I have to ask - weird dudes in Kabukicho
 

My wife and I were walking around last night near Kabukicho. We came across dozens of guys in suits with long hair like U.S. rock bands from the 80s. The hair was hair-sprayed solid and most of them had lightened their hair to that gold color. They stood smoking in the middle of intersections on the small side roads. What's the deal with these guys? They are hilarious to watch.

They're Yakuza.. right guys?

Loitering on intersections in Kabukicho? Dunno. With the hair, sounds more like Hosuto to me.

Yakuza newbies looking for hostesses probably. I like the awful colored pointy leather shoes.

they are called "male hosts" or hosuto ..
they entertain female customer in their clubs..

they are all over Japan as long as host bar/club exist but I guess they are Kabukicho has lots of them..

That is awesome. I'm no Casanova, but a woman would have to be exceedingly desperate to go for one of those helmets!

Male hosts most likely

You wouldn't believe the amount of money some women (mostly hostesses or other below the radar workers) spend at those places.

If you want to see a decent documentary about host boy life, watch "The Great Happiness Space". Netflix has it streaming if you have a subscription. By the end I felt a bit sad for all sides of the transaction.

This is based out of Osaka, but is a really good documentary about a sad state of living.

That sounds like an interesting movie, I might have to check that out.

I can't imagine what it would be like to be a host... well maybe I can haha. There are some in my town... but there are WAY more hostesses. It's like the local entertainment. A lot of those girls smoke and drink way too much... but they basically live for free from what I can tell. They pay rent (most of the time), but they can often get free dinner from some guys which also means free drinks. So you work to lure guys in, then you work to lure them out (with you). It seems easier to get guys to go into a bar than it would be to get girls to go into a bar... I say that because you mostly see men standing out waiting for girls to walk by, and not too often the other way around (girls waiting to lure men inside).

Those guys will try to invite my girlfriend in when she's walking with me, which is always a pleasure (it's pretty much standard from what I can tell).

I guess I should be embarassed, but I've come into contact with the hostesses way more than the hosts haha... so what I know about hosts is only from word of mouth. I'm gonna look into renting that movie though, since it's an interesting subject.

I have a question: How about those chinese girls in the streets in tokyo asking you if you want a "massage". I have never indulged myself, expecting that there is a "deeper" meaning to the word. Has anyone taken one of those girls up on their offers, and did that situation pan out like I imagine it would, or was it literally just a massage?

While I've met a lot of the hostess girls in my town and can kinda trust them, I wouldn't feel comfortable in one of those bars in the grips of a giant city like Tokyo... I think a lot of those places have ties with Yakuza. I'll have to watch that movie to find out for sure though.

There is more to what many of them do than simply working in a host club. Many of the girls who are lured into these clubs are often recruited to work in porn or prostitution. It's true that many of the women who frequent host clubs are hostesses, but many (if not most) became hostesses at the recommendation (or worse) of the cheap-suit-wearing-died-hair-pointy-shoe-empty-headed jerks you saw.

For the most part, these guys are high school drop-outs (if they in fact went to high school), or "potatoes" from the country who find being a host more interesting than washing cars or working at a convenience store (the only other jobs at their level of intellect).

Your suspicions are correct.