Nightclub hostesses make more money than office ladies
A recent survey of Japanese women between the ages of 15 and 22 found that 22.3% wanted to become hostesses. Here’s a screen capture from an ATV news report showing that “hostess” far outranked “government worker” as a dream job:
The reason for this is not surprising – successful hostesses can make a lot of money. The same news report cited statistics showing that the average hourly pay of a hostess is 4000 yen, more than doubled the 1200 yen hourly average paid to female officer workers. If one is lucky enough to become a popular hostess, daily pay can rise to hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
To demonstrate how some young women become nightclub hostesses to pursue their dreams, ATV profiled Momoka, a popular hostess at the Four Sense nightclub in Tokyo’s Kabukicho district:
Momoka has been a hostess for a year and a half, and she is popular enough to be requested by many customers. At the end of a night’s work, she is shown receiving an envelope stuffed with an enormous amount of cash. Apparently she makes millions of yen a year, almost all of which she saves.
The TV crew is invited to her apartment, which is a small one room with an attached kitchen. Momoka shares the apartment with a friend and does without the luxuries one would expect of a popular nightclub hostess. She reveals that she does not plan to be a hostess for long, and will quit as soon as she has saved up enough money to achieve her real dream – owning and managing a dog cafe. She admits that working as a hostess is stressful and has even made her sick at times, but she is not going to quit until she can achieve her dream.
