Japan's male hosts: androgynous beauty and easy money

Japan's 'host': a business of image, hair and astronomical revenues

The host industry in Japan doesn't sell sens: it sells a fantasy of beauty, status and companionship that comes at a staggering price. A recent documentary has put the spotlight back on the clubs where young, androgynous-looking men make fortunes from female clients who pay for the feeling that their money buys them a moment of attention.

The beauty standard that rules Tokyo

The ideal that thrives in Tokyo has little to do with the Western one. While the rugged, bearded "bear type" is prized here, in Shinjuku's clubs success belongs to the slim young man with soft skin and well-groomed hair. The hair obsession is such that, it has been noted, a bald man is practically shut out of the profession. A good hairstyle, they say, is the currency of exchange.

The business behind the fantasy

Behind the glitter is the money: amounts a client can spend in a single night, funding champagne, gifts and the hosts' lifestyle. The most exclusive venues take in millions of yen a year. The series Tokyo Vice has portrayed the female side of the business, the hostesses, which moves comparable sums and trinc the same logic: looks, conversation and flattery turned into merchandise.

It's not all glamour. Some see in this culture of image a trivialization of Japanese culture, and the arrival of foreigners into the business fuels the criticism. The boyish, almost unreal aesthetic demanded of hosts has been flagged by some as a symptom of a society that privileges simulation over authenticity.

With an ageing population and changing consumption habits, the host club model will have to adapt or be reduced to Tokyo's nightlife districts. The fantasy holds as long as someone pays for it, and for now the queue keeps forming. The real question is whether the bubble of image will ever burst.