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New Host Club Laws in Japan Would Ban Romance, Impose Hefty Fines
The clubs have come under fire for pushing female customers into debt and, in some cases, forcing them into prostitution.
Host clubs in Japan have come under fire for forcing some of their best customers — mostly young women — into bankruptcy. Under a proposed revision to Japan’s entertainment law, businesses caught operating illicitly — including promoting the illusion of love — will be subject to whopping fines.
Host clubs are nightlife businesses where young men entertain (接待; settai) customers, often young women, by sitting and drinking with them at their tables. Patrons who become smitten with a host end up buying expensive items, such as overpriced champagne, to help their oshi become the number one earner at a club. Hosts often convince women they’re in romantic relationships to encourage this behavior.
Many hosts and their clubs have encouraged women to accumulate huge debts using the urikakekin (売掛金) system, a sort of payday loan system in which customers use credit that’s due the next month. Some hosts have pressured their customers into prostitution — both legal and illegal forms — to make good on those debts.
As stories abound in Japanese media of women taking up street prostitution or working in legal sex businesses — soaplands, delivery…
