Westerner friendly, not-too-expensive, host bar

[MMM]

The documentary we saw had bottles of Dom Perignon for 100,000+ yen, and bills that were in the millions of yen.

Understandably this is one club in Osaka, and supposedly a big/famous one, but I understand their hesitation.

[evanny]

btw...how do they deal with the bill? if such serious sums of money are involved? let's say there is a girl planing on suicide - she goes there, has time of her life buying best champagne for all the hosts and then rans out leaving business in serious debt.
P.S ok...not necessarily suicide, but how do they determine will you be able to pay? money first?

[RickOShay]

Originally Posted by evanny

btw...how do they deal with the bill? if such serious sums of money are involved? let's say there is a girl planing on suicide - she goes there, has time of her life buying best champagne for all the hosts and then rans out leaving business in serious debt.
P.S ok...not necessarily suicide, but how do they determine will you be able to pay? money first?

Not sure about the ungodly expensive ones, but anyplace where the totally bill is under 100,000 yen, I would imagine it is not a problem. People typically walk around with more than 30,000 yen all cash on them anyway and I am sure there are lots of people with 100,000 yen plus on them.

I usually never have less than 10,000 yen on me. Man that took some time to get used to too. In the states I usually never had more than $40 in my pocket.

[Polar]

I assume this is one, this was is in Shinjuku

[steel]

It looks like a ramen shop that's been retro-fitted !

[AlfieA]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

You don`t HAVE to stay for a long time or spend a lot of money. You can get away with spending very little (in terms of host clubs).

A pretty standard run down on cost -
5000 - 6000yen cover charge
2000 or so to choose the guy you want to be entertained by (sometimes you can just ask for whoever is free and not pay this or only pay half)
Drinks - get to those in a minute
And a 30% service tax

Drinks tend to go anywhere from 1000yen for a beer, to pretty extreme bottles that can hit 500,000yen.

Cocktails tend to be 1000 to 1500.

There will also usually be a menu of snacks / food, usually below 2000 for anything.

You could technically do something like this;
10000 cover charge (2 of you)
2000 for a guy you pick
4500 for cocktails for you two and the guy
1500 for snacks
5400 service tax
---------------------
23400 yen for the two of you

And that is assuming that they don`t have a "new customer" thing going on - most places do, and they`ll halve the cover charge and offer an all-you-can-drink deal for 3000 or so. Some will have a flat rate of 3000~5000yen for 2 hours of all-you-can-drink with no cover charge.

So if you look around and find a place doing this kind of deal (most do, it`s a chance to hook a new customer), you could get by on 10,000 or less for the two of you.

Even if there isn`t that kind of a plan offered, you can sometimes find early hours discounts - even a cheap customer is better than NO customers, so things will be half or more off before prime hours.

Host clubs are a bit of a different culture than hostess bars. You don`t have to spend incredible amounts just to go to one for the experience. Even most of the nicest places will have the new customer deal of 3000~5000yen. (I have yet to see one that doesn`t.)

You seem very well informed about these clubs!

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by MMM

Understandably this is one club in Osaka, and supposedly a big/famous one, but I understand their hesitation.

Even in a big and famous one though, that type of money being tossed around isn`t really the norm. It is kind of like a host`s dream to catch the type of customer that will throw that kind of money at him. They`re quite rare - and are usually women who work in 水商売 to begin with. These days they`re getting even rarer because there are fewer rich businessmen willing to toss money at them (thanks to the economy). So most host clubs have sort of changed their philosophy, and aim for repeat low to midrange customers. One 10000yen per-person group of three visit a week is better than one 100,000yen visit a month from a single customer. And having 3 or 4 15000-a-visit regulars to hop between each night is better than having a single 50,000-a-visit customer who demands full attention.
The clubs that relied entirely on the big spenders and didn`t really even allow the low spenders are... well... going out of business left and right.

Those that have taken advantage of the new interest in host clubs that has been fueled by manga and anime are booming. The newer clubs to open seem to be aiming for a more approachable image, and push to have repeat business from regular women instead of occasional big spenders from the 水商売 world.

btw...how do they deal with the bill? if such serious sums of money are involved? let's say there is a girl planing on suicide - she goes there, has time of her life buying best champagne for all the hosts and then rans out leaving business in serious debt.
P.S ok...not necessarily suicide, but how do they determine will you be able to pay? money first?

You show ID when you enter, and they copy down your information.
If you manage to find some way to sneak out - something that would be pretty hard as the policy is having one of the hosts walk you out - I am sure they would waste no time in tracking you down... And if you were dead when they found you, your family.

You seem very well informed about these clubs!

I really think they`re a huge waste of money and are a bit silly, really.
Back a few years ago, I helped someone do a study on the changing relationship between host and hostess clubs. This involved going around to a bunch of clubs and translating for her as she interviewed hosts and managers.
I was also a free-time translator for a while, and was dragged around to hostess and host clubs. Pretty much anywhere will be "foreigner friendly" if you have someone who speaks fluent Japanese with you.
In my opinion, hostess clubs sell sex appeal - host clubs sell conversation. Hostesses are looks #1, talk #2 - hosts are the other way around. I`ve seen hosts that are over 40, not all that attractive, and who are making lots of money. I have never seen a hostess who was over 25 or so. (And if she was, she was the owner and was trying very very hard to still look 25.)
A hostess club can get lots of money out of a first time visitor as, well, drunk men with high libidos will spend tons of money on a hot girl they feel they might have a chance with even if it`s the first time they`ve met.
Host clubs rarely get any real income from first time visitors as they play more to emotions and conversation. Their money comes from women who enjoy talking with the hosts and who will come back time after time for a kind ear and emotional support. This is why host clubs will offer inexpensive pack deals for first time visitors, and sometimes offer similar pack deals if your next visit is within 2 weeks of the last. Hostess clubs obviously value repeat customers too, but men are far more aggressive in pursuing the girls so they usually don`t need to offer that kind of incentive.

There is really a different type of thinking between the two, and a different type of thinking in the customers.

[samokan]

Well just a recent experience when I went to a hostess club last week, and no I did not spend a single cent.

Anyways, one of the customer a Japanese salaryman informed the Mama-san that he is only willing to spend 10,000yen. He set the maximum amount and of course all the girls were informed.

I guess you can do that to the host club, set the amount. Enjoy

[princessmarisa]

thanks for all the info here, especially from Nyororin.

I too think as a regular thing they are a quite silly, but as a one off exp, 10,000 for 2 people is okay and hopefully it would be one of those quite random things you never forget.

[Ghap]

Nothing wrong with enjoying yourself......you go girls.