oh how naive.. lol..
sorry to burst your bubble..but they're escorts.
In america, escorts translate as prostitutes...you can sleep with them, or just have GFE (girl friend experiences)..in this case..BFE.
They work in a club though, so they're more like strippers (minus the dancing and stripping...). Yes, strippers do the drink hustle, and get paid commission on drinks. They sit there and entertain the men....
Just like these host boys do..host boys can just sit and talk, they drink A LOT of alcohol a night. They can and most likely do sleep with paying women and men. They have regular customers just like strippers do.
It may look all nice and sweet, but Host clubs are part of the sex industry.
If one of you cute lil soompi girls go over to the club and get in...you'll get approached by a host boy ( probably not your favorite cute ones cuz those ones are spending time and collecting big bucks with their regulars) who will see if he can charm (hustle) you for some money.. once he sees he cant, he'll walk away...
just saying...~
Full Version: Host Boy Central!
ahahah, i love this pic. and the guy with the beard is HOT!!!!
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l86/ai0n...ua/ff1464f7.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l86/ai0n...ua/ff1464f7.jpg
^ thats my makoto bear right there
and not all of us are naive i know what these boys do for a living but we can still think they are cute just like anyone else
and not all of us are naive i know what these boys do for a living but we can still think they are cute just like anyone else
QUOTE(xfatrabbitx @ Nov 6 2007, 10:28 AM) 
oh how naive.. lol..
sorry to burst your bubble..but they're escorts.
In america, escorts translate as prostitutes...you can sleep with them, or just have GFE (girl friend experiences)..in this case..BFE.
They work in a club though, so they're more like strippers (minus the dancing and stripping...). Yes, strippers do the drink hustle, and get paid commission on drinks. They sit there and entertain the men....
Just like these host boys do..host boys can just sit and talk, they drink A LOT of alcohol a night. They can and most likely do sleep with paying women and men. They have regular customers just like strippers do.
It may look all nice and sweet, but Host clubs are part of the sex industry.
If one of you cute lil soompi girls go over to the club and get in...you'll get approached by a host boy ( probably not your favorite cute ones cuz those ones are spending time and collecting big bucks with their regulars) who will see if he can charm (hustle) you for some money.. once he sees he cant, he'll walk away...
just saying...~
sorry to burst your bubble..but they're escorts.
In america, escorts translate as prostitutes...you can sleep with them, or just have GFE (girl friend experiences)..in this case..BFE.
They work in a club though, so they're more like strippers (minus the dancing and stripping...). Yes, strippers do the drink hustle, and get paid commission on drinks. They sit there and entertain the men....
Just like these host boys do..host boys can just sit and talk, they drink A LOT of alcohol a night. They can and most likely do sleep with paying women and men. They have regular customers just like strippers do.
It may look all nice and sweet, but Host clubs are part of the sex industry.
If one of you cute lil soompi girls go over to the club and get in...you'll get approached by a host boy ( probably not your favorite cute ones cuz those ones are spending time and collecting big bucks with their regulars) who will see if he can charm (hustle) you for some money.. once he sees he cant, he'll walk away...
just saying...~
From Wiki:
Sometimes a host will go with a customer for a meal or karaoke after business; this is called 'after' and is considered bad manners by some people. Staying longer at the host club is considered the 'proper' way to treat your host. However it is even possible to go on day trips or travel with a host, but a host can only go with his own customer. Meeting or communicating with a customer who is not your own customer is usually against the host 'rules' and if discovered he is liable to be fined or fired from the club.
Sometimes, for instance if a female pays a large amount of money and/or if the host likes them in return, the host can have sex with the client.[3] If the same host meets the same client, she has a higher chance of having sex than the host having sex with another client. There are various terms for a host who has a sexual relationship with his customer, e.g. a 'colourful love business' (色恋営業), 'colourful love' (色恋), 'colourful guy' (色彼), 'pillow business' (枕営業) or 'pillow' (枕).
Yes, the boys do sleep with the customers, but like the info above, it's not like they can 'easily' sleep with them, since outside communication with their customer are considered improper ^^;; Their customer must pay hella lot on money on them *laughs*
^ Thanks for explaining! My friend and I have been arguing what male hosts really do. So they really are like geishas, they sell their virginity to whoever is the highest bidder, only they're not virgins anymore lol. I think their work is pretty decent, they're not exactly prostitutes looking for sex but they're men treat women the way women want to be treated.
On the article above, it says Ryo is the second best host. Who's the first?
On the article above, it says Ryo is the second best host. Who's the first?
@xfatrabbitx: They are not gigolos. Hosts clubs are very decent compared to strip clubs. The customer are treated with care and proper etiquette. They donīt go around half neckid and shake their snakes at customers you know. Ž_Ž Sexual innuendos are made but never so blatant like in a stripclub.
Their main selling point is not sex. But hey, host or not, I'm sure that if some one comes up to you offering you a million dollars to have sex with them, you'll consider it. And they are men afterall, so sleeping around won't be such a big deal to them.
Whatever they do, they're still cute to me. I'm not being naive or deluding myself or anything.
Here's another article on hosts clubs. I used it for an asignment, my english teacher was very intrigued XD.
Rent Boys
Sunday, Jan. 13, 2002 By LISA TAKEUCHI CULLEN TOKYO Article
Player's Club Dios is buzzing. The band is knocking out R.-and-B. Christmas tunes, waiters are bustling around with bottles of whiskey and plates of smoked duck, and the white leather banquettes are crammed with men in dark suits whooping it up with pretty young women. It's just another party spot in a city of party spots, except for one obvious difference: when a drink is poured, it's done by a very deferential man for a woman paying big money for his attentions.
Male-host bars�mirror images of nightspots where giggling girls fawn over inebriated businessmen�have been on the fringe of Japan's colorful nightlife for decades, catering to aged sugar mamas and scrawny scroungers with hair gel and overlaundered black suits. Kiss those days sayonara. Japan's host clubs have gone mainstream�without getting overly squeaky clean. The newly burnished male host�sans gold teeth and creepy leer�is Japan's latest celebrity. Hosts are appearing on TV talk shows and publishing memoirs, how-to guides and even business books. A high-profile TV movie about a host club aired last month, starring a dream roster of the country's hottest male actors. There are hundreds of such clubs in areas like Tokyo's Kabuki-cho and they vie for business via cell phones and the Internet, which has search sites that rank the city's top hosts by looks and charm quotient. For the customers, Japan's trend-conscious young women, a night at a host bar is part thrill, part danger. The thrill, of course, is somewhat sexual: the guys are attentive, hunky and dangle the possibility they might be available after the clubs close. The danger is financial: after entrance fees, host commissions and nosebleed-priced drinks, a customer can rack up a $10,000 bill in a single night.
If the industry has a poster boy, it's Reiji, a career host and owner of Player's Club Dios. Parked on a rear banquette, Reiji surveys his kingdom in a pin-striped, three-piece Gianfranco Ferre suit and rimless spectacles, looking like a dashing young CEO�which, in fact, he is. Reiji's two host bars gross $8 million a year and he's planning a chain of clubs and restaurants. He has authored two books aimed at businessmen and speaks at universities and to corporations. "I am called the 'King of Hosts,'" he says, "but the reason they want me is because I know the secret to success in business." Which is, of course, women. The host-club industry is roaring, Reiji says, because it focuses relentlessly on the most powerful segment of Japan's faltering consumer market. "As a host and as a businessman, I use what I know to try to think like a woman. Japanese men laugh at that," Reiji says softly, leaning in close. "But I tell you, any business today that doesn't know what women want is a business that won't survive."
What a woman wants, according to his research, is attention, and at a host club, she's overwhelmed. Clubs range from casual pubs to glitzy disco-like halls, but all use pretty much the same system. A woman is lured in with a relatively cheap first-time fee of $50 to $100. On that visit, she must choose her "main" host. Because whomever she picks will receive an up-front commission and half the take from all of her bills whenever she comes to the club, the whole staff showers the newcomer with charm. For a Japanese woman consigned to supporting roles all her life, the star treatment is pretty irresistible. (If she grows sick of her main host, she simply shifts her business to a new club.)
Chika Aoyama, 23, is on her fourth jaunt to a host club, this time with a group of associates from her job in TV. As a leggy graduate of one of the country's best schools, Keio University, she defies the stereotype of host-club customers as dateless losers or low-class nightlife workers. "Just a year ago, I thought host clubs were scary places where men tried to fool you out of a lot of money," Aoyama says. "But I found the boys are so friendly and unthreatening. In the shortest time, it's gone from illicit to normal."
But it's still a business. A host may juggle dozens of clients at a time. Some visit the club just a few times a year, but those who come regularly require a significant amount of off-duty attention. Takuya Sawamura, a gregarious, pink-haired host in Kobe, phones his top clients a few times a week, tags along on shopping trips and acts as their boyfriend at class reunions. He also provides sex. "It's whatever the client wants," he says. He isn't paid cash for these favors, but the women thank him by racking up fat expenses at the club and lavishing him with pricey gifts.
"What we sell is not a thing," Sawamura muses. "If they just wanted a drink, they could go to a liquor store. If they wanted sex, they could call a gigolo. What they want and we provide is caring. Kindness. The knowledge that someone is thinking of them." The common misperception, especially among men, is that male hosts lead glamorous lives with women lavishing on them Rolexes, Dom Perignon and sex. Sawamura, who makes $80,000 a year, laughs. "It's more about research, brains and lots of hard work."
That's obviously not what's on the minds of the 30 young men who turn up every week on Reiji's doorstep begging for jobs. Working as a male host still carries seedy connotations, but the recession has led them to seek out unusual career paths. Katsumasa Tanaka, 26, was a salaried worker at an auto-parts company in Osaka until earlier this year. The slender six-footer with Chiclet teeth came to Tokyo with dreams of singing and acting. After auditioning for a role in a movie about male hosts, he decided he could be one himself. Though top hosts can earn well into six figures, Tanaka is happy with $3,000 a month and an audition-friendly schedule. "It's ideal, except for one thing," he says. "I can't tell my parents."
The sleazy image persists because, as the competition increases, business tactics are getting rough. Police say hosts are preying on housewives and teenage girls, who are sometimes forced into prostitution when they can't pay off five- or six-figure bills. "Schoolgirls are always looking for the latest fad," says Sawamura, "and right now, host clubs are it."
That stigma bothers entrepreneurs like Reiji, who seek a more mainstream image. To that end, he employs only fresh-scrubbed college grads like Fumiya, 26, a former radio DJ, and Noa, 25, who by day works in sales for a computer company. The $1 million interior of his Roppongi club purrs sophistication. Customers pay a flat fee of $30 an hour, including free wine�unless they want to impress their host by ordering the $10,000 bottle. The floor show is more high-school talent night than Chippendales. "We want women to feel it's safe, comfortable and fun," he says.
If Reiji has his way, his clubs will become the model for any service-oriented business in Japan. "Disneyland is a franchise that's attained global success by knowing what a child wants," he says. "If I can get women to love me as much as children love Mickey Mouse�and if I can teach you how�is there any business that won't find value in that?" You might shake your head, finding it hard to make the connection with any other business you know. But give Reiji a fistful of yen for a bottle of cognac and a few hours next to you on the banquette, and it will all sound perfectly charming.
With reporting by Hiroko Tashiro/Tokyo
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,193635,00.html
Disneyland for adults XD.
-----------
v yeah whatever. Yet no one objects when men have a thread devoted to porn actrices. But thank you for your concern. I think we all know what the business is like.
Their main selling point is not sex. But hey, host or not, I'm sure that if some one comes up to you offering you a million dollars to have sex with them, you'll consider it. And they are men afterall, so sleeping around won't be such a big deal to them.
Whatever they do, they're still cute to me. I'm not being naive or deluding myself or anything.
Here's another article on hosts clubs. I used it for an asignment, my english teacher was very intrigued XD.
Rent Boys
Sunday, Jan. 13, 2002 By LISA TAKEUCHI CULLEN TOKYO Article
Player's Club Dios is buzzing. The band is knocking out R.-and-B. Christmas tunes, waiters are bustling around with bottles of whiskey and plates of smoked duck, and the white leather banquettes are crammed with men in dark suits whooping it up with pretty young women. It's just another party spot in a city of party spots, except for one obvious difference: when a drink is poured, it's done by a very deferential man for a woman paying big money for his attentions.
Male-host bars�mirror images of nightspots where giggling girls fawn over inebriated businessmen�have been on the fringe of Japan's colorful nightlife for decades, catering to aged sugar mamas and scrawny scroungers with hair gel and overlaundered black suits. Kiss those days sayonara. Japan's host clubs have gone mainstream�without getting overly squeaky clean. The newly burnished male host�sans gold teeth and creepy leer�is Japan's latest celebrity. Hosts are appearing on TV talk shows and publishing memoirs, how-to guides and even business books. A high-profile TV movie about a host club aired last month, starring a dream roster of the country's hottest male actors. There are hundreds of such clubs in areas like Tokyo's Kabuki-cho and they vie for business via cell phones and the Internet, which has search sites that rank the city's top hosts by looks and charm quotient. For the customers, Japan's trend-conscious young women, a night at a host bar is part thrill, part danger. The thrill, of course, is somewhat sexual: the guys are attentive, hunky and dangle the possibility they might be available after the clubs close. The danger is financial: after entrance fees, host commissions and nosebleed-priced drinks, a customer can rack up a $10,000 bill in a single night.
If the industry has a poster boy, it's Reiji, a career host and owner of Player's Club Dios. Parked on a rear banquette, Reiji surveys his kingdom in a pin-striped, three-piece Gianfranco Ferre suit and rimless spectacles, looking like a dashing young CEO�which, in fact, he is. Reiji's two host bars gross $8 million a year and he's planning a chain of clubs and restaurants. He has authored two books aimed at businessmen and speaks at universities and to corporations. "I am called the 'King of Hosts,'" he says, "but the reason they want me is because I know the secret to success in business." Which is, of course, women. The host-club industry is roaring, Reiji says, because it focuses relentlessly on the most powerful segment of Japan's faltering consumer market. "As a host and as a businessman, I use what I know to try to think like a woman. Japanese men laugh at that," Reiji says softly, leaning in close. "But I tell you, any business today that doesn't know what women want is a business that won't survive."
What a woman wants, according to his research, is attention, and at a host club, she's overwhelmed. Clubs range from casual pubs to glitzy disco-like halls, but all use pretty much the same system. A woman is lured in with a relatively cheap first-time fee of $50 to $100. On that visit, she must choose her "main" host. Because whomever she picks will receive an up-front commission and half the take from all of her bills whenever she comes to the club, the whole staff showers the newcomer with charm. For a Japanese woman consigned to supporting roles all her life, the star treatment is pretty irresistible. (If she grows sick of her main host, she simply shifts her business to a new club.)
Chika Aoyama, 23, is on her fourth jaunt to a host club, this time with a group of associates from her job in TV. As a leggy graduate of one of the country's best schools, Keio University, she defies the stereotype of host-club customers as dateless losers or low-class nightlife workers. "Just a year ago, I thought host clubs were scary places where men tried to fool you out of a lot of money," Aoyama says. "But I found the boys are so friendly and unthreatening. In the shortest time, it's gone from illicit to normal."
But it's still a business. A host may juggle dozens of clients at a time. Some visit the club just a few times a year, but those who come regularly require a significant amount of off-duty attention. Takuya Sawamura, a gregarious, pink-haired host in Kobe, phones his top clients a few times a week, tags along on shopping trips and acts as their boyfriend at class reunions. He also provides sex. "It's whatever the client wants," he says. He isn't paid cash for these favors, but the women thank him by racking up fat expenses at the club and lavishing him with pricey gifts.
"What we sell is not a thing," Sawamura muses. "If they just wanted a drink, they could go to a liquor store. If they wanted sex, they could call a gigolo. What they want and we provide is caring. Kindness. The knowledge that someone is thinking of them." The common misperception, especially among men, is that male hosts lead glamorous lives with women lavishing on them Rolexes, Dom Perignon and sex. Sawamura, who makes $80,000 a year, laughs. "It's more about research, brains and lots of hard work."
That's obviously not what's on the minds of the 30 young men who turn up every week on Reiji's doorstep begging for jobs. Working as a male host still carries seedy connotations, but the recession has led them to seek out unusual career paths. Katsumasa Tanaka, 26, was a salaried worker at an auto-parts company in Osaka until earlier this year. The slender six-footer with Chiclet teeth came to Tokyo with dreams of singing and acting. After auditioning for a role in a movie about male hosts, he decided he could be one himself. Though top hosts can earn well into six figures, Tanaka is happy with $3,000 a month and an audition-friendly schedule. "It's ideal, except for one thing," he says. "I can't tell my parents."
The sleazy image persists because, as the competition increases, business tactics are getting rough. Police say hosts are preying on housewives and teenage girls, who are sometimes forced into prostitution when they can't pay off five- or six-figure bills. "Schoolgirls are always looking for the latest fad," says Sawamura, "and right now, host clubs are it."
That stigma bothers entrepreneurs like Reiji, who seek a more mainstream image. To that end, he employs only fresh-scrubbed college grads like Fumiya, 26, a former radio DJ, and Noa, 25, who by day works in sales for a computer company. The $1 million interior of his Roppongi club purrs sophistication. Customers pay a flat fee of $30 an hour, including free wine�unless they want to impress their host by ordering the $10,000 bottle. The floor show is more high-school talent night than Chippendales. "We want women to feel it's safe, comfortable and fun," he says.
If Reiji has his way, his clubs will become the model for any service-oriented business in Japan. "Disneyland is a franchise that's attained global success by knowing what a child wants," he says. "If I can get women to love me as much as children love Mickey Mouse�and if I can teach you how�is there any business that won't find value in that?" You might shake your head, finding it hard to make the connection with any other business you know. But give Reiji a fistful of yen for a bottle of cognac and a few hours next to you on the banquette, and it will all sound perfectly charming.
With reporting by Hiroko Tashiro/Tokyo
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,193635,00.html
Disneyland for adults XD.
-----------
v yeah whatever. Yet no one objects when men have a thread devoted to porn actrices. But thank you for your concern. I think we all know what the business is like.
of course, just like in strip clubs, extras are not allowed and rules state that any word of this will result in termination or fines or whatever. Girls are just there to sell their time and services ( not sex, whether it be dancing or whatever the club offers).. just like host boys...but any of you who frequent strip clubs often know there are plenty of girls who will break the rules for a few extra bucks.. i'm not saying they sit there and offer sex. they don't. they'll sit there with you, talk, flirt, charm, tell jokes, stories...get really drunk.. flirt some more.. if the customers offer for the right price.well...
And this happens more often then not...
and no, they're not offering half a mil to sleep with them... they'll probably do it for a few hundred....men or female..
i know someone in this particular industry, and many people in the sex industry. so i'm not saying don't think they're cute and swoon over them... i just wanted to shine some light on some of you guys. You've devoted a thread to male pros. hah
And this happens more often then not...
and no, they're not offering half a mil to sleep with them... they'll probably do it for a few hundred....men or female..
i know someone in this particular industry, and many people in the sex industry. so i'm not saying don't think they're cute and swoon over them... i just wanted to shine some light on some of you guys. You've devoted a thread to male pros. hah
QUOTE(chocopocky @ Nov 5 2007, 09:31 PM)
ahahah, i love this pic. and the guy with the beard is HOT!!!!
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l86/ai0n...ua/ff1464f7.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l86/ai0n...ua/ff1464f7.jpg
QUOTE(visualEden @ Nov 5 2007, 10:01 PM)
^ thats my makoto bear right there
and not all of us are naive i know what these boys do for a living but we can still think they are cute just like anyone else
and not all of us are naive i know what these boys do for a living but we can still think they are cute just like anyone else
can you post more of him....so far he is my favorite.
i'm trying to find the great happiness space anyone can tell me where?
QUOTE(nelly @ Nov 5 2007, 10:33 PM)
^ Thanks for explaining! My friend and I have been arguing what male hosts really do. So they really are like geishas, they sell their virginity to whoever is the highest bidder, only they're not virgins anymore lol. I think their work is pretty decent, they're not exactly prostitutes looking for sex but they're men treat women the way women want to be treated.
On the article above, it says Ryo is the second best host. Who's the first?
On the article above, it says Ryo is the second best host. Who's the first?
lol did you get that from memoirs of a geisha? i heard that the author (who isn't japanese) made it up.
why wasn't i told that there were pictures of hosts in the net???
i've been missing out!!!
the closet i've been to a host... was across the street
LOL
and i was sweatin.
--Ti
thanks for the pics!!!!
my contribution!
my stalker shot of the hosts billboards ... two hosts were under those billboards.. handing out flyers.
we were just watching from afar...
being the dorks we are.
KYOTO; JAPAN 2007 ©ti-licious
i've been missing out!!!
the closet i've been to a host... was across the street
LOL
and i was sweatin.
--Ti
thanks for the pics!!!!
my contribution!
my stalker shot of the hosts billboards ... two hosts were under those billboards.. handing out flyers.
we were just watching from afar...
being the dorks we are.KYOTO; JAPAN 2007 ©ti-licious
Wow, being an escort or 'host'/'hostess' in my country is well...sorta an un-respectable job. i'm amazed that these boys are proud of what they're doing, must be the anime and manga influence, lol. Ouran HHC anime and B.O.D.Y. manga in real life, i guess. But they better not be underaged!
And i agree with what xfatrabbitx had said, don't get offended. THEY'RE CUTE YES, but they're GROs (Guest Relations Officers) whose job is not far from being a prostitute. Say that it's not easy to have sex with them but still, you can. What I find wrong/amusing/confusing in this is that they're so blatant and self-promoting.
And i agree with what xfatrabbitx had said, don't get offended. THEY'RE CUTE YES, but they're GROs (Guest Relations Officers) whose job is not far from being a prostitute. Say that it's not easy to have sex with them but still, you can. What I find wrong/amusing/confusing in this is that they're so blatant and self-promoting.
*coughs* this is for you
QUOTE(ti-licious @ Nov 6 2007, 11:48 AM)
the closet i've been to a host... was across the street
LOL
and i was sweatin.
LOL
and i was sweatin.
Oh lol, you're super cute.
And damn, I do love this thread.
OMG I HAVE FOUND MY NEW HOME ON SOOMPI. XDDD
Hi everyone!! Let's be friends. xD
I'll post a whole bunch of pics later cuz I'm a bit lazy right now... xD
HA. Issei... It's not like all of the Host boys go have sex with anyone. Heck, Issei said he would never touch that one lady no matter how much she pays to see him. xD Crazy soap lady. ^^;;
Actually, my friend was approached by hosts once but she thought the whole thing was hilarious so she just walked away, laughing. ^^;; They never approach me because I freakin look like a 14 year old and I don't go in the streets late at night. @__@
And don't worry. They don't take underage girls in the clubs and no one in the clubs is underage. Everyone has to be 20 or up. Heck, that's better than the 18 year old rule in America. =/
Hi everyone!! Let's be friends. xD
I'll post a whole bunch of pics later cuz I'm a bit lazy right now... xD
HA. Issei... It's not like all of the Host boys go have sex with anyone. Heck, Issei said he would never touch that one lady no matter how much she pays to see him. xD Crazy soap lady. ^^;;
Actually, my friend was approached by hosts once but she thought the whole thing was hilarious so she just walked away, laughing. ^^;; They never approach me because I freakin look like a 14 year old and I don't go in the streets late at night. @__@
And don't worry. They don't take underage girls in the clubs and no one in the clubs is underage. Everyone has to be 20 or up. Heck, that's better than the 18 year old rule in America. =/
issei did used to have sex with girls before he realized he wouldnt keep any customers that way
^ That's true but I was talking about that one lady that works as a soap lady who thinks she a very special person to Issei and her dream is to marry him. The lady that Issei called crazy and said that the only reason she was saying stuff like she would "die for him" is that she hopes that would make him love her.
She did seem a bit overboard to me. @__@
She did seem a bit overboard to me. @__@
does anyone know where i can watch that host doctumentary- the great happiness- tales of an osaka love theif?!
QUOTE(xbomi @ Nov 7 2007, 01:53 PM)
does anyone know where i can watch that host doctumentary- the great happiness- tales of an osaka love theif?!
Ditto! I searched for it but it seems that the full videos were deleted. Can anyone re-up the full vid? pleaseeee???
hmm i own the dvd but i dont know about that cause it might take a min ill see if i can find it
--------------- deleted
i can post seijis its sitting in my photobucket
-------------------removed
Ran started singing? 
I remember him winning first prize in the 2006 Host Grand Prix. Ever since then, he's been really popular.
Although he is rather short, he looks the best in the PV.
And the chorus is cute.
I remember him winning first prize in the 2006 Host Grand Prix. Ever since then, he's been really popular.
Although he is rather short, he looks the best in the PV.
And the chorus is cute.
i heard a.g.e.s single sucked but hmmm
-------------------removed
i have all of acqua eps music on my ipod fav song ever is final heaven<3
Found another interesting article:
Boy toys take center stage at host clubs
By Brett Bull
TOKYO — In a club on the fifth floor of a building in the Kabukicho entertainment district, four ladies are whisked from their booth to the stage. Early ’90s-era techno pumps from the sound system as no less than 20 “hosts” — young gentlemen whose sole duty is to entertain women — hit the dance floor immediately in front of them.
The boys, outfitted in upturned collars, pointy shoes, sleek suits and practically trademarked spiky hair, shift laterally, clap, spin and swing their arms in unison as the glass chandelier above reflects the house lights. The club’s owner, Yuga, sits between the girls, facing his boogieing charges, who now are taking turns singing into microphones.
Then, just as quickly as it came to life, the party freezes to allow for a cork from a Dom Perignon bottle to be popped in silence. As the performers huddle around the four guests, a boisterous shout of “Kampai!” breaks the quiet. With the ladies, glasses in hand, absolutely beaming, an escalating vocal roar from the troupe signals the resumption of the pulsing music.
It’s just another evening at Club Prince.
“This is an original space,” says host Ageha, 21, who is dressed in a velvet coat, curly black bow and lip ring. “Providing a dreamlike environment, as with the champagne toast, is something special. That is the most important thing. You can’t do this at an izakaya.”
Back in the vinyl booth after the floor show has finished, the hosts sit opposite the four ladies to gently feed them compliments about their personality, dress and demeanor. Fanned out in all directions, other young women giggle as they receive similar treatment from their doting attendants.
While this might sound like pure female fantasy, the nationwide host industry is often viewed as a vulture preying upon innocent girls who wind up entrenched in debt. Also not boosting public relations are assumed ties to organized crime. Yuga, who once fronted the pop trio Kids Alive, hopes to change that perception through the release this month of the CD single “Love Dokkyun” (Heartbeat of Love) by his new band — not coincidentally named Club Prince — on pop label Avex. His desire is to take the glamour and nonstop pace of the host lifestyle around the globe.
“I want to create an image similar to that of an amusement park, like Disneyland, for the host world,” says the 22-year-old of the group’s single, which is a high-tempo dance number that starts off with a call for free-flowing alcohol. “Since music is a worldwide language, I decided to use a song to convey this message to as many people as possible.”
Important not to appear too aggressive
Inside Club Prince, each table has a standard setup: ice bucket, mineral water, glasses, ashtray and coaster. (Hosts will also be equipped with lighters in their pockets for quick draws on unlit cigarettes.) Small circular tables are bunched in single rows to allow the customer and her male admirer to sit directly opposite one another — but never next to each other, an important point so as not to appear too aggressive. Should a lady, however, request a little closeness, curved tables pushed into corners allow for easier side-by-side seating.
Basic rules at the club, in which flower arrangements in the corners give a romantic flair, require that a host not ask a guest her occupation because she is likely there to forget work-related stress. But once she passes through the front door and onto the red carpet that splits the room, any of the 150 svelte hosts on the rolls will typically be able to deduce her means of employ quite quickly. (Two thirds of all customers are involved in some kind of sex or hostess trade, with the remainder being office ladies or company presidents.) This knowledge is critical because a good host will always need to be conscious of the perceived needs of his target so he can adjust his approach.
“There are so many different kinds of ladies coming here,” Ageha says. “It is very difficult for my character to be flexible to each type.” Deciphering which customers would prefer an over-the-top personality versus those who want subtle sweet talk is necessary. But the overall theme, no matter the lady, is that simple flattery will get you everywhere.
“Even if the customer is not good-looking,” says Yuga, who like most hosts goes by his “genjina” (performing name), “the host will heap praise upon her. She should be like an idol. Hosts must treat the lady like a princess.”
The video for “Love Dokkyun,” whose cover features a pyramid of filled champagne glasses, is a staple on the club’s monitors. Vocalist Yuga and the other four members (all hosts) are flanked by a multitude of curvy, hip-shaking female dancers as the word “Love” is splashed on the screen repeatedly, which is perhaps ironic in that very little about the host experience is centered on sincere emotion — much less full-blown l-o-v-e.
It is not real, admits Kanako, who at one point in her on-again-off-again hostess career visited host clubs in Kabukicho once every few months. But the hosts are so smooth that it is easy to get lost in the whirlwind.
“If I am spending a lot of time in the club with these guys in what is a virtual world, the next thing I know I am out the door and on my way home,” explains the 26-year-old. “Then the next night I am working at my club. Events go from one to the next so easily that the virtual world starts to blend with reality.”
One of her entertainers, she relates, suggested marriage, which she partially believed to be a legitimate offer only to find out later that this was simply his standard sales technique.
More than just a golden tongue
Yuga, however, believes that true success for a host requires more than merely a golden tongue, saying that what lies beneath that shiny suit is most important. “If your heart is poor,” he explains, clutching his chest, “you are worth nothing.”
But to keep up expectations, he adds, a stylist comes to the club to shape the manes of Club Prince’s hosts into the stringy, scarecrow-like coiffure that has become the trade’s standard.
Other essentials include the “shimeisha” system, whereby a customer can reserve a particular boy-toy for her private use, and the “dohan,” which is a dinner date. Both services have a single rationale: developing a pseudo-relationship that will keep the lady coming back to the club.
Since a host’s ranking is based on the income he brings to the club, Kanako believes, this faux bond creates an obligation for the customer to faithfully support her man.
A stroll through the crusty alleys of Kabukicho will reveal numbers assigned to host mug shots plastered outside the windows of most establishments. Club Ai, an empire of venues generally credited with being the best in all of Japan, is known for its top-ranked hosts jumping ship to start their own businesses. When Kids Alive broke up in 2003, Yuga started hosting at Raphael, a Kabukicho club where he managed to ascend to the number one spot in three months.
“If I like a particular host, I want to see his stature increase,” explains Kanako. “So I will keep buying drinks. My feeling is that it almost becomes my duty.”
Tabs can run up to hundreds of thousands of yen
It is here that things can get dangerous very quickly. The price of that bottle of Dom Perignon from the dance number? 80,000 yen. Other, more select varieties are 10 times that figure. Even generic white and red wines that might be priced at less than 1,000 yen at a Tokyo liquor store sell for 8,000 yen. The go-go club environment further inflates the bills, almost exponentially.
“I might see one customer at another table buy an expensive bottle,” says Kanako, who often ran up tabs of around 40,000 yen. “And then invariably there will be another. I don’t want to be a loser. So it is like a challenge to keep up.”
Factor in an entry fee of 3,000 yen, kick in a shimeisha charge of 2,000 yen, and sing a dozen tunes in the executive karaoke room (15,000 yen per hour), and it is not surprising to hear reports of nightly tallies amounting to hundreds of thousands of yen.
Of course, any customer will be matched one-for-one in drinking by her trusty sweetheart — after all, his compensation is mainly a 50% commission of total sales. This leads to, Yuga estimates, an average host downing a staggering 30 glasses of various booze throughout one evening of entertaining multiple customers.
Offsetting this intestinal strain somewhat are the handsome pay packets hosts receive. Though a rookie just cutting his teeth might only pocket 150,000 yen a month, it is not unusual for a veteran of as little as six months to be taking home 3 or 4 million. Likewise, top-earners will be expected to look the part, dolling out a few hundred thousand yen a month on fancy threads and accessories, perhaps fancy rings or a sparkling necklace.
While legendary in host circles as a standard perk, lavish gifts (Armani suits and Bulgari watches, for example) are not permitted at Club Prince. “This is the case because otherwise hosts will not be motivated to generate more sales at the club,” explains Yuga, who sports a 3.5 million yen gold watch that he says he purchased himself.
The profession depicted in the lyrics of “Love Dokkyun” is that of a charismatic, virile gentleman who possesses superhuman skills to drink into the wee hours. But make no mistake: these boys take their lumps. Rookies are assigned to scrub toilets — heavy drinking often necessitates forced vomiting in the bathroom in order to indulge again for subsequent patrons — and the continual promotion process necessitates that dozens of phone calls be placed and hundreds of emails be sent each afternoon to prospective or steady clients, all the while nursing a cloudy head.
Then there is sex. Even though it is not on the menu and a legal element needs to be navigated as to protocol — what’s done in private without direct payment is not the police’s business — succumbing to a request for physical favors might be a last resort in getting a customer to return.
“Once it happens, she will want it to continue,” says Yuga of the type of customer referred to in host slang as a “makura” (pillow). “Of course, the host will then request that she make a return visit to the club. Otherwise it won’t happen again. It is a part of the service necessary to meet the customer’s demand.”
Further complicating customer recruitment are recent Tokyo metropolitan government regulations that prohibit hosts from trolling the streets to snag clientele and a mandate that clubs shut their doors between 1 and 5 a.m. (Club Prince reopens at around the latter hour to service hostesses getting off work.)
These measures were set in place following continued instances of girls accruing mind-boggling bills, for which they were forced to secure high-interest sarakin loans or — worse — pushed into sex service. Hostess Kanako has a friend who, in spite of not having visited a host club for over a year, is still in the hock for approximately 1.5 million yen.
Yuga does not deny these shady elements exist in the industry. But he feels it is time for a change. “We have to stop painting a picture of violence and dirty behavior,” he says.
He even will go so far as to claim that his club is in defiance of yakuza gangsters, who traditionally extort money from business operators by requiring the purchase of mundane goods like ice and towels at outrageous prices in exchange for “protection.” Yuga says quite simply: “They are not welcome.”
Today Yuga possesses a collection of a half-dozen businesses that reach as far as Hokkaido and include an Akihabara maid cafe. This summer will see an expansion into Kyushu. “My dream is to be tops in Kabukicho in two years,” he says of his lofty goal to surpass Club Ai.
Though he is now primarily involved in the business side of things, Yuga still can’t resist the need to serve. “If I sit here in this seat,” he says from the edge of a table opposite one of the original four women, “it is my mission, my habit, and part of my personality to make sure that each lady enjoys herself.”
May 27, 2007
source: Japan Today
Boy toys take center stage at host clubs
By Brett Bull
TOKYO — In a club on the fifth floor of a building in the Kabukicho entertainment district, four ladies are whisked from their booth to the stage. Early ’90s-era techno pumps from the sound system as no less than 20 “hosts” — young gentlemen whose sole duty is to entertain women — hit the dance floor immediately in front of them.
The boys, outfitted in upturned collars, pointy shoes, sleek suits and practically trademarked spiky hair, shift laterally, clap, spin and swing their arms in unison as the glass chandelier above reflects the house lights. The club’s owner, Yuga, sits between the girls, facing his boogieing charges, who now are taking turns singing into microphones.
Then, just as quickly as it came to life, the party freezes to allow for a cork from a Dom Perignon bottle to be popped in silence. As the performers huddle around the four guests, a boisterous shout of “Kampai!” breaks the quiet. With the ladies, glasses in hand, absolutely beaming, an escalating vocal roar from the troupe signals the resumption of the pulsing music.
It’s just another evening at Club Prince.
“This is an original space,” says host Ageha, 21, who is dressed in a velvet coat, curly black bow and lip ring. “Providing a dreamlike environment, as with the champagne toast, is something special. That is the most important thing. You can’t do this at an izakaya.”
Back in the vinyl booth after the floor show has finished, the hosts sit opposite the four ladies to gently feed them compliments about their personality, dress and demeanor. Fanned out in all directions, other young women giggle as they receive similar treatment from their doting attendants.
While this might sound like pure female fantasy, the nationwide host industry is often viewed as a vulture preying upon innocent girls who wind up entrenched in debt. Also not boosting public relations are assumed ties to organized crime. Yuga, who once fronted the pop trio Kids Alive, hopes to change that perception through the release this month of the CD single “Love Dokkyun” (Heartbeat of Love) by his new band — not coincidentally named Club Prince — on pop label Avex. His desire is to take the glamour and nonstop pace of the host lifestyle around the globe.
“I want to create an image similar to that of an amusement park, like Disneyland, for the host world,” says the 22-year-old of the group’s single, which is a high-tempo dance number that starts off with a call for free-flowing alcohol. “Since music is a worldwide language, I decided to use a song to convey this message to as many people as possible.”
Important not to appear too aggressive
Inside Club Prince, each table has a standard setup: ice bucket, mineral water, glasses, ashtray and coaster. (Hosts will also be equipped with lighters in their pockets for quick draws on unlit cigarettes.) Small circular tables are bunched in single rows to allow the customer and her male admirer to sit directly opposite one another — but never next to each other, an important point so as not to appear too aggressive. Should a lady, however, request a little closeness, curved tables pushed into corners allow for easier side-by-side seating.
Basic rules at the club, in which flower arrangements in the corners give a romantic flair, require that a host not ask a guest her occupation because she is likely there to forget work-related stress. But once she passes through the front door and onto the red carpet that splits the room, any of the 150 svelte hosts on the rolls will typically be able to deduce her means of employ quite quickly. (Two thirds of all customers are involved in some kind of sex or hostess trade, with the remainder being office ladies or company presidents.) This knowledge is critical because a good host will always need to be conscious of the perceived needs of his target so he can adjust his approach.
“There are so many different kinds of ladies coming here,” Ageha says. “It is very difficult for my character to be flexible to each type.” Deciphering which customers would prefer an over-the-top personality versus those who want subtle sweet talk is necessary. But the overall theme, no matter the lady, is that simple flattery will get you everywhere.
“Even if the customer is not good-looking,” says Yuga, who like most hosts goes by his “genjina” (performing name), “the host will heap praise upon her. She should be like an idol. Hosts must treat the lady like a princess.”
The video for “Love Dokkyun,” whose cover features a pyramid of filled champagne glasses, is a staple on the club’s monitors. Vocalist Yuga and the other four members (all hosts) are flanked by a multitude of curvy, hip-shaking female dancers as the word “Love” is splashed on the screen repeatedly, which is perhaps ironic in that very little about the host experience is centered on sincere emotion — much less full-blown l-o-v-e.
It is not real, admits Kanako, who at one point in her on-again-off-again hostess career visited host clubs in Kabukicho once every few months. But the hosts are so smooth that it is easy to get lost in the whirlwind.
“If I am spending a lot of time in the club with these guys in what is a virtual world, the next thing I know I am out the door and on my way home,” explains the 26-year-old. “Then the next night I am working at my club. Events go from one to the next so easily that the virtual world starts to blend with reality.”
One of her entertainers, she relates, suggested marriage, which she partially believed to be a legitimate offer only to find out later that this was simply his standard sales technique.
More than just a golden tongue
Yuga, however, believes that true success for a host requires more than merely a golden tongue, saying that what lies beneath that shiny suit is most important. “If your heart is poor,” he explains, clutching his chest, “you are worth nothing.”
But to keep up expectations, he adds, a stylist comes to the club to shape the manes of Club Prince’s hosts into the stringy, scarecrow-like coiffure that has become the trade’s standard.
Other essentials include the “shimeisha” system, whereby a customer can reserve a particular boy-toy for her private use, and the “dohan,” which is a dinner date. Both services have a single rationale: developing a pseudo-relationship that will keep the lady coming back to the club.
Since a host’s ranking is based on the income he brings to the club, Kanako believes, this faux bond creates an obligation for the customer to faithfully support her man.
A stroll through the crusty alleys of Kabukicho will reveal numbers assigned to host mug shots plastered outside the windows of most establishments. Club Ai, an empire of venues generally credited with being the best in all of Japan, is known for its top-ranked hosts jumping ship to start their own businesses. When Kids Alive broke up in 2003, Yuga started hosting at Raphael, a Kabukicho club where he managed to ascend to the number one spot in three months.
“If I like a particular host, I want to see his stature increase,” explains Kanako. “So I will keep buying drinks. My feeling is that it almost becomes my duty.”
Tabs can run up to hundreds of thousands of yen
It is here that things can get dangerous very quickly. The price of that bottle of Dom Perignon from the dance number? 80,000 yen. Other, more select varieties are 10 times that figure. Even generic white and red wines that might be priced at less than 1,000 yen at a Tokyo liquor store sell for 8,000 yen. The go-go club environment further inflates the bills, almost exponentially.
“I might see one customer at another table buy an expensive bottle,” says Kanako, who often ran up tabs of around 40,000 yen. “And then invariably there will be another. I don’t want to be a loser. So it is like a challenge to keep up.”
Factor in an entry fee of 3,000 yen, kick in a shimeisha charge of 2,000 yen, and sing a dozen tunes in the executive karaoke room (15,000 yen per hour), and it is not surprising to hear reports of nightly tallies amounting to hundreds of thousands of yen.
Of course, any customer will be matched one-for-one in drinking by her trusty sweetheart — after all, his compensation is mainly a 50% commission of total sales. This leads to, Yuga estimates, an average host downing a staggering 30 glasses of various booze throughout one evening of entertaining multiple customers.
Offsetting this intestinal strain somewhat are the handsome pay packets hosts receive. Though a rookie just cutting his teeth might only pocket 150,000 yen a month, it is not unusual for a veteran of as little as six months to be taking home 3 or 4 million. Likewise, top-earners will be expected to look the part, dolling out a few hundred thousand yen a month on fancy threads and accessories, perhaps fancy rings or a sparkling necklace.
While legendary in host circles as a standard perk, lavish gifts (Armani suits and Bulgari watches, for example) are not permitted at Club Prince. “This is the case because otherwise hosts will not be motivated to generate more sales at the club,” explains Yuga, who sports a 3.5 million yen gold watch that he says he purchased himself.
The profession depicted in the lyrics of “Love Dokkyun” is that of a charismatic, virile gentleman who possesses superhuman skills to drink into the wee hours. But make no mistake: these boys take their lumps. Rookies are assigned to scrub toilets — heavy drinking often necessitates forced vomiting in the bathroom in order to indulge again for subsequent patrons — and the continual promotion process necessitates that dozens of phone calls be placed and hundreds of emails be sent each afternoon to prospective or steady clients, all the while nursing a cloudy head.
Then there is sex. Even though it is not on the menu and a legal element needs to be navigated as to protocol — what’s done in private without direct payment is not the police’s business — succumbing to a request for physical favors might be a last resort in getting a customer to return.
“Once it happens, she will want it to continue,” says Yuga of the type of customer referred to in host slang as a “makura” (pillow). “Of course, the host will then request that she make a return visit to the club. Otherwise it won’t happen again. It is a part of the service necessary to meet the customer’s demand.”
Further complicating customer recruitment are recent Tokyo metropolitan government regulations that prohibit hosts from trolling the streets to snag clientele and a mandate that clubs shut their doors between 1 and 5 a.m. (Club Prince reopens at around the latter hour to service hostesses getting off work.)
These measures were set in place following continued instances of girls accruing mind-boggling bills, for which they were forced to secure high-interest sarakin loans or — worse — pushed into sex service. Hostess Kanako has a friend who, in spite of not having visited a host club for over a year, is still in the hock for approximately 1.5 million yen.
Yuga does not deny these shady elements exist in the industry. But he feels it is time for a change. “We have to stop painting a picture of violence and dirty behavior,” he says.
He even will go so far as to claim that his club is in defiance of yakuza gangsters, who traditionally extort money from business operators by requiring the purchase of mundane goods like ice and towels at outrageous prices in exchange for “protection.” Yuga says quite simply: “They are not welcome.”
Today Yuga possesses a collection of a half-dozen businesses that reach as far as Hokkaido and include an Akihabara maid cafe. This summer will see an expansion into Kyushu. “My dream is to be tops in Kabukicho in two years,” he says of his lofty goal to surpass Club Ai.
Though he is now primarily involved in the business side of things, Yuga still can’t resist the need to serve. “If I sit here in this seat,” he says from the edge of a table opposite one of the original four women, “it is my mission, my habit, and part of my personality to make sure that each lady enjoys herself.”
May 27, 2007
source: Japan Today
some hostboys are so hot o_____o hahaa
so far i've only seen club aqua website neh..
where do you guys get all this?! XD Hhahaaa
and, i never knew each club actually release their music & such.
when i was in japan i saw some hostboys (newbies?) passing out flyers. (not to me, of course HAHAHA)
so far i've only seen club aqua website neh..
where do you guys get all this?! XD Hhahaaa
and, i never knew each club actually release their music & such.
when i was in japan i saw some hostboys (newbies?) passing out flyers. (not to me, of course HAHAHA)
hahaha oh god, I think this would make such an interesting study.
I'd love to follow a host around to see what they do all day, and how they think, why they do it, and how they really are.
And I would love to sit at a table one day just to observe how they work their charm, and what effect it actually has on women.
But maybe that's just me :|
I'd love to follow a host around to see what they do all day, and how they think, why they do it, and how they really are.
And I would love to sit at a table one day just to observe how they work their charm, and what effect it actually has on women.
But maybe that's just me :|
^ yea some are in music groups so yes they have pvs
-------------------removed
wow..
some of the artivles here are really interesing and insightful!
i was always confused of what a host was,
and then ouran came along.. =p
but this sound nothing like the sugar coated ouran.
some of the guys are so good-looking >.<
some of the artivles here are really interesing and insightful!
i was always confused of what a host was,
and then ouran came along.. =p
but this sound nothing like the sugar coated ouran.
some of the guys are so good-looking >.<
a lil creepy.. i guess they do it for money and/or fame/attention -__-
hosts are like the equivalent of escorts except these may be more fashionable and less showy
hosts are like the equivalent of escorts except these may be more fashionable and less showy
^ fame i dont think so attention definitly
so far, the host boy i've seen in this thread
i'd say my favorite is Ichijou Makoto haha XDDD
does anybody have more pictures of him? ahah thanks
i'd say my favorite is Ichijou Makoto haha XDDD
does anybody have more pictures of him? ahah thanks
-------------------removed
Hahaha... A.G.E vocals are horrible. xD Even tho I DO like the song more than Love Dokkyun, the main singer there sounded better... but I liked him more in Kids Alive. T___T
AGEHA IS 21!??!!?!?!?!?! That made my day. xD
AGEHA IS 21!??!!?!?!?!?! That made my day. xD
I'm so sad that many professionally taken pictures of Makoto don't do him any justice. 
I can only recall maybe 2 or 3 that were good.
You can check his blog for nice pictures of him as ai0no0ff has kindly posted.
I'll post some other blog and miscellaneous pictures that are a little more hard to find.
---->He looks too young to be 27...
---->Ryouma is here too.
My #1 favorite picture of all...
I can only recall maybe 2 or 3 that were good.
You can check his blog for nice pictures of him as ai0no0ff has kindly posted.
I'll post some other blog and miscellaneous pictures that are a little more hard to find.
---->He looks too young to be 27...---->Ryouma is here too.My #1 favorite picture of all...
wow i didn't know this kind of thread would be allowed on soompi...
^ why not its not porn or anything explicit
thankyouuu !! haha aki & ai0no0ff
those are really nice pictures x) i can't believe he's 27 o____o
those are really nice pictures x) i can't believe he's 27 o____o
thank you!!! I'm addicted to these guys! Post more pictures!!!!
-------------------removed
ah thanks for posting. so hostboys are really just club hostesses catering for female clients (and maybe males too?) right? just like how it is rampant in bangkok and every other part of the world (althought over there its more deragetory and known as 'money boys'. if a client pays enough money would he be able to sleep with him/her too? "pillow business" is that what they call it?
some of these host boys looks REALLY old :-/
did i mention juza is mine too ♥ him and seiji is my favs after makoto
fav pic of seiji
fav pic of seiji
omg.....
they r so......speechless....
i luv those pic where there is a weird guy posting bhind scene
lolz...
it cracks me up..
they r so......speechless....
i luv those pic where there is a weird guy posting bhind scene
lolz...
it cracks me up..
^ yea hes obviously got nothing to do
-------------------removed
i wish i noe japanese....
i would love 2 visit those clubs...
im gettting more interested wif tat funny guy...
d guy hu pose weirdly bhind scene...
hmm...wat's his name????
wic club is he in???
i would love 2 visit those clubs...
im gettting more interested wif tat funny guy...
d guy hu pose weirdly bhind scene...
hmm...wat's his name????
wic club is he in???
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.