A Hostess Club?!

On the 14th, I returned from Mito back to the Big Sushi and then prepped up to see another old student and friend...this time down in the shitamachi district of Okachimachi near Ueno.

Of course, the Ameyoko market was nearby so I did some of my first souvenir shopping in the form of snacks and sweets. My niece especially wanted some Hi-Chu gum so I dropped by the venerable store Niki to get some stuff.

The entire area has modernized in the last three years since I was there. There's now a huge cineplex just behind the Matsuzakaya Department Store and even the predecessor to all those Don Quixote dollarama outlets, Yoshiike, looked more ready for the 21st century. My friend took me up to the top floor to a restaurant called Yoshiike Shokudo which occupied a huge chunk of the floor. Had some pretty nice yoshoku for dinner.

We were talking about our old karaoke favourites when my friend decided that he was intrigued with my abilities (or lack thereof) as a singer. So he decided to take me down to Ginza to one of his favourite hostess clubs.

Yup, you heard it...a hostess club.

It's a place that I had thought I would never be able to enter at my tax bracket. It's a place that seemed to occupy only a certain place in Japanese TV dramas or comedies. But he was taking me down to one.

I nervously protested to him that I was wearing nothing but UNIQLO. How could I ever get in there? But he ignored me and he got us a taxi to head on down. Might I say though that the ride down from Ueno to Ginza was very revealing. Chuo Dori has gotten a huge makeover and there were some new buildings along the sides. It was looking all very swank. Plus there was the new Ginza Six facility which probably required a Platinum credit card to enter.

We got out of the taxi near the Shiseido store and with the help of the owner of the club herself, we managed to reach this place in a building on one of the side streets. I might have looked like something that looked more at home in a Holiday Inn but I had to respect the ladies' professionalism. The owner and the two hostesses who took care of us, one (in a low-cut gown) and the other (in a kimono), still treated me as if I were one of the other suited (and considerably richer) customers. It was the mix of guys and gals in there in a place that probably has seen better glory days; the lights were dimmer and the walls were yellowed from all of the cigarette smoke that languished in the air throughout the years. My friend and I did our singing for an hour over shochu and some of the sweetest pears that I've ever had.

For obvious reasons, I couldn't take any photos of the place but at least I did receive a memento in the form of that folding fan made up of fake yen as you can see at the very top. J-Canuck finally invaded a very exclusive area. There went the neighbourhood!

And the above is the song that Mika and I sang as a duet.

P.S. I'm writing this a few hours after I posted this article since afterwards I hit myself with the basic question: Did I enjoy myself at the club?

Ultimately, I would have to say no. I mean, the staff that I met (the owner, the bartender, the two hostesses) were all very nice. However, there was that pressure on both me and the hostesses to keep a steady stream of conversation going to the extent that I almost felt like my lungs and brain were gasping for air and ideas. For a person who enjoys observing other people talk as much as he enjoys talking with folks himself, it was somewhat tough.

Plus, there is the whole concept of a hostess club which is to pay a lot of money to be pampered and complimented. For me, that would mean that sincerity is pretty much suspect from the get-go. Perhaps the other customers including my friend didn't worry or didn't care but I was left wondering whether the ladies were actually interested in the fact that I was from Canada or that I was a Canadian who liked and could sing the Japanese oldies. I don't know.

In any case, I'm still glad that I did go if only to experience this aspect of Japanese popular culture that a lot of foreign tourists and residents haven't been able to participate in. However, if my friend or anyone else asks me next time if I would like to go to a hostess club, I will suggest that we save the yen and head for a Cozy Corner instead.