Yeah.

I really doubt it's that much, especially the minimum wages.

The Wikipedia article about host/hostess bars in Japan, says it's a very low paid job.

time for a new career!

In Japan? Yeah, pretty much.

They don't actually have sex with the girls, since girls -- in fact -- can live without sex anyways. They are paid to 'have fun' with the girls -- the guys claim that they are 'deceiving the girls' and playnig hard to get for more money, but it turns out the girls know the game they play.

I got the torrent of this movie off of (ahem...) 4chan a while back :-(, but this short clip is sort of misrepresentative of the movie. I'm a reasonable man, and IMO this is one of the most fascinating documentaries I've ever seen. There are some final twists at the end that I don't want to give away -- but the ending is Kafkaesque in a way, where it turns out that nothing is really the way they describe it --- there is no deception, there is no lying, there is no honesty, everyone is aware of what the other is doing and what they themselves are doing, but somehow, everyone goes home a loser and no one knows what's really going on. I would call it a dance of death. The maker of the documentary (I don't know how accurate it is) is kind of a genius -- has probably read Kafka.

Paid sex is a little tricky in Japan. Paying for oral sex or a hand job is completely legal. Paying for penetration is not legal. However, if you pay first and then 'decide' to have sex later then you just become two consenting adults. You can tell the politician who came up with this law were men. :-)

It is a weird thing in Japan. I am living here now and the women still want a macho man. However, you can be macho over here and still pull out a mirror to check if your hair is okay. I have not really figured out how that makes sense, but many Japanese athletes do their eyebrows over here. And they are considered manly and cool.

Re-up?