Nightwork Gus Catalano
"Nightwork" by Anne Allison provides a view into the Tokyo's corporate culture's hostess clubs and how it affects the gender divisions and roles within their society. Anne uses first hand fieldwork collected by herself by working at a 'hostess' club. By working in this hostess club, she experiences how a hostess is expected to be, to do, and treated by their customers. She also learns about the deep inner culture within Tokyo that is not often discussed outside of the hostess clubs, but rather something that is learned culturally. Then examines the big picture of the whole entire inner-culture itself and how it has affected Tokyo and the corporate life.
Anne starts off by describing what a hostess club is. A hostess club is essentially a club in Tokyo, in which mostly corporate males go to at night or after work. Here the men engulf themselves in liquor, and have a good time with fellow co-workers. However, what makes Hostess clubs different from just regular clubs are the waitresses, or hostesses. Anne worked at the club called "Bijo", in these types of clubs atmosphere are service is what customers pay for. Its that incentive what gives them the incentive to come to them instead of just drinking back in their homes much cheaper. Anne describes the club as "a little glitzy by Western Standards. [...] the furnishings and decorations of Bijo create a nighttime sanctuary" (Allison, 38). She goes on to describe the amount of detail the club inner appearance has, from expensive paintings on the wall, to small things such as a gold phone. With this luxury does not come at a cheap price, this club cost reasonably cheap compared to others but somewhere in the range of 80-120$ per person, per hour.
The main purpose of these clubs is for corporate males to relax and build a closer relationship between workers and potential clients. The males in Tokyo achieve this by drinking at these clubs, in which the hostesses take care of facilitating the conversation and experience. A hostess is expected to start the conversation if there is dead silence, to keep the men's drinks filled and cigarette's lit, all while providing some form of entertainment. There is also the karaoke box in which males are encouraged to attempt to sing. Unlike American society, the males are not judged by their talent but rather their effort into attempting the task. Most males are at first shy, but most will join after one starts, specially if a hostess encourages it.
There are many stories of the comic salary man who worked his entire life getting a great job, pay. However when he is presented with women is expected to sexually perform, he fails. He may have become a part man by achieving successfully in the workplace and his career, but with a great disadvantage, "His failed manhood, expressed through sexual impotence" (Allison, 189), failure to be a man in a sexual sense. This is another main reason the hostess clubs exist. To provide for the salary man a way to boost his manliness ego by being able to flirt with the hostesses expecting sexual activity afterwards. While most of the men know that they won't be having a sexual encounter with the hostess afterwards, although some do and then the hostesses are forced to resign. Having the worker's ego boosted and being able to flirt with the hostess knowing that she will flirt back is a great morale booster. Allison's research showed that a group of men had no trouble flirting and touching hostess' inside the hostess club, but when later they were at a skating disco the men refused to go up and ask a woman to dance with them, mainly because of their fear of rejection. Being able to flirt and show off the manhood relaxes the man from the burden of the workplace.
The Hostess club provides what the men desire. Some hostess clubs provide just entertainment, like comics and singers, while others provide things up to fellatio. The men come here with an expectation, that their money will buy them the ability to be with women, which explains why the men earlier refused to ask the women to dance outside of the hostess club. Men will frequently depersonalize and dehumanize the hostess and treat her like property, "The woman's position then becomes one of degradation - she is the slave. From that position she can reflect a flattering image to the man, who receives it as the master" (Allison, 184), the men first rate the clubs by how the hostesses look, then by the service they provide. The more beautiful and sexually attractive the hostesses are, the higher price the hostess club will receive. The club Allison worked at although it did not have some of the hotter women other more expensive clubs had, the service was unmatchable, which is the second thing males look for in the hostess clubs.
When a man or group of men walk into a club, they are expecting the hostesses to provide a flawless service, they may have to initiate the conversation but their job is to take the pressure of being a host, off the host; to keep the group alive and entertained. This mostly results in comments based on the hostess and her body, since males enjoy flirting and will agree with other males when criticizing women. The hostess is expected to flirt back and let the men criticize her body, comments like "Your breasts are small", "How many boyfriends do you have?" are common. However the important part of this engagement is the motivation behind the comments. The motivation then shifts to the idea of who is the biggest "sukebei", which is closely related to the American "pimp" slang term. Other comments like "I could make love to you all night long", are made to show off the man's manliness to the other men indirectly and boost their ego to other men. The ability to flirt with women as if in expectation of sexual-encounters later is encouraged by this attitude. In Bijo the men were also able to touch and caress the woman's breasts and comment on them without any fear of rejection, making the men who did so bigger sukebei (Allison, 72).
One main feature that the Hostess clubs also seem to have that keep them in business is "The Mama". This will usually be the owner or a higher management position woman. This woman will usually be an expert hostess and keep men excited by making short but impressive visits to their tables. By remembering the client's names, what they talked about previously, their birthdays, the last time they came, and other small details. They give a sense of personalized care and attention even though it is actually very systematic. The Mama will give the customer a call the next day and thank them for coming and invite them over again sometime soon, giving a more personalized impression. However men sometimes take this a bit too far. Allison's research described a man giving Bijo's Mama a very expensive gift and him expecting at least a kiss, only got the Mama's cheek.
There are many reasons why the corporate world spends lots of money (over 30 billion) into this hostess industry. By having the men go to these clubs after work, it encourages and strengthens the relationship a man has with the company, he does not just work for the company, he becomes part of the company. By doing this the "salary man" learns to integrate work as a full 24 hour day, instead of having an 8 hour day and going back home. The man will work more diligently knowing that he will be going to drink afterwards instead of back home. In a sense this eventually alienates the home, the wife and the children. On top of that "Men become tighter and closer [...] [and] the tensions that build up during the workday are eased" (Allison, 149), which helps build that relationship within the workers as a tight-knit group that gains trust, same with the clients.
The problem with this lifestyle is mainly the separation between the husband from the rest of the family. This leads the roles of the family structure to be very gender specific. A whole entire man's career depends on these entrance exams that determine which university they go to. Women can take them as well but they are not likely to get in much less graduate. So they assume the job of house-wife and take care of the children, help the males prepare for the exam. Not all women are house-wifes but the majority seem to be, there are some that help supplement the provider's income by working. However from this lifestyle children grow up without much of a male figure, and tend to have a closer relationship with their mother figure. The mother figure later in life seems to be replaced by the wife in a man's life.
A salary man, corporate male worker, seems to have a relationship with his wife that is not based around sexual activity, rather he outsources that activity with other women. The husband sees the wife as a maternal woman, "Men need maternal woman [...] so went Wagatsuma's Theory" (Allison, 172). Men according to Allison's research, during the extensive exam practices that they had to undertake during their teenage years they dedicate their entire time to preparation. While most teenagers in this age in America would be sexually-active, a male in Tokyo would spend hardcore time preparing. An example of the effects of sexual-deprivation is a male that reported of having fantasies with face-less women during this time. This sexual-deprivation seems to have had an effect on the way the salary man is later affected in life, since the man then feels the need to prove his manliness to women by going to Hostess clubs.
Based on Allison's book, it seems like the culture in Tokyo of an average working male is solely based on his corporate entity, which is built upon his relationship with his coworkers built on these Hostess Clubs. This seems to be a good idea in general, however this in turn seems to turn the lifestyle of the Tokyo citizens by having them depend more on the company. In comparison to other cultures like the United States, where the lifestyle of a person is usually defined outside of work. Allison makes a good point on how the Tokyo citizen's culture seems to be based purely on what people can buy and afford. If a boss could afford to take a client to a more expensive hostess club, he would receive a better impression.
This culture in comparison to our culture is rather interesting. Both of them are based on the capitalistic since, however in Tokyo the life of the men is solely basically dominated by the corporate world and that is how they achieve their identity. In the US men tend to achieve their identity through hobbies they seek outside of the workplace, however in Tokyo they incorporate play with work. So that the worker becomes part of the company. In Tokyo it also seems that the culture is very male dominated and that showing off maleness in the hostess clubs is not only rewarded by stronger relations, but encouraged.
In the US women are more welcome in the corporate world thanks to the help of gender equality laws. However in Tokyo it seems that women are set for failure and not expected to graduate from college at all, except to be a housewife and then help the male son of that family study to help pass the exam. In contrast, US's prostitution clubs and Tokyo's lower-end Hostess clubs seem to be similar.
Citations:
Allison, Anne. Nightwork: Sexuality, Pleasure and Corporate Masculinity in a Tokyo Hostess Club. Chicago: Chicago Press, 1950.