Profile of a foreign butler cafe employee
March 11th, 2009 by James
An NTV news special report about residents of Ginza that aired yesterday included a segment about a foreign guy who works at a butler cafe:
The main focus of the report is on his living conditions and his dream of becoming a pop star. Here are some brief notes on its contents:
- The guy’s name is Will and he’s a student at Sophia University. He pays 88,000 yen to rent a room at a guest house in Ginza. He earns his living expenses by working at a butler cafe.
- He wants to be a pop star in Japan. Much like Jero, he has a Japanese grandmother who taught him about Japanese culture and music. His favorite singer seems to be Utada Hikaru. When he sings an example song, the narrator comments on how he needs some more practice. Ouch.
- The narrator makes fun of his inability to follow the cooking directions on his instant rice package. When he adds ramen to the rice, the narrator hopes that he didn’t learn how to make such a monstrosity from his Japanese grandmother.
- Lacking a piano at home, he uses one at an electronics store for practice.
- At the end of the report he goes to an audition. The judges are not very impressed with his attempt to sing a popular Japanese song and say he might have a better chance if he tries to create original songs. Will seems determined to follow this advice.
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He seems like a nice guy. He is at least following his dream.
Given the current economic situation, perhaps it is better to do that rather than a “steady” job at a car or electronics company.
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Poor boy…
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Yeah.
Don’t mean to be a debbie downer, but I don’t think he’ll become big as a pop singer.
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Now this is who the Ministry of Justice should be deporting.
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Heeey, this guy’s in my class. I remember all the hubub about them filming the class for this. ^_^; I ended up not going to class that day ’cause I didn’t want to be filmed.
I guess I’ll have to ask him about ramen rice now if I see him again…
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You skipped class because you didn’t want to be filmed? Wow…not only are you skipping out on education that YOU paid for (and probably need) but your reason for skipping is that you’re camera shy. Ridiculous.
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I don’t find it ridiculous. Some people don’t enjoy having giant cameras shoved in their faces or being asked for their take on moronic issues.
And really, I think most people have skipped at least ONE class at some point in their life.
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Why is it ridiculous?
I’d do the same, I wouldn’t want to be caught up in a filming about some douchebag’s life in Tokyo.
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I’m sure he won’t become a famous pop star, but he’s not too bad, at least he doesn’t have to feel embarrassed
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Why doesnt the butler cafe hire men of color? I don’t get it…white people talk about discrimination in Japan but they still do the same shi)*) their grandparents did. Why?! I don’t get it..
I sent an email to the butler cafe to ask if they hire people of color and no reply yet. lol
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I don’t think it’s racist. It just makes more sense to have European-looking people working at an European themed café.
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The image being sold is, it seems, one of the traditional British butler. Who were traditionally white. Just as you would not hire a black in the US to play a geisha in a ‘geisha cafe’. But do also point out that they are also being sexist in their hiring practices. And possibly ageist: frankly, butlers should be rather older than this guy, who is more of a waiter anyway than a butler or even a valet.
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Shouldn’t they all be British aswell? Guess most japanese people couldn’t tell the difference.
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Ideally, but then we are talking appearances here, so I rather doubt the clients could tell. Anyway, said Brit would need to speak in RP, and not, say Scouse.
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Sure – and if there actually was a “black butler cafe” then some folks would complain about how blacks were being stereotyped again, and how some folks think that a Black Man can’t be anything but a servant, how this is a Plot by The Man to oppress the brothers, then Al Sharpton would come to town to smooth the troubled waters…
So, WWCND?
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His rent sounds like such a ripoff; Why would you live in Ginza in the first place? I went to Sophia for a year and I was only paying 55,000 yen a month for an apartment the school helped arranged for me in Setagaya.
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His rent is an incredible waste of money. I assume he likes the snob value of “Ginza” otherwise I really can’t see much need for him to be there.
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He seems like a nice guy but I seriously don’t think he’ll become famous singing anytime soon. I think he’d probably have more of a chance making money off playing the piano so that’s probably better off working on than the singing. But at the end of the day I’m not here to judge people, good luck to him!
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“But at the end of the day I’m not here to judge people”
yes you are
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Nice job, but that ramen and rice I don’t know.
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“hitomi wo tojite” is the equivalent of “I will always love you” by whitney houston. Everyone tries to sing it, but they always make it sound so half-assed.
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Are you saying that the 50% of hot spring in the Sapporo accept black but refuse your entrance because you are white or are you insinuating that Debito is that useless, living in Hokaidou ?
It seems you are an onsen lover;you’ve visited every onsen and 50% of onsen refused you, right? Let me ask you, Specifically which onsen will refuse white people? Could you give us the names and telephone number?
I’d go back to U.S. if I were you.
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