The Life And Times Of A Tokyo Bar Hostess

T O K Y O, March 16, 2001 -- Let's call her Magda.

She is a pretty woman, in her early 20s, with long legs, long hair and a quick wit. She speaks excellent English, and now has a handsome Canadian boyfriend.

Magda is doing this interview as a favor; but also as a warning to other young women who want a taste of adventure in Asia.

Not everything you see in Japan is exactly what it seems, she confides.

Magda worked in a hostess bar, in one of the nightclub sections of Tokyo. The area is called Roppongi, and by day it's a bustling, cheerful quarter, cluttered with shops, restaurants and coffee bars.

By night, it is a kaleidoscope of neon lights, fortune tellers and sidewalk hawkers selling watches and ties to the passing crowd.

But go up several stories and there are other, darker businesses, often controlled by Japanese crime gangs known as the Yakuza.

They are small, dim bars run by watchful, sharp-eyed owners, both men and women. Places where men come after dark to drink and eat and be entertained by hostesses.

History Repeats

The hostesses sport professional smiles and seemingly endless patience. They are expected to completely cater to the customers, helping the men to more food and more drink, served up with jokes, laughter … and more alcohol.

In the old days, it was referred to as "The Water Trade." In centuries past, the ruling Shogun sectioned off one part of Tokyo, exclusively devoted to pleasure. Male pleasure.

Samurai entering the "Pleasure Quarters" checked their weapons at the front gate, partly so they would not murder each other after excessive drinking bouts, but just as importantly to keep knives from falling into the hands of the desperate prostitutes penned inside who wanted more than anything to kill themselves as their only escape.

Today's pleasure quarters are more sedate; but the search for pleasure by Japanese men often leans to the exotic.

Like Magda.

Model Mix-Up

Magda worked as a promotional model in her East European homeland, usually at events like trade shows.

The money wasn't bad, but Magda wanted to go to college, so when her agency suggested she'd make a lot more money working in Tokyo, the lure of easy money and adventure was irresistible.

Her contract was handed over and it was her understanding she would do the same work as back home … maybe standing next to a gleaming new Toyota at the annual Tokyo car show.

But the Japanese agency lied. She found herself one of 10 young women flying together, hoping for good money and guaranteed housing.

When the group arrived in Tokyo, they were met and taken to an apartment near the Roppongi nightclub district. That's when Magda's world fell apart.

Walk On The Wild Side

Ten girls were crammed into four filthy rooms.

"There were dirty sheets, there were cockroaches all over the place. You cannot imagine it," she told ABCNEWS.com.

They had not slept and were extremely tired, but their employers insisted they go off to the club that night and go to work.

When she returned to the apartment after work, now exhausted, there was another girl already asleep in Magda's bed.

"I ended up standing on the balcony, crying," she said. "I just couldn't believe it. I knew that I had to get out."

But for a while she was stuck working through the night entertaining men in dark, smoky bars and avoiding the even darker side of the business.

Magda never went on "dates" with her customers, but she understands why a girl would do that, especially for dinner.

"She's happy to get out of a tiny apartment where eight other girls are getting ready for the evening, trying to eat fluffy white Japanese bread for dinner. And she gets out for a nice dinner, something to eat, or maybeshopping in Ginza."

The Ultimate Price

Most long-time Tokyo residents will tell you that Roppongi has gone down market and seedy, but it is still a place where lots of money changes hands.

Young Japanese or foreign women who are charming, pretty and clever can, with a bit of luck and quick wit, cultivate wealthy men who lavish them with gifts, take them shopping, and not necessarily expect or demand sex.

"Japanese men want to treat us like queens," Magda says. "They want to admire us. They love to buy us things."

That may be true, but it is impossible to drive through Roppongi at any hour now without thinking of the terrible exception of Lucie Blackman, a former British flight attendant whose trip to Japan as a lark ended tragically in her death and dismemberment.

Blackman knew she was coming to Japan to be a hostess. She just didn't know how dangerous the job was. The man suspected of killing her, is also suspected of killing other hostesses.

Magda knew there were dangers, but she knew girls who took risks … like Lucie, who went out with a customer.

In Magda's case, her short career as a hostess in Roppongi ended when she met and fell in love with a Canadian fitness instructor who bought her out of her contract.

Others have not been so lucky.