Can Foreigners Get Into A Host Club?
In pictures taken at host clubs, customers’ faces are always fuzzed out to protect their privacy. Not everybody wants their grandma or their boss to know just what kind of fun they’re having in their spare time!
Fallen Angel readers are starting to ask what it’s really like to go to a host club, so in addition to my usual daily Japan blurbs, I’m writing a series of blog posts on the Top Ten Host Club Questions. Today’s question is:
Can foreigners get into a host club?
It’s possible, but it ain’t easy.
Why? Isn’t my money as good as the next girl’s?
Well, for starters, there’s a bit of a language issue. While there might be a few hosts who speak languages other than Japanese, most guys who go into the host business come from places where they didn’t meet many foreigners (if any), and most hosts weren’t exactly the class grind in high school. So while you think it would be a lot of fun to drink with them even if you have to communicate in sign language, the idea of having to entertain a scary foreigner without being able to use the gift of gab he’s so good at strikes fear into the heart of the bravest host. Clubs don’t want to put their staff into a position that they’re not equipped to handle, so as a rule, foreigners aren’t welcome. Even if you walk down a street in Kabuki-chō where dandies are accosting every other girl who walks by, most of them won’t even make eye contact with you if you’re a foreigner, let alone hand you a flyer for their club.
But what if I can speak Japanese?
Seems like that would solve the problem, right? But the second reason most clubs exclude foreigners is cultural. There are definite rules of behavior at a host club, but they’re unspoken. Japanese customers all know what’s allowed and what isn’t, but foreigners might not. Host clubs want to avoid situations where a customer does something that makes it unpleasant not only for her own host, but for the rest of the customers as well.
Imagine, if you will, a tipsy foreigner demonstrating just what she did last year in a Ft. Lauderdale bar during Spring Break. Or a customer who mistakes her host’s flirtatious attentions for a genuine invitation to take it all to the next level. And what about a customer who doesn’t understand the system, so she tries to order a drink, then thinks it’s outrageous she’s expected to buy the bottle? Or a customer who whips out her credit card at the end of the evening, only to find out that it’s cash only and she’s thousands short. The idea of having to deal with any of these situations is horrifying enough, but to have to do it with a customer who doesn’t speak Japanese is unthinkable. It’s easier just to say no to all foreigners than to take the chance someone will ruin everybody’s evening.
Yeah, but what if I speak Japanese, and I’ve read all your tips, and I’ve diligently checked out the do’s and don’ts and prices on the club’s website? There’s no reason they shouldn’t be happy to have me as a customer, right?
You’d think so, but the third reason foreigners aren’t particularly welcome is economic. Host clubs don’t make money on people who come once for the novelty of it. Their business is built on customers who come back again and again, who develop a (costly) relationship with a host. And they know most foreigners balk at paying host club rates for the kind of attention they expect to get for free from their boyfriends/husbands.
But I still want to go! Are you telling me it’s impossible?
No. Read on. Tomorrow’s question: How can I go to a host club?
Already posted in the TOP TEN QUESTIONS ABOUT HOST CLUBS series:
Why do women go to host clubs?
What kind of women go to host clubs?
What’s it like to visit a host club?
How expensive is it to go to a host club?
What is a host club “champagne call”?
Still to come:
How can I go to a host club?
How do I choose a club to go to?
Host fashion: Why do hosts dress like that?
A Day In The Life: What’s it like to be a host?
Photo courtesy of Oh! Club! Host Walker website.
