Impolite Society: Exploring the Weird, Taboo & Macabre

Boyfriend for Hire: Japanese Host Clubs

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In this episode of Impolite Society, hosts Laura and Rachel delve into the world of Japan's host clubs, where boyfriends for hire is a booming business. We explain how these clubs operate, the roles hosts play, and the complex relationships between the hosts and their patrons. 

We unpack the societal and cultural factors driving the demand for these services, including the role of women, loneliness, and the appeal of a choreographed romance. And then there is the darker side of the industry, where issues of forced prostitution and sex trafficking are running rampant. Join us as we lift the velvet curtain on this fascinating aspect of Japanese nightlife.

00:00 Introduction
01:30 Hosts vs. Boyfriends
03:04 Cultural Differences and Host Club Etiquette
04:28 The Host Club Experience
09:51 The Business of Host Clubs
20:38 The Financial Side of Host Clubs
26:07 The Life of a Host
29:27 Prostitution Laws in Japan
32:51 Sex Work and Host Clubs
35:56 Dark Side of Host Clubs
54:58 Final Thoughts and Reflections

Got your own thoughts? Text them to Impolite Society!

Text Rachel and Laura or email us at rude@impolitesocietypodcast.com. Visit our website for info about the show and your hosts.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Under the glow of Neon Lights and Japan's largest cities, a strange kind of romance has been flourishing for decades. Boyfriends for hire, human connection is their business, and business is booming. Today we're peeling back the velvet curtain on Japan's hottest host clubs. A bizarre world where every smile, laugh, and glance is choreographed and priced. We're exploring how these clubs operate, the different roles hosts play, and the surprising group of women who are blurring the lines between fantasy and reality and picking up the very hefty price tag. That's what you're in for today on Impolite Society. Welcome to Impolite Society. I am Laura.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I'm Rachel.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I just wanna say, Rachel, I'm your friend. I'm your buddy. I am here for you. I listen to what you need. I have heard you and I know that you need a boyfriend.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Oh, like a boyfriend that takes me out on fancy dates and is is very charmed by me and thinks I'm hilarious and entertaining and doesn't have any expectations of sex because that's exactly the kind of boyfriend I need.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

That's the dream boyfriend, because we've talked about this a couple of times over the last couple episodes, and you're married. It totally does. Yeah. And you're married, so it's not like a boyfriend. Boyfriend. It's like a boy space friend. You know? A boy friend.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

to go out and do fun experiences with. I mean, normally that would be my husband, but I'm not gonna give up the free babysitting. You know, like he can stay at home with the kids and I can go out and do the things with this random gentleman.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

That's, that's a hard thing. Right. You know, and, and somebody to make you feel kind of fresh and new and interesting. But not, not the having sex with just the hanging out because. I'm your problem solver. Okay? I'm a good friend. I'm here to help. I have an answer to your question or your, your need, so to speak, for a male gigolo who isn't a gigolo, and, and that's what our episode is about today, the Renta boyfriend. But there is a catch. I have the solution, but we're gonna have to go to Japan.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Oh, hard pass. Thanks. No, no. I mean, no, no. And I say this with like the best of my heart, like the best intentions is I would not do well in the far east. Like, that's just not, they would not want me there. I'm just, I'm too big. I got too big of a mouth. I got too big of energy. I'm too loud and I'm too big boned. Let's just put it, let's say it. Let's say it plainly like I. I feel like if I tried to go to Japan, they would check my password and be like, Nope. Denied. Stamp the denied. Get your ass back on the plane. They don't want me and

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I mean, I,

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

fine. Here.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Japan does really like American culture though, so you might be surprised in, in what they, they kinda like or don't like

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

They do.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I don't think they like foreigners at all

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Well, I mean, I don't know about foreigners, but they like American culture, so it may, it might end up better than you think.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I don't know. I've not got the warm fuzzies. Sorry. Sorry. To the Japanese. I'm sure you're lovely and I agree with so much of your culture, but I just, I don't think you'd like me.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

That's fair. That's fair. I, I kind of feel the same way. I don't know that I'd, I'd blend necessarily, but this concept of the boyfriend, not a boyfriend, turns out your idea isn't exactly a brand new one. Uh, there's this thing called host clubs in Japan or. Host karu in Japanese. I'm saying that wrong, a hundo percent, but I, I tried my level best. Okay.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

and that's hard.'cause like the Asian languages with the inflection,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

different. Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I would, I had a Chinese roommate my freshman year of college and she would say something and I would swear I was saying the exact same thing as her. And she'd be like,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

She's like, Nope, wrong.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

so wrong and you're so fat. Just stop.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

So, these are nightclubs. These are staffed and run only by men, and they cater exclusively to female clientele, women who are seeking companionship conversation and a fun night on the town.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

The sad thing is, this is exactly what I would've wanted right from the situation is, is someone you go and chit chat with and you don't have to like worry about if they wanna talk to you or not.'cause they're just like your dedicated person as a, like an introvert per pretending to be an extrovert. It's just like, I need to have a job, right? It's like, oh, it's, talk to this one person. Got it. Crushing it. If it's figure out where I fit in a big group mingle. Mm-hmm. Can't do it. I need the one person.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah. And Japan has had these host and hostess clubs, hostess clubs being the same thing, but for men and Hmm. Shocker that that's how it started. Uh, but this all started in the late sixties. Tokyo and Osaka, they have a huge nightlife scene and these clubs are a big part of it. I read that there are more than 300 of these clubs in Tokyo's Kombucha Code District, which is essentially their red light district. Again, I know I'm saying that wrong. I'm doing my level best.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Okay. 300 clubs. How many, like, you know, uh, 40 people work there? I don't know. I feel like that's gotta be half the country. It's not a big country. Right. What

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

There's a lot of these in this like small district.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Okay. But also the fact that you said it's in the the red light district, that's where I'm like starting to think, Hmm, maybe this isn't such a good idea.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

It's kind of a combo. It's red light district slash club scene. It's like nightlife and then mixed in there on your kind of red light kind of things. It's, it's

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

activities.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

exactly, it's like all, all kinds of nighttime activities that one might want. And in fact, um, this is where I got the idea for the episode. My best friend Katie Hala, she recently took a trip to Japan and she took a tour of the Buku Cho District with an English speaking guide. And she showed me these pictures on her phone. You know, we were looking through all the trip pictures and there was one of this giant fucking billboard. And there were a bunch of dudes on it. And I was like, w what is, what is this? And she told me, her guide had explained the concept of these host clubs, that they're pretty popular. Um, you know, women going in to hang out with their pay by the hour boyfriends, and then it's very popular. He said it can get rowdy, sometimes violent, and women are getting in physical fights on the streets over their hosts. Apparently some lady got stabbed pretty recently, so.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

the good way.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

So it is a thing

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

They take it seriously

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

apparently.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

it's like Moulin Rouge. If you've watched that

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Hmm.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

like the Star cor his on,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

center of the picture you've added here, and then there's like a little backup ones.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Oh yeah. Lots of backup boys. And think boys too.'cause it's like boy bandy, right? K-pop kind of feel like that's the whole vibe coming outta here. So I do have some bad news for you, Rachel. If you were to get on a plane and go to Japan to get the full experience of these host clubs, you will need to be fluent in Japanese. From what I've read, there are very few hosts who speak at English at all, let alone fluently. So that is a top barrier for us. Looks like this isn't really going to happen, even if we were willing to go to Japan.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Like I said, want us there. They don't want our money. Like, I think I've heard that,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Oh, I think they take our money.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

like foreigners, they don't even let foreigners into the clubs.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah, I read that too. It depends on the club. And it's like if they cater to locals, you know, they're a, a culture that's big on formality and if nobody can speak to you and like greet you, then they don't necessarily want you there because they don't want everyone else to feel uncomfortable because they can't make you feel welcome. I don't know, maybe that's just subterfuge culture is complicated. That might just be a cop out. I don't know.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Yeah, I mean it just, I, uh, people who live in heavily tourist areas, they probably would definitely appreciate a spot where they could escape tourists. So I understand that.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah. Alright, so these host clubs, how does it work if you are in need of a man for the night. So these clubs run on a really complicated charge system, and I'm gonna get to that in a bit. But first you have to pay to get in the door, which is essentially your first hour. So think of it like a, A cover charge, right? But it's nothing. It's super cheap in terms of what you're gonna get. It's about 30 bucks or whatever the equivalent to that is within yen. So there's a low barrier to entry to these clubs. You don't have to be super rich to get started. And bonus points, if it's your first time in one of these clubs, there's often these kind of getting to know you specials where you can buy drink packages at a discount and the hourly rates are half off.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Nothing says romance like a complicated pay scale. But it's cute. It's like a little free trial, but I just have a feeling they're gonna get you in the end.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Don, don't they always, they you always forget to do the canceling. Yeah. Yeah. And the inside of these clubs are nice. According to the articles that I've read and some of the YouTube videos, some of the ones I saw, I'm like, oh, really? I don't know. But then other ones I was like, oh, that's nice. That's nice. You know, like anything, there's, there's scales. If, if you're thinking that this looks like an East St. Louis strip club, you would be wrong. It's different.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

No, I have a, like, a kind of an idea of what it looks like because I watch some kind of video documentary short about maid which is basically the same thing, but with women and they're all dressed like

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Maids.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Clue.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

so, and it was like a fancy place on the inside. It looked like a regular. I don't wanna say regular'cause it was like Japanese, you know?

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

you would imagine a fancy place in Japan to look.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah. Yeah, it, it's not like our western adult entertainment. There's no exposure of body parts. There's no crazy lighting or loud music. The music is set at a very reasonable volume as an old person. This very much so appeals to me and that encourages conversation. There are comfortable cushion chairs handily with partitions between you and the next table. Again, encouraging that private conversational aspect. More emotional intimacy. I think a lot of them look like nice hotel bars, which is my absolute favorite kind of bar. Give me a velvet channel back booth any day over a bar stool. I don't want anything to do with a bar stool. Gimme that booth, and once you sit down in these cushy, comfy chairs, the fun really begins, Rachel, because you get to go shopping.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Ooh.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

For men on a menu

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I like it. I feel like that's kind of how people choose their romantic partners these days. Right? It's the, uh,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

swipe right.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

the Uber Eats of host culture.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah. And you have your choice of men, but you know Asian men, and so I don't wanna yuck anyone's yum. Sexual preference is a super personal thing, but to me, these guys are not what I would call attractive As a western woman, I am mainly into manly looking guys that have hairy chest and facial hair. These host men to me look like little girls. They have small features, no facial hair, all around petite, they're wearing makeup. A lot of the time. Their hair blow dried into these anime kind of. Dos. It's not really my thing. I'm not an anime person. It's just, it's not my thing, but it, but if you are doing this in Japan, you speak Japanese, you're probably a Japanese native. This is probably very titillating to you, right?

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Sounds like it. And don't get me wrong, I do like me some feminine men. Like I have a major crush on Noel from the Great british Bake off in the it crowd, like I love me some goth, goth man. Uh, but this is, uh, they don't really do it. The pictures I've seen, the menus I've seen, these aren't really doing it for me either. Like you said, they look very, very young.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

They do.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I see on other things I know about, Japan seems to be a, a trend within the culture.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

At least it goes both ways. Right? That was like, at first I was like, Ew, they look so young. But then I'm like, well, they like their women y looking young too. So it it's not like just a man thing.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

grab a teddy bear and the woo,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

sorry.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

what they like across the board, male or female. That made me feel a little bit better about it, that it wasn't, uh, there wasn't a gender gap there. It was kind of across the board.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

just, everybody's infantalized.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Because at least you're gonna do it, you're gonna level the playing field, I guess, so.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

the girls are little girls and they wanna date little boys.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Exactly, exactly. And so depending on the club, you can either look at the menus, which are pictures of these hosts and they're made up names. Or you can kind of do a speed dating round where you choose your pay by the hour boyfriend, and you can chat with each of these hosts for, you know, 10 to 15 minutes. And at the end of the hour, your first hour, you are going to have to choose who is going to come to your table for some fun. This, Rachel, it is a big decision from then on at this club, at least. Your host is your shy may, your designated host. You cannot change it. No returns, no refunds, and not just for your visit. This is forever at this club. And thinking about the business model, I think that this is smart. This way, the management, they can avoid all of these host boys fighting over clients, sniping, stealing, all the drama that could come with that. And it also, I think, really encourages hosts to work hard because once they've been chosen, they've gotta make it pay.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

This seems like too much of a commitment, right? Like after an hour you gotta pick somebody and you can never switch. Like what is this? Love is blind. Like this is insane. 90 day fiance, but I mean, honestly. Okay, so I see the point you're making, but then if you didn't like your host, wouldn't you just go to a different club

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yes.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

loses all of the money that you would've had? So wouldn't it

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Thus, the incent incentive for them to work really hard,

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Yeah. But wouldn't the owner of the host club want

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

then they get rid of them. If they're people who can't, like snag a fish, boom, out, gone,

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Oh,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

want you here.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

but in the short term, I feel like you could have just given them somebody else.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah. Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

It's

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I'm gonna chalk that up in, into cultural differences, I guess. but I did think the same thing. I'm like, oh, that's a lot of commitment.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

right

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah, yeah, apparently. But these guys, they really do work hard. This sounds like truly awful work to me. I would not wanna be any part of this. So these guys, they don't just light your cigarettes, pour your drinks and smile at you. These hosts, their job is to become your dream man. Or you know, at least try to. So they are studying their customers. They are looking at what she likes, what she doesn't like. He has to become what the customer's looking for that night. Whether that's kind of a, a good time guy that wants to laugh and have a good time, a sensitive ear, or kind of something in between. He is 100% responsible for her enjoyment at the club and his behavior alone is what is going to determine. Determine if she will be back. So ho hosts are careful in how they interact with their customers. Making conversation is the most important part of the evening, making that bond.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Like, I'm sure it is hard. I'm sure there's a lot of work that goes into it. in my head, I am also hearing those really cheesy cliche lines that people say in all of my Netflix reality dating shows that they're just like, wow, I have never had this connection with you before. Wow. Or with anyone before, you're really special. You get me. And I just like imagine it's just those same repeat lines and everybody just projects onto them what they want.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I thought the same thing. I mean, looking at videos of these guys, I was like, really? People fall for this. But

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

They're a master conversationalist.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

that's the concept, right? Their job is to give that perfect boyfriend experience that makes you feel special, makes you feel sexy and wanted, but most of all, their job is to be a boyfriend that needs you to buy him expensive drinks.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

worst kind of boyfriend, like, oh my gosh. She's like, you got the tab right. You're picking this up. Right. I'll get you next time. I'll Venmo you. Sure. But, okay, so how many ladies he cc in a night? Right? Like, is he dedicated one to a table? Is he bopping around trying to host multiple women? Because like, what if you, the one you went from, the menu isn't available?

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah, it depends. So they will tell you like, he's not available, he's booked. So, you know, you can book them by the hour and you know, if you come in on a first time, you might only book them for an hour, but you have regulars that will book them for two or three or four hours, you know? And, and so if, if he's not available, they'll tell you he's not available. And you'll have to choose a different one from your menu.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Okay, so you can't just be like, oh, this set up camp here for an hour.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah, but I mean, they, they might, I mean, they might pop around to different tables throughout the night.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

could wait,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah,

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

if you're buying drinks, I'm sure they let you do

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Oh yeah, absolutely. You got another bit.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

it doesn't, it doesn't sound so bad of a job, right? It's like sitting and chatting with people. I feel like it's kind of like what waitresses, and bartenders. Already kind of do, right? They, they sit there, they chat, they become a listening ear, uh, all just to get that sweet, sweet dollar at the end in the form of a tip. I mean, at least in this club, it's like you're a personal bartender.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah, it, it is a very one-on-one service. So these hosts, they have a really good incentive for you to buy more drinks and specifically to buy the good drinks, and that is commissions. Your host is paid based on how much you spend while you're there. Your hourly rate, even though it goes up every hour, you stay, it's kinda like the, you know, first hour, half hour is half off. It goes higher and higher and higher. but that money, that ain't shit. They make their big bucks on those drink sales.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

So it is kind of like being a bartender, right? The bigger tab you get.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

No more tip.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

run up the bigger tip.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

And so this is how host bars make their money. It's by convincing women to pay huge sums of money on alcohol. I'm talking massively marked up booze that is then marked up even higher because they're like, oh, we can put it into this custom bottle that's like a unicorn or a teddy bear or some, you know, cutesy shit that Japan is into.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Oh yeah.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

And also, no drinks sold by the glass. It is by the bottle only.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Which I think is also kind of a smart business tactic, right? Because if you drink your bottle, it takes you too long to drink your bottle. Oh, now you're in your second hour, you know, might as well get another bottle. It's not like, oh, I'm gonna drink one drink and my, you know, be out of there.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

It's all about getting to draw out the experience.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Absolutely. But immediately I was like, this is where I'm out. I like to drink man, but buy the bottle I mean maybe wine or champagne. I could draw it out for a while, but hard liquor. Oh my god. I would be barfing so fast.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

mean, is the hose drinking any of this as well? I'm assuming

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

yes,

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

a bit,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

yes. They are drinking a lot. That is actually, I'm glad you brought that up, because the more senior hosts, the ones that are making a lot of bank, have a lot of regular customers. So they might have a couple of tables going throughout the night, multiple people there to see them. And so they will assign their more junior hosts to drink at the table with them so that they don't have to drink as much.'cause it's hard on your body, man.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

so they just bring another dude in

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

sit like three of'em, like

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Oh wow. Double date or whatever.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yep. And it's all just to get that FaceTime. Yeah. And then, oh he'll, he'll take a shot. He'll take a shot. He'll take a shot. So you don't have to split that bottle. You'll third that bottle.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Oh wow.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah. And the markup on these bottles is absolutely huge. What would be a$10 bottle of vodka will cost you over a hundred dollars. And again, whatever that is in yen. So a bottle of champagne, which is the host beverage of choice, because it is the most expensive, can run up to insane prices. But your cheapest options are like over a grand. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the coup de gras of the host world is this champagne fountain or champagne tower where the customer will pay for this spectacle of, you know, bottles of champagne poured, you know, in the, that goes down into the glasses. Yeah. And it's all to show her host how much she cares for him. I cannot even wrap my head around the amount of money these women have dropped here. I watched one video where they said this woman spent$16,000 in a month. Again, the US equivalent$16,000. So whatever is that, is in yen, like millions.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I mean, make that paper parity. Boy, I feel like that's what I would be saying if the roles were reversed.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I'm too much of a fuddyduddy, but I, I want to say for you.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

You sound hesitant.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Officially, that's my on paper statement.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

And of course this is just the starting off point because this relationship does not end when you leave the host club for the night. At least that's not the business model. You need to exchange ya digits because he is going to want you to come back. He's gonna send you messages, inviting you back. He'll remind you, oh, you didn't finish your last bottle and I'm, I'm saving it for you, and I'm thinking it, thinking about you, and I'm just wishing you come back to see me. Basically what he is doing, he's collecting a harem of women to lure back to the club to spend again.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

And you know, I was kind of on board with this up until now. Like, I get it. I get the need for human connection, but like, dear God, I do not want another person to text. If somebody was blowing up my phone, instant

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

outies. Yeah. But what if they were really nice, like, oh, I really miss you. I think you, I hope you're having a beautiful day. I bet you look really beautiful today.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I don't. Bye. That's really nice of you, but you can't see my hair because there's a door.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

It's a solid 30 rock ference.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I've been watching it again,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Good for you.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

every six episodes. I'm like, I'm watching 30 Rock again. Uh,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

So the amount a host makes per month, it can vary wildly. It's based on his popularity, his location, how generous his ladies are feeling that month, and what services he will provide. on the low end, you're looking at about$1,500 a month. Not really enough to live on, you know?

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

city.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Nope. But the most popular hosts, the ones with these huge fucking billboards, can make up to$50,000 a month.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

So it's kind like podcasting, right? Right. Because you got your big shows that make Boco bucks and then you got your sad little indie podcasts that just scratch along by the

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

their own money. They're buying the girl, the, the girls drinks rather than them buying them drinks.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

exactly. Uh, I think podcasts like that would maybe need some better, uh, clientele then maybe the clientele needs to step up a little bit and make these hosts know how much they're appreciated.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

So as you can imagine, this is a popular thing to try your hand at as a dude. In Japan, the average too true, the average host is about 18 to 25 years old and has failed for whatever reason at finding a white collar job. Or they don't want one. I think this makes sense. If you think you're smooth with the ladies and you can make a fucking fortune, who wouldn't give this a try? But most of these people, they fizzle out shortly after not making much money because truly it's, it's not an easy gig.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Yeah. The toxic part of me thinks that I could do it. You know, I sit down and talk to somebody, make them. I feel like that was my job when I was doing corporate features, right? You just sit down and make somebody feel special.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

but I just, I think that where I'm lacking is just the general attractiveness. I don't think that, that, you know. to be professionally a professional dater person?

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Professional dater person,

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

No, I would not have made the cut, unfortunately.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I don't know. I don't, I think men's bar is lower than we think they are,

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Well, I'm sure it applies here too. It's just more about

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

It's about like how they can make you feel great because some of these guys, I mean, I don't, the, the attractive scale is a little bit skewed for me, right? Because it's not really my thing.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

you're trying to read in a different language. You know?

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Exactly. But there are some people I'm like, no, there, that is specifically like weird. I don't, I don't know. I I don't think it's necessarily

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

just

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Maybe, maybe I, maybe that is it because there's one guy that made like the most popular in host in Japan right now and I'm like, you look like Michael Jackson. It's very, very strange. So

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

That's why they wanna see him. He,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

maybe it gotta get a gimmick, right? Like gypsy.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

You gotta have the hook.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

So aside from guzzling drinks until the clubs close, the inherent risk of alcoholism that comes with that love bombing women via text all day. What else does being a host entail? Well, that depends on the host. So now we gotta talk about prostitution In Japan, is it legal? Yes. And also no. So the prostitution prevention law of 1956 in Japan says that no person may either do prostitution or become the customer of it, but its definitions are loose. It does not lay any punishment out for these violations. And somehow prostitution in their law books as defined as quote, sexual intercourse with an unspecified person. What the fuck does that mean?

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I mean, a good thing I only hoard up for specified people, right?

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I have no idea what that means.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

intercourse with any unspecified person?

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I, I, I don't know. I think it has something to do with like unknown person. I, it makes no sense.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

No hookups

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

It's fucking bizarre. But apparently nobody really cares what the definition is because sex work is super legal. You see them all over the places in the, the Red light district, they have their own little gimmicks like soaping you up before the act. Like little costumes, like the maid things like you were talking about, like a ma, like a maid, or like a health spa, all this different kind of stuff. I learned a lot more about Japanese brothels than I wanted to while doing this research.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Yeah, it's kinda nuts over there in

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Truly.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

to this.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah. So if it's not illegal to be a male prostitute, are these guys just banging all these women inside the club? No, because it doesn't make sense for them to do that, at least not right away. So these hosts know that Chase is what these women are looking for, so they hold it out, right? The longer they can hold out letting the woman pay for the privilege of his manhood. Uh, the longer these women are gonna show up to the club and buy drinks.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Yeah,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

so he is not letting you buy the milk at the first visit or even the second. You are gonna have to work up to it.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Giving'em the old and belin move. Right. You say no enough and suddenly you're the queen of motherfucking England.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Or the, the king of the host club in any case,

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Yeah.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

and not all of them sell sex, or at least I don't think that they do. This is kind of a shady world, and Japan is a culture that is not known for its direct communication. So I didn't really get a clear answer on that. But my impression is that not everyone sells sex in this profession. And if they do, they don't do it all the time with every customer. It's kind of a case by case basis, though. I'm sure that there's the ones that are doing this at every conceivable opportunity. So it's a, it's a spectrum.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Right. I feel like it's a little bit more of it's not just a trick, right? They're not just turning

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah, definitely not.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

if it's something they wanna do and it's something that they can get compensated for,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

why the hell not?

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

know a whole lot about Japanese values around sex. I feel like they're more reserved or it's a little bit more like patriarchal,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Mm-hmm.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

in the US I, I feel like a guy, why the hell not, right? It doesn't really damage their social capita. As much as it would a woman for

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

body count or something along

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Mm-hmm.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

So why not sleep with the person if you like her and she's paying you?

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah. I mean, if you can get it up, why not go for it, right?

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Yeah. I don't see what you would lose other than, you know, what is that like youth group thing where they stick the bandaid on you and they pull it off and they pull it off and they pull it off? Did you ever have to do that? It's like they give you a piece of sticky tape and the more you stick it to different people, the less sticky it gets. And it's like their analogy for being like sex becomes less special the more

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I never did that one. There was like the, the tree though. It was like you have sex with one person and they had sex with another person and then that person had sex with three people and you're like, it's like you're having sex with a hundred people

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

You are like, hell yeah.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

getting my orgy on. So, but this sexual transaction, it will always take place outside of the club because these clubs have a no touching policy, at least not sexual touching. So there's like a hug, handholding, all that PG stuff. That's fine. Handshake. Yeah, that's fine. So the host clubs are licensed and inspected. They will be fined or closed if found in violation of rules because. They are regulated as a food and entertainment establishment, not as whorehouses or brothels or whatever the PC term is. I don't know.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

uh, Bob House. No, I think that's what the youth are calling it.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Bop house.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Yeah,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

the Blitz creek, bop, bop, bop. Anyway, uh, so the women who attend these establishments on the regular and provide such a bounty to their, the these boy toys, they are hard to pin down in who they are. My friend's tour guide said, and it was confirmed by online sources. A lot of these customers are women who are married to rich men.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Oh.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah. To me, a hundred percent tracks lonely, older, rich women looking for some company, their husbands are ignoring them and their husbands probably have their own like peace on the side, so why the fuck not? Right?

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Yeah, it's really giving like old school royalty, right? You're

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah,

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

for the social benefits and then you're doing your own thing on the side. Marriage and name for political gain.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yep. But the next class of customers is a little bit harder to wrap your brain around. According to several sources, about 50 to 80% of the host club's customers are sex workers.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

that's so many percentages I can kind of see where this might be coming from or I can kind of see where this might be going.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Okay? So this is the time in the episode where things get a little bit dark. So at first when I saw this and I multiple places like this is not something I pulled outta my ass. Like this is across multiple different things that this, this is the majority of their customers, and it made no sense to me. Why would female sex workers be using their hard or money on. Another sex worker. You spent all night selling your body, being fake, pretending to actually like blowing randos that are covered in soap. And then when you're finally off work, you can be yourself and use your body how you want to, you choose to engage in a sham relationship where then you are the one being used for money. And I was like, is is this an abuse? Is cyclical, cyclical kind of thing?

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Everybody just wants to be loved, man. You spend so much time having to focus on others' wants and needs that like maybe it's just nice for someone to pretend to like you for who you are.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yep. I think you nailed it because after doing a lot of this, watching reading, I think that's kind of where I landed too. I mean, these are, these are women who are on the fringes of society. Sex work they do, it's legal, but it's, it is not scandalized like it is in the West. Like you would be like, you know, disowning your daughter or anything, but it's not a prestigious job. They probably feel bad about themselves, about their work, their place in society. They don't have time to go out clubbing with their own friends. They get off work super duper late, and what's a girl to do? They're these hotty boom bodies across the street from your soap land. They only charge$30 an hour to be the best boyfriend you've ever had. None of your customers at the Pink Salon are saying, oh, you're so pretty. They hold the doors, pour your drinks, light your cigarettes. They're not listening to you. So yeah, everybody's lonely and you're just like, well, okay.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I could definitely see the appeal. I imagine it's hard to hold down a partner when you're doing that kind of

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Mm-hmm.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

not just because of the IC factor that might get, but like you said, the hours are odd

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

also you walk out, I, I feel like it's a part of, I don't know, say it's, are strippers sex workers? I don't know. I don't

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I'd like, I think they are, they may not be having sex, but they're in like the realm of sex.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

For a while I went down like the stripper TikTok, right. And they, not all they do, but there's like a trend at the end of night. You like fan out all the money you've earned and you like flap it around and all this stuff. So I kind of see where you then take those stacks that you have and then make a champagne tower.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

that's kind of your flex for all the money that you've earned as well.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yep.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

If that's anything the same as what I've seen on TikTok.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Uh, it, it sounds like it tracks and as sad and weird as all of that is when I think too hard about it, it actually gets even darker

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Oh boy. Yay.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

because Japan has actually had some real issues with these host clubs lately. in 2004, they started raiding people left and right. They're shutting shit down, handing out fines because they are having a national crisis with sex trafficking and forced prostitution.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Hmm. It's almost like if you can modify people to continue to grow your business, you're going to need a continual stream of product, AKA pay supply and demand. Right.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah, and I'm just gonna say hashtag not all hosts, okay, but some host, some malicious hosts have been known to prey on clients. These malicious clubs, they will use a pay later arrangement for customers. So women get to spend outrageous amounts of money. They don't have to pony up on the night. I'm talking 30 k, a hundred k in a month. Just champagne towers left and right, just going all in. And if, if you're a real evil son of a bitch, this isn't gonna be hard.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

No, not at all.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

No. You're encouraging this woman to drink more, get her super drunk, pressuring into her champagne fountain, or the biggest, most expensive unicorn bottle of liquor or whatever, and then just keep it coming, and then the next day keep love bombing her via text messages, telling her to come back because she's so fucking drunk. She doesn't remember right. How much that they racked up the night before and when they can't pay when they're faced with the final bill. Luckily, your host will have just the solution on how she can work off that debt

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

You know, I think that, uh, plumbers might be running a similar scam over here in the US on lots of lonely Housewives, at least, uh, based on the documentaries I've seen,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

or just based on the bills that I get when the plumber comes over us and I'm like, I can't afford this. And he is like, well.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I got a pipe that you can expect.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

So an even more fucked up method of racking up these giant amounts of debt for the club is social media hosts are often social media stars. They're quote influencers, right? They got all these different followers and what they'll do is they'll randomly quote, randomly message one girl out of all these followers just to say hi on Instagram. Right. Do, you know, build kind of an emotional connection thinking about like, think about like if you followed an influencer online and then he just reached out to you. Right. Like somebody with millions of followers.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

the most special.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Exactly. No, exactly.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

somebody else,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Exactly.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I was special.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Precisely. And then you invite her to come see you at this club, and then you get the booze flowing and all that hard work of getting her to have feelings for you. It was already done, done online. You never had to leave the side of your current trick at the, at the club, right? It's just all done in app. And I read stories of hosts. This one was particularly egregious, I think, uh, pretending to be in real relationships with women. They hadn't, they didn't know. They didn't know what they did. They would meet online, go what seemed go on, what seemed like real dates. They would meet their parents, they would have consensual sex under the guise of a relationship. And then, boom, I'm a host. You owe me for all this. Here's your bill and oh, you don't have the money. Well. I know you could pay me back the soap land down the street, which my club owner just happens to also own, is looking for new hires.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Could you just be like, no. Like what? Like,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Uh, I know, right?

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

me?

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Right. I, that was my thought too. We'll get to it.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

But yeah, this sounds like a lot like a plot from the TV show Harlett that I watched a few years ago, which is about

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I remember

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

in 1919, in 17 hundreds England. So a lot, not a lot has changed. And you know, I, I'm gonna guess I would put money down that, that this same grift was being ran in Babylon back in the day. So humans man,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

doing the same shit, different, different numbers on the year, but we're all doing the same shit and some of them, uh, will. Also take important documents like people's IDs and their insurance cards, passports as kind of a ransom until they are paid back and further coerce these women into sex work. And to make it even sadder, uh, activists say that all of this got so much worse after the covid restrictions. They were lifted in 2023. Lonely people who've been shut away for ages were looking to have a good time. And so it got really, really bad. And, and the victims, they are hesitant to go to the authorities, like you said, go to the cops or, or their parents or whatever else, because it's really fucking embarrassing. Right.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Mm-hmm.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

And my thought with all this extortion. I have to think the Yakuza is involved somehow. I saw it mentioned a couple of times in my research, but it was really in passing. Like nobody really seemed to care. This was all a part of organized crime and human trafficking on a mass organized scale. It, it, it's definitely kind of in that realm. So the, that's why people don't necessarily push back. Because it's fucking scary.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Yeah. I mean, I, I don't even know what you're talking about. I never heard anything about something like that. Sounds like a. A nice group of young gentlemen, no need to track us down over here in the States and murder us with your samurai swords and drifting street racers.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I'm not scared of them. They can't touch me in the us. Come at me with your samurai sword, bro. I'm calling you out.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

You're gonna get deported? No. You better hope your visa's good.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Oh, it is? Oh, it is.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Yeah,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I know, right? I know. It's really fucking, anyway,

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

have that gold card. I was that real, or I did not. Is that just a headline? I saw somewhere that Trump's planning to sell these fancy gold cards that get you free pass to the US to rich people

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

it would not surprise me in the slightest. I did not, I did not see that. Like no comment, but it would not surprise me.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

That goes for sale. Ding-dong our door. We open it. Samurai swiped, you mentioned the Yakuza on your little podcast.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

So when it comes to the sex worker thing, is it that most of these clients are already sex workers or the debt force them into sex work and then they keep coming to see their men? Chicken or the egg, nobody knows either way. It's really fucking depressing

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

They're like, how could you, I have an idea for how how you could pay back your, debt. And she's like, use my data engineering degree to compile a, flow charter, I don't know, pivot table of your client's information so you can, and they're like, yes, get this girl behind the computer, make her do payroll or whatever.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

and I, like I said, I watched a fair amount of YouTube videos and seeing these men at work, I thought it was really gross. These hosts, even the ones that are considered, at least, I think they're considered on the up and up, not trying to traffic anyone. They really put the pressure on. They, they communicate outside the club with these daily messages, calls, pictures. Seems all romantic at first, but it has this subtext of, come back, come see me, let's hang out. Don't you wanna see me to be the top spot at the club? Don't you love me?

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

And this is where I absolutely am lost because who

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah,

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

being around salespeople?

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I know.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

oh, let me call in Midtown, home Improvement, just to like have some company this afternoon. It's like, then they come around, I'm like, get off my stoop. You vampire. I am not welcoming you in.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah, I, I thought the same thing. It seems like such a hard sell. I, I think there has to be some cultural aspects at play that I did not get because there was a lot of commentary in these articles about the kind of messages that they would send. And being an American who says what I think. Pretty much 24 7. I cannot conceptualize a world where I don't think, what I say 24 7, it was confusing, but the impression of the commentary was that there was a lot of pressure, even though the messages looked a little tame to me. I think there's also something there about taking care of your host. There was definitely some something wrapped there. Like you want him to succeed and make more money than anyone else because his success as a host means that you also have some prestige. But again, I, I feel like that was kind of lost on me as a foreigner. I don't know,

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Yeah, it's like your little sugar baby can't be walking around looking like trash. That's just embarrassing for you.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

apparently,

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

poorly on you.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

maybe that's it. Maybe it's because I'm a woman. Like I just don't understand like what you wanna support, your what, I don't know. Uh, very, very different. And I think another item. I missed, is that why? Why are these women sex workers are not, why do they want what they absolutely know is fake? This is their fucking job. You know, this is their fucking job. They're sitting there telling you, I wanna be the number one host at my fucking job. So one of the theories was that Japanese culture is really big on putting on a brave face. It's a concept called ga. And that concept is enduring the seemingly unendurable with patience and dignity. Basically, it's that no what, no matter whatever happens, you act the same. If your life is falling apart, big fucking deal, you are not allowed to act any differently and not just to any stranger. This is including your closest family and your closest friends. So with the influx of Western ideals, Western romance. Women are starting to, Japanese women starting to realize that maybe they could let out all this emotion, maybe not with a proper Japanese man that you'd like to marry, but if you can pay by the hour for raw emotion with some sensitive man who will listen to you and not judge you for not being ga, maybe that's worth that insane price tag for you.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Yeah, I could also imagine that a woman's role in a, their culture too, like it is as ours is to be the support person.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yep.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

the one that's holding it down for everybody else, or you know you're the one that's supposed to be supporting your partner in the relationship, yeah, it might be nice to be able to go out and have that attention poured on you for a change.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

You nailed it because the other, another theory was the role in of women in Japanese society, so Japan, it's pretty misogynistic. I'm not gonna go on that rant. But I can safely say that culturally, the status of females in Japan is below a male, and you can't argue with me. It's what all the fucking scholars say, not just this rando on the internet. So that ability, like you said, to turn it on its head and to be the one in charge, or be the one who can express the emotion rather than supporting the people around you being the one that's calling the shots, that's a bit of a power trip. And I can see how women could go for that.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Yeah, definitely. Even the annoying messages can then be flipped to be like, oh, look how much this little man needs my cash,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah,

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Like, maybe I'll throw, throw a few more champagne showers his way if I, he just degrades himself with a few more sexy photos and groveling a little bit more.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

yeah, yeah. And then of course there is also the overall issue of loneliness. So Japan's population, it's getting smaller. Dating is really hard. Apparently nobody knows how to talk to each other. No one is boning, and human connection seems to be at a premium, an insanely expensive premium that people are willing to pay.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Right. It seems like they've commodified all the human parts of life, right? Because everybody works so much that

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yep.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

time to support these other parts of themselves. So instead of

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

They're human parts, not, they're just corporate parts.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Yeah. You know, they just, instead of having friends, sure they have some friends, but like you go to a place and you pay someone to talk to you,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yep.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

you're horny, you go to a place and you pay a lady to cover with you in soap and then have sex with you, or whatever happens in the soap place you're alluding to. And it's just like those pieces, they not only pay for, but the things that I've read, they prefer it because there's less risk involved,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yep.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

to put in the work. You just go out and get your needs met by employees. You just employ people things for you.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Dude, there was a whole nother rabbit hole that I went down this research, not not just renting a boyfriend, but renting parents.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I was gonna say, like that's the next thing you rent a dad to be like,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

you.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yeah. That's a, that is a hundred percent happening.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

that's sad.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

It's so sad. Uh, so another article I read made a really good point about this whole sex trafficking force prostitution thing, stories that are out there in the press. They put women in this role of helpless victim of absolutely terrible men. But does that kind of deny them agency in their own stories? Right. So we can say that, yeah. They were pressured into that. But were they manipulated when they knew that this was exactly what these people were doing? They, they made a choice to engage in this kind of nightlife to come back over and over. Chose to spend their money this way. But then on the other hand, I was like, is this victim blaming? I don't know, man. Th that, that last article that I read really kind of turned me on its head a lot of gray areas. I know that I don't really feel sorry for the men who get conned out of money from strippers and hookers. You know, so should I feel the same way about these women who are getting conned outta that money by male sex workers.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I mean, but those dudes aren't then being forced to put on something skimpy and shake it on the pole themselves. You know, it's kind of, it's kind of a different beast. And also I would look at the power dynamics as well. I, that might factor in, as you said, the culture's set up in a way.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I don't know. I don't know. It's just, it's a sticky wicket.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Well, we're all victims of our vices anyway.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Right. And I mean, I, I don't know. Just maybe stay away from host clubs or at least stay away from dumping your whole paycheck at one. I don't know.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

understand that what you're buying is a commodity, right? You're buying something, you're not making a relationship.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

But victim or not listeners, that's your job now de determining these things, thinking the big thoughts on what this means. About culture, about the dynamics of men and women, about the loneliness that's just abound in the world. Is this our future in America? Are we gonna be renting boyfriends and dads and the whole kit and caboodle?

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

already commodifying our personalities. Look through, look at

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Yep. Yep.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

our labor isn't going to be the thing that's worth anything anymore. It's our humanity

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Uh,

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

buckle in and get ready for it. It's the next, hopefully you have good personalities.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

here we are. We're trying to get a jump on it by having our own personality.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

us. You know, we're, we're not gonna cut it in the new world.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Apparently not. We're not sexy enough. I need to get some soap.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

meant like our pod, you know, we're not like, we can't get enough corporate sponsors or

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

That's what I mean. We're not sexy enough. We gotta cover ourselves in soap. I mean, we have a YouTube channel.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

doesn't already, they don't know. We already are covered in soap.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Hi. How's it going?

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Don't

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

this sexy? All right, so go out my little socialites think on this one. Let us know what you think. Would you pay for this? Have you ever been to one? Let us know.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I kind of would do it once. Sorry.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

totally do it once. 100%.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Just to see,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

to get in the door. Fuck yeah, I'm gonna do it.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

my Duolingo out. I'm gonna learn Japanese.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I'd fucking do it for an hour or two. Absolutely. But then I'm like, no, I'm good. Thanks.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

well I'll be like, uh, new phone. Who dis.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

New teddy bear. Who dis

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Well anyways, be sure to let us know. Subscribe, leave a review on whatever podcast app you're listening to. Leave us a comment on YouTube or of course, send us a message at

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

or the link in the show notes to send us anonymous text message. You know, the drill. Until next time. May your champagne towers floweth over and your boys be pretty and hairless. And always remember, keep marching to the beat of your own drum. I

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

I don't want my men to be hairless.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

want my animals to be hairless. Like that's

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Ooh, that's far more preferable. Hairy men, hairless pets.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

Yes. Hairless dogs. Hairless, puss.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

All the hair on your pussy and on your man. Bring back the bush, man. Why do I, all the messages have to come back to me saying, bring back the bush. I feel like I say that a

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

it's, I, I,

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

lot.

rc-guest214_2_04-11-2025_214614:

I heard it's happening.

laura-b_2_04-11-2025_214616:

Good. Gimme that bush.