Disappointing times for Heartland women

Leo Lewis of the Times has examined the impact of the financial crisis on Japanese women who hang out at a bar in Roppongi Hills hoping to meet rich foreign bankers:

In its prime, the 54 storeys of the Roppongi Hills office tower were a focal point for much that was positive about Japan: it was the spiritual home of Japan’s kachigumi – society’s “winners”. By 9.50pm, back at Heartland, two foreign men in suits have finally made a move. Haruna and Etsuko clutch new vodka tonics, but are sipping quickly: the suits worn by the men who bought the drinks don’t fit right and the ties are domestic, they could even be polyester. The would-be wooers stumble on the question of what it is they actually do “in banking” and are quickly sized up as frauds, or possibly IT consultants.

The girls make excuses and head to the station for the hour-long ride back to Kawasaki: they understand economics enough to know that they will probably never find the banker ready to induct them to the “Hills Tribe” of well-dressed women living and shopping around Roppongi Hills.

“I think Heartland and the stock markets are the same thing,” says Masabuchi, drawing a downward spiral in the air, “so it is not surprising that the bar has had a kind of ‘shock’ of its own. Bankers have always gone to certain bars in Japan, but the ones around Roppongi Hills are different – they became part of Japanese culture as much as expat culture.”

A true shame for shallow money-obsessed women.

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