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Your history is not appropriate to work as an announcer, a position that requires a person of integrity.

17 Comments

The head of the personnel department at NTV, in a letter to former beauty pageant contestant Rina Sasaki, explaining the reason for cancelling an employment agreement was because of her past work as a hostess. Sasaki is suing the network, claiming NTV unjustly cancelled an informal agreement that indicated she was to begin work as an announcer next April. (Shukan Gendai)

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It's not like she was a porn star.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

So of course the question is how many male announcers have in the past frequented hostess clubs or places of a more sexual nature? A double standard to be sure.

12 ( +13 / -1 )

An announcer? Who cares? All we hear is her voice. It's not as if she's a presenter, where her appearance and personality are a factor.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

An announcer? Who cares? All we hear is her voice. It's not as if she's a presenter, where her appearance and personality are a factor.

Announcers present in Japan. It's not a voice job, they actually appear onscreen and talk.

That said, it's ridiculous that they would not give her the job because she was a hostess.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

I hope this doesn't scupper her chances of marrying a sports player.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Wow, they look at a camera and read from a screen right underneath it.

And when they have real conversations, they have to look like they understand what's going on and when to interject the all important, "Sou, ne!"

And sometimes, when things get really tricky, they need to crook their head just like and make it seem like their really struggling with some super important concept before spitting out a well thought out, "muzukashii, ne! ne!"

Yep, that requires all kinds of moral fortitude.

Actually on second, thought, that's EXACTLY what a hostess does.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Actually her stupidity might play a role as well. I feel the quality of TV announcers is dropping day by day.. Yes, being a former hostess does not automatically qualify one for becoming an announcer, and yes, it could actually disqualify...

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

We're missing the bigger point that who doesn't want to work with a hostess/porn star? I do!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The amount of sexist, misogynistic crap flying around this thread only eight posts in is staggering.

Hostess does not automatically translate to porn actress or prostitute, no matter how much some of the more . . . emotionally immature . . . among us may wish were so. And a woman working in a hostess bar most certainly isn't automatically daft. Any more than the men here who seem to be quite familiar with the kind of superficial small-talk that is part and parcel of a hostess' job are necessarily sad, lovelorn losers who perpetuate rampant sexism in Japan with every visit to the local hostess club.

There are a significant number of young women throughout Japan who work in snack bars and hostess bars in order to simply support themselves. Not because they want to or because it struck them as a wonderful career choice, but rather because, in lieu of getting married and having babies, that's what society both implicitly and explicitly encourages women to do fo the benefit of the men at the helm of Japan, Inc. This is the reality for women in Japan simply for not being fortunate enough to have been born with a penis, and thus earning a self-presumed right to partake in shameless and open objectification of women free of criticism.

That NHK would refuse to employ this woman for working in an industry that even a cursory glance at NHK entertainment expence reports would reveal to be very popular destinations not only for NHK executives, but also rank-and-file male workers, speaks volumes about how far this country has to go before it rectifies the gender inequality that is rife at every strata of society.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@LFR How about the boys/starved cockatoos who work as hosts? I'm sure the hypocrites at NTV ( not NHK by the way ) wouldn't be too enamored by that either. If you ask me, I couldn't care less if a newscaster was a host or a hostess or a porn star.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Jimizo,

How about the boys/starved cockatoos who work as hosts?

What about them? NTV might indeed not hire them for the same professed reasons, but as you point out, the hypocrisy at work is clearly apparent. Besides, those boys aren't exactly being exploited, to be honest.

(Thanks for the correction. NTV it is indeed.)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

former beauty pageant contestant...because of her past work as a hostess.

That's getting ridiculous. They accepted a beauty queen but not a hostess ? I don't see much difference between the 3 occupations : being pretty and well-groomed, smiling, talking softly, approving anything you're told, never expressing your own opinion (even by facial expression). And I'm not ironic, even if that doesn't require the IQ of Einstein, it's not easy jobs, you need lots of care to be always like a doll and you're fighting boredom during your workshift. OK, no dance, speech, circus, numero, bikini perp walk required to be announcer... and you're not paid by the number bottle of booze you sell. So that would just be easier for her.

a position that requires a person of integrity.

So because you work in a bar once you have no integrity ? I would suspect more a person with a background of working on J-TV and in J-showbiz..

1 ( +1 / -0 )

This is the reality for women in Japan simply for not being fortunate enough to have been born with a penis, and thus earning a self-presumed right to partake in shameless and open objectification of women free of criticism.

People still have a right to freedom of speech on the internet, thank you. And I think most of the sexists here including myself wanted to see her hired. Don't hate the game of life just because you can't see the advantages you have.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Hmmm... It's my understanding that hostesses in Hostess Clubs act as mere sounding boards for the customer, while encouraging the customer to spend money on the establishment's drinks, of course. I see nothing in that job description that would preclude someone from working on-camera. There must be something else that is the root cause here - like maybe if one of the NTV executives had been a former patron of the club.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

People still have a right to freedom of speech on the internet, thank you.

No one here said you didn't, although you feeling compelled to point that out suggests my comments struck too close to home.

Don't think that you supposedly wanting to see this woman hired somehow absolves you of your particular brand of sexism, particularly when you appear to believe institutionalized misogyny and gender descrimination robbing of person of her legal and moral right to earn a livelihood can all be boiled down to something so whimsical and carefree as a "game." Being barred from employment for the reasons given by the TV network isn't a "game" in any sense of the word. Just as your, "Who doesn't want to work with a hostess/porn star? Har! Har! (wink! wink! belch!)" jibe scarcely hides your entirely unrealistic, but no less obvious, belief that hiring a hostess or porn star will somehow magically translate into an increased chance that you'll get lucky with him or her. That kind of sexism isn't a game. It's sad and pathetic, is what it is.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@LFRAgain I think you are the one who is angered by men doing what comes natural. I am sexist and proud of it, thank you very much. Only radicals would insist that men and women are exactly the same, which is what some countries are coming too. I don't need a porn star at work to get laid, but if you want to pretend like hating sex makes you superior, go right ahead.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

This is the reality for women in Japan simply for not being fortunate enough to have been born with a penis, and thus earning a self-presumed right to partake in shameless and open objectification of women free of criticism.

@LFRagain

I agree with much of what you say. However, you considerably belittle the hostesses, making it sound like they have no agency, and are the mercy of advantaged men. Many of them obviously feel that this job option generates much easier money than other occupations like slaving away for Japan Inc. or flipping burgers in front of a hot grill at McDonald's.

I would argue that, although somewhat of a two-way street, it's overwhelmingly the male patrons who are being duped, while the hostesses take more of a predatory role, milking their 'objectification' for all it's worth. Overall, the hostesses are considerably more savvy than the blockhead men who fork out wads of cash — eye-poppingly huge sums of money which they will regret early the next morning — for the fleeting privilege of faux warmth and a sweet smile, escaping from heavy-handed bosses and oppressive wives.

(For the sake of equality, there is also a much smaller, but highly lucrative 'host' industry in Japan where the nation's lonely Mrs. Watanabes are similarly dim-witted and bilked of hard-earned yen by predatory boys with warm smiles and motivation to exceed their earnings targets.)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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