "but 500,000 yen per club is not sufficient to curb the cases in these districts.

How about we just shut the clubs down and not pay them a single Yen then?

11 ( +14 / -3 )

Why is the Government going to give free money - our taxes - to this incidious industry?

Totally agree. If these clubs are unable or unwilling to operate without taking proper precautions against covid19, they should be shut down - and we should not be on the hook for keeping them afloat!

15 ( +17 / -2 )

If you don't pay them and the employees. The industry will just go underground and then you won't have any control and more than likely covid 19 will spread even faster.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

ExJournoToday  07:51 am JST

@Since1981

You answered your own question in your comment.

I don't know what you mean. Don't be so oblique. Your time would be better spent adding your own original thoughts, rather than non-commenting on mine!

You "It is controlled by the Yakuza, ...". And as we all know Abe always takes care of his friends first. ....... My apologies for not clearly spelling it out. Does it now make sense to you?

3 ( +7 / -4 )

finally. shame about all those new infections.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Wow, some of you here in the comment section are quite morally righteous. I’m not saying that there isn’t shady business dealings going on with these places, of course there is. And you guys were attacking salarymen, as if they’re the only people who do this. I mean, what’s wrong with going out to a nightclub, or even a host or hostess club, to have a good time? By the way, this includes HOST bars as well. As in for women. So it’s not just the guys “getting their egos inflated”, as some of you have posted.

But I will agree to one thing, if these clubs and other places can’t or won’t cooperate with standards in regards to COVID-19, then yes, they should definitely be shut down. But let’s not go the extra hundred miles and say that all of these places should be shut down, because of the types of places that they are. That’s going a bit too far.

7 ( +12 / -5 )

@runner3 very good point. And it actually adds on to what I was saying in my previous comment. Since some of these places are run by the yakuza, even if you shut them down, they’ll just go underground. And then we’ll have an even worse problem with COVID-19, as @runner3 pointed out.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

¥500,000 for a 10 day closure? Most of these clubs turn that much over in a single night.

I have a better idea. Just make it illegal for them to be open. They will not close if they don’t have to and the mullets will still attend these venues like moths to a street light. Make them close!

2 ( +7 / -5 )

Under the plan, the Tokyo metropolitan government will give 500,000 yen to nightclubs and other venues -- including so-called host and hostess bars -- if they close for more than 10 days, local media reported

Brilliant plan. Absolutely brilliant. What an incredible show of leadership from our dear leader and his frontline LDP warriors at Kasumigaseki. I am so moved by their quick thinking and amazing decision-making that protects all of us!

Japan has had a relatively small coronavirus outbreak, with just over 20,000 recorded cases and a total of 981 deaths.

Any who actually believes these numbers here has been drinking Abe's koolaid!

Of course the numbers are correct.

A great statesman who is making his 50 states hate, I mean great, again in his infinite wisdom as a stable genius once said-

if you test more you'll get more cases so slow the testing down please!

the stable geniuses in Kasumigaseki seem to have wisely listened and decided to follow his example, so yeah. We good. What we don't know won't hurt us. Or so we think.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Don't need host clubs.

Don't waste OUR tax!

Plus, it's too late to close them.

The virus has been spread out all over!

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Obviously, this should have been done several months ago but there are not many clubs named Dentsu or JAL are there?

5 ( +5 / -0 )

It's concerning how the government's manipulated testing scheme is being used to promote whatever policies they feel like putting forward. Grabbed more or less out of thin air when in reality the virus is everywhere, hmm....

2 ( +2 / -0 )

¥500,000 for a 10 day closure? Most of these clubs turn that much over in a single night.

I've heard stories of some men spending that amount in a single night at hostess bars. Well, at least thats what their credit card statement said.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

This is all overblown. If you are afraid to go to the red light district, than don't go. If you are afraid of getting sick, stay home. If your afraid of the world than don't participate. Leave people alone who don't mind the risks of living.

-8 ( +6 / -14 )

I used to go to those places a lot! Girls Bars and Whiskey Bars.

I always had unbelievable fun there!

So I understand, that people like to go there and enjoy after a hard working day.

But, to pay money to those kinds of clubs or bars, will not change anything.

These Bars and Nightclubs will never close, even the government pay them more than 50万.

These clubs will take the money and keep open secretly.

Continue business behind locked doors. For VIPs only.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

So what is it about the night industry that makes it the only place (according to our beloved government) where corona invites itself. You're telling me jam packed commuter trains are not a hotbed of infection? Izakayas, restaurants and supermarkets customers are safe thanks to the all-mighty plastic sheet? Corona likes going out at night to party and sleeps off its hangover throughout the next day?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Doesn't this just piss off everyone?

People within the clubs probably think the pay is pity money and not nearly enough, just to patronize their situation. People who don't approve of the payments think it's wasted tax money on a sleazy industry run by the Yakuza, who get money for running de facto illegal business', thus proving government is and always will be intertwined with the crime organization in Japan who love their mizushoubai and prostitution.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Look lets be realistic, and separate the political/economic illusion from reality, and refrain from window dressing, political PR stunts.

A Tokyo nightclub with hostess facilities, quality champagne/cocktails will separate ¥500,000 from clientele within two hours.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Less than a thousand deaths in half a year in a country of more than 100 million people is no pandemic. It is barely a statistic. More than a million people die every year in Japan. A thousand more or less barely registers.

So let people go out, play, drink, relax. Isolate the vulnerable if you want to. Get on with living.

-2 ( +8 / -10 )

But fans are expected to be asked to wear masks, wash their hands frequently and avoid shouting.

That would work well at a mime competition!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

How about offering those people social welfare and putting the money you'll give to the mafia to better use?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

I mean, what’s wrong with going out to a nightclub, or even a host or hostess club, to have a good time?

In principle nothing wrong with that. But the problem is that a lot of those institutions in Japan, and I say a lot, are linked to Yakuza, who happen to organize in some of those places the prostitution and the exploitation of very young women. And you want tax payers money to be given to them? This is crazy.

I would agree to help the people especially the women working in those places because they are actually also the victim of a society which doesn't give them a chance to succeed professionally in other jobs. But to pay directly those places with tax payers money, this is insane.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Before Golden Week, it was in the mood for the media and some politics to strongly blame and defame the Pachinko parlors, which in comparison to these clubs are not a source of virus spreading. The blaming and delation that happened before the Golden Week was really shocking, and was the thing to do to be in the mood.

But now, noboby in the media or among politicians is strongly blaming these clubs. Because the SOE is over.

Reactions are just based on the general trend to follow, not on any logic.

And Shinjuku ward will also give 10man to every infected person. Scandalous.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

These clubs for 20, 30 years shun a condom, a face mask isn't going to cut it in the next decade but for some inixplicable reason get a government hand out? Starting to wonder why? Could there be collusion? Using my tax money...say it's not happening.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

500,000 yen should go to employees not employer.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

sunfunbun is correct that this course of action is unlikely to please anyone.

The government is forgetting the most powerful tool it has which is shaming people into not going to host/hostess bars. The authorities may not have the legal tools to shut the bars down, but they can stop respectable people from going through social pressure. Koike should come out and say business people who continue to go are irresponsible and will force her to shut down the schools again, depriving unfortunate children of their education. There is plenty of moral high ground to use here. Abe could also hint that the tax people will refuse to recognize all trips to hostess bars as settai (legitimate business expenses) during lockdown.

Of course, a smaller number of people will continue going to these places because they like paying attractive strangers listen to them prattle on about their lives, but this reduced number will still have the desired effect of reduced transmission.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The industry will just go underground

It already is.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

 It is controlled by the Yakuza, criminals who are a scourge on this nation. Shut down this satanic industry and drive the Yakuza out permanently! I'll pay for that.

Yakuza is on the decline. The Covid-19 is now killing their membership number in droves. Yakuza is so small and pathetic due to the police crackdown and Covid-19. They haven't in control of Japan for a very long time.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

Money for the owner, no money for the desperate workers.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Is this Yakuza ? I thought Yakuza was more like pride and honour and stuff.

This quick 10 man schema is just embarrassing. LOL, unbelievable this. I don't know ..it just.. doesn't feel like stuff gangsters do .

I think these are weak school dropouts with limited options, rather poor and desperate. Naming , shaming, cornering will yield almost nothing.

May I also remind the paranoid here , this is your doing, their financial problems are now our financial problems, perfect real world example that shows how lockdowns backfire. Now we have less money and more problems

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

It's all pathetic - you have to PAY PEOPLE TO TALK TO YOU! Seriously, think about that, if you need to pay money for people to talk to, take a good long hard look in the mirror and re-assess your life.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

I don't think we are all working and paying taxes to keep the pockets of these these sleazy places lined and open! Most of us have NEVER been to and are not allowed! That money could be offered to many other productive places to which the money would ACTUALLY help the company AND its employees.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

new excuse for BOJ to print more fake money. stop to tax people! and print!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

@expat - many small businesses that close voluntarily (including mine) received 500,000 from Tokyo Metro government twice already. It was called a "cooperation fee". My (limited) understanding is that hostess clubs, soaplands etc were specifically excluded from those payments. Hard to know why that would be the case given that those businesses have significantly more likelihood of transmitting infections than mine does, but there you go.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

"What a god idea! While you lot are at it, how about those in the red light district? They need money too!" said no-one!

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Wow, those were the days, when I used to bartend at Shamrock Irish Pub...long since closed down

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Ashley_Shiba, obviously you know nothing about Hostess Clubs.

Most of my best work in Japan was at such places that were NOT like you describe.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

A lot of these clubs are owned by Yakuza but that doesn't mean all of them are.

They are a part of Japanese business culture, I myself have done a few deals with customers by taking them to these joints.

If they are a source of infection spread they should be closed for sure, but 500,000 isn't going to be much of an incentive. Many of these clubs probably make than in an hour.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Most high-end kyabakura in Shinjuku can make way more than 500.000 each night and sometimes their No. 1 girl can make that amount with just one wealthy client.

It is the cheaper, low-end bars that might benefit from it as competition is fierce in that industry.

Instead of burnIng money, let's make it easier: Oblige kyabakura and host bars to wearing masks, disposition of sanitizer, social distance etc. If the fail to comply, shut them down.

Give the money to people who have lost their jobs due to covid.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Lot of judgment and false indignation on this thread. I don't go to such clubs, but the workers there include a lot of vulnerable persons such as single mothers. Yeah, they probably would like a seishain job but we know those are few and far between...

The comments here are so myopic! I'm not even gonna bother counter arguing with these people. They're too far gone.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Less than a thousand deaths in half a year in a country of more than 100 million people is no pandemic. It is barely a statistic. More than a million people die every year in Japan. A thousand more or less barely registers.

So let people go out, play, drink, relax. Isolate the vulnerable if you want to. Get on with living.

Thank you! Nice to know that sanity still lives on!

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

They have been creaming people for decades and adding premium over premium for whatever they can think of. They can charge you a glass of orange juice for 2000 yen and in these places, not just sales tax of 10% but also service charge (over 25%), table charge (5-8000 yen a head or more in Ginza), and whatnot. So imagine if you are drinking alcohol and not juice. And now you are telling me they don't have 500,000 yen? They make that easily in one night. Give me a f--king break.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

What a joke. This is like the little nerd kid paying off the big bully to not hurt him.

Hey Japanese government, grow some balls and just forcefully go in there and demand they shut it down. Anyone that doesn't comply will be fined and arrested. How hard is that?

What else are your police force, FBI or whatever equivalent there is, here for?

Wait...........I forgot, this is Japan. The gov't and officials are in cahoots. Shut down the bars and red lights, shut down additional income into their pockets. That's right.

Never mind, carry on. As usual. And people wonder why the country is going down the crapper.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Meanwhile, still haven't received the 100,000 stimulus in ketchy Nagoya. Sure as hell getting my bills on time though.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@Ashley Shiba: Once again - showing your complare ignorance about life in Japan.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

500,000? If you offer then 5,000,000 they might think about it.

They'll turm 500,000 with 6-8 customers in on a 'quiet night'' If they do close, it will just go behind closed doors anyway. There is no 'law' to close them and there is no law in Japan for 'lockdown'' Most of these places didn't close during the SOE - they just locked their doors and opened to regulars.

Answers on a postcard please....

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Lot of judgment and false indignation on this thread.

I used to go out with a couple of ladies who did hostessing on the side for extra income so they could party hard on the weekend and go on holidays overseas. They used to pay their own way on dates, so I suppose I benefited from hostess clubs too. If you see photos of the crowd at Fuji Rock, I bet a decent number of women in there will be hostessing to pay for it. Not many female rock fans can blow 100,000 yen on a weekend.

A lot of people in the thread are mentioning how much the clubs cost. In Shinjuku and Ikebukuro, they will mostly be used for business purposes, and the cost will be deducted from the company's tax bill and the rest passed onto customers. Note that a lot of these companies will not be paying their staff properly, but tax arrangements for settai make it easy for them pay 200,000 yen or more for a couple of hours in a hostess club, possibly several times a week. Some of these meetings will be for government contracts, and the hostess club cost will be borne entirely by the taxpayer. This may be the way it is, but it's not a good thing. Companies with money to burn should be encouraged to give it to their staff, not spent it on hostesses. That is even before these hostess clubs become the main sites of infection of a deadly disease that has consequences for everyone in society, through their pocket and lifestyle if not their actual health.

Snack bars in suburbs where individual salarymen pay far less by themselves for a kind ear are a different matter altogether.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Isn't it illegal for the government to pay organised crime? Which is what these businesses are.

Funny isn't it - if you want insurance in Japan, or to go to a public bath, or a hotel, they will check if you have tattoos because they don't want association with organised crime. Yet these hostess clubs and host clubs and caba-clu are allowed to remain in business, feeding cash to the mob.

Why do I have to go through the embarrassment of showing my tattoo to an insurance agent (true story), when these money laundering clubs are legit?

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

A lot of these clubs are owned by Yakuza but that doesn't mean all of them are.

Actually, Kabukeicho is pretty much a Chinese town for a while now. Chinese triads today hire Yakuzas as their muscles for cheap. Chinese is pretty much behind most of the hospitality service to entertainment service in Japan, nowadays.

Yakuza is in its weakest position ever.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/07/04/national/media-national/yakuza-declining-influence/

3 ( +3 / -0 )

"This is all overblown. If you are afraid to go to the red light district, than don't go. If you are afraid of getting sick, stay home. If your afraid of the world than don't participate. Leave people alone who don't mind the risks of living."

I would normally agree. But these nightclubs are proving to be unwilling/incapable to provide a safe environment for both staff and patrons. Shut them down, no ifs no buts.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

What a shame that most of posters here have joined the government narrative of scapegoating of the Tokyo nightlife. Of the 224 cases yesterday 74 were shinjiku kabukicho and ikeburo nightlife. Isn't it strange that the testing has not been extended to the other nightlife districts like roppongi etc.

The city knows very well that testing all the nightlife will reveal over 1000 infected a day. which will tarnish the lower results they have been releasing that the populace have been made with the help of so called experts to believe.

The 224 created a large outcry and disbelief across the nation, I guess the number today will drop back to the lower one hundred.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

243 cases in Tokyo today. They need to close these clubs. But they cannot legally.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

I think this is a bad translation. They are not closing down the night clubs, where thousands can dance packed in enclosed space, but the host and hostess clubs.

These night establishments are being used as a scapegoat by the government. They are testing everyone there so that they can lay all the blame on these workers. Even clients are not being considered at risk if you are reading the media, only the workers. Despite this, yesterday over 100 infected people had infections which the source cannot be traced. Despite all of this, the government still insists that there are no spread and ZERO RISK beyond the night establishments, which rarely accounts for more than 20-30% of the daily infections.

Something interesting, the "reported" numbers went down right before election, as expected. Since government have 100% control over testing, they have 100% over how much and how many to report.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/7ce516bc15f7a4edd8efafd6de0b15792d31032a

1 ( +1 / -0 )

As blahblah says. Today's 243 cases is still a controlled number.

Since government have 100% control over testing, they have 100% over how much and how many to report.

The numbers in Europe and the US have been shocking, but at least they are true numbers.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

OK, In the grand scheme of things, the night club and entertainment clubs are not that heavily frequented by people, but the bigger risk comes from the packed computer trains. may be the government should close the trains system.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The other thing is, how do they know where the C19 virus was contracted? is there a tracking system inplace like we have here in the UK? do the club owners take the name and address of their clients? why is the government targeting only hostess clubs?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

why is the government targeting only hostess clubs?

And host clubs.

The government want a scapegoat.

If you consider that most these establishments only have 20-30 people max at any given time and often sits well apart in groups of 2-5, this cannot possibly be the most effective/only locations for spread as the government claim they are.

The government is simply shifting all the blame to them since most of them are not from good families.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Scapegoats for what?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

In Shinjuku and Ikebukuro, they will mostly be used for business purposes, and the cost will be deducted from the company's tax bill and the rest passed onto customers

The government has been gradually squeezing these deductions, and most likely this is just more of the same. The politicians don't like hostess clubs because they don't like tax deductions. On the other hand, they like hostess clubs. Quite a dilemma.

The whole hostess scene has been getting more difficult for years. International competition, a stagnant economy and increasingly strict taxes, not to mention changing lifestyles of Japanese where some husbands actually go home to their wives at night.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

zichi, it is a total abysmal failure, the costs need to be independently scrutinized. Stay here my friend.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Japan!! Tokyo!? Just when I thought nothing could surprise me anymore .... bam!!! You did it again!

Pay these nightclubs to close?!! Are you having a laugh?!! Just the other day I read about how one host from Tokyo brought the corona disease from his club to one in Yokohama !! 28 people infected!!!!

Pay them to close ?!!!! Take their friggin license !!!

You are not so slow in taking small, privately owned pubs licenses when a few of their customers decided to dance. Unfortunately the police walked in at that time! But a warning!!! No!!! License gone!!

But I forgot! Most of these Nightclubs are owned by yakuza !! And Japan....

You need their money You are friggin scared of them.

Grow a backbone ! Grow a pair!!

Abe! Where the flick are you !

take charge of the country!

so much I want to say! But too tired!!!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I am beginning to think that Japan and the UK are having a competition to see which country is the most pathetic!!!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

What next, tax-payer money given to pachinko parlours?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Koike just lost my vote. I thought she'd be above all this. Have plain clothes cops checking on mask wearing and social distancing. Give hefty fines to the premises and endangering customers. It's not us who need to pay and be worried about the next COVID-19 outbreak.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Just close it and checkout results.

You cannot drink and eat with masks on. How could it become a requirement To wear one. Maybe lifting the mask up covering your nose, take a sip, and putting it back. Then you probably won’t transmit COVID-19. Distancing? Text each other? Anyway it is hard to hear each other and react after. Eyes talk too even behind glasses. Those who do not abide get kicked out.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

With the night clubs closed let us see if COVID-19 goes away from Tokyo. I bet it won't.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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