Japan’s Geisha Guys

Slim enough to fit into a Dior Homme suit but can’t quite afford one yet? It might be time to brush up on your Japanese.

The country’s newly empowered female execs have been hiring so-called “geisha guys,” who earn up to 50 grand a night for “entertaining” the ladies.

A growing number of professional women in Japan are forking out $1,000 to $50,000 a night for male companionship.

They meet their “hosts” in hundreds of clubs that have sprung up around Tokyo - the industry says only compliments are exchanged. The women pay for a man to lavish them with undivided attention.

“There’s nothing wrong with a woman paying to be entertained by a man” one female client says. “It’s just another step in equality.”

“I give women things that men normally don’t do, like complimenting their appearance” says one host, 24-year-old Yunosuke, who only goes by his single host name. “I make women happy.”

And they make him happy: Yunosuke says he earned more than $200,000 last year, enough to let him visit a salon once a day to have his hair dyed and blow-dried.

“Women see us as one of their accessories” he says. “They like to wear nice things, so I try to look prettier for them all the time.”

What drives the business boom is an increase in the earning power of Japanese women, according to Air Group, a company that owns a chain of “host” clubs.

“Japanese women are now working hard and making more money” says Yuko Takeyama, a woman in her early 30s who manages Air Group. “They see this as a way to de-stress.”

Women love being treated well without the pressures that come with dating, she says.

Quoted from CNN and Men.Style.com

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