Culture: November 2004 Archives

Yuko and I just finished watching a documentary called, Tokyo Girls. It details the lives of the hostess girls and what their lives are really like. It also brought a nice view of the concrete city to our tree stricken life here in Minnesota.

What is funny, is that some of the clubs shown in Osaka are just around the corner from where Yuko and I got married... Maybe I should check it out and bring back photos when Yuko and I and Daichi make a trip in late Febuary....

I personally thought the video gave the viewers (me) a glimpse into the life of the rich Japanese business man who has more money than they really know what to spend it on, but don't know what love is. Some of the customers really turn out to be mob bosses seeking friendship and maybe love in the ladies who are out to chase their money.... Man you see the cars these guys drive.

Take a candid journey into the world of four young Canadian women who work as well paid hostesses in exclusive Japanese nightclubs when the National Film

Lured by adventure and easy money, these modern-day geisha find themselves caught up in the mizu shobai - the complex "floating water world" of Tokyo clubs and bars. Drawn by fast money, some women become consumed by the lavish lifestyle and forget why they came. One hostess calls it "losing the plot."

"I couldn't believe that they were paying me to drink and party and just sit around and talk to people. I thought it was fabulous." Jamie was making a thousand dollars a night when she started working in a hostess club in Japan. Little did she realize that she would eventually flee for safety to a remote Thai Island.

Hilary is a hostess in a Tokyo nightclub to pay off her student debts. Nancy came to Japan to study butoh - a contemporary dance form. Dhana was offered a million dollars to marry one of her clients.

With a pulsating visual style, Tokyo Girls captures the raw energy of urban Japan and its fascination with the new. Shot in Canada, Osaka and Tokyo, this is a riveting inside look at the impact of the "economy geisha."

Tokyo Girls was directed by Penelope Buitenhaus and produced by Gillian Darling Kovanic for the National Film Board.