I'm Kanae Murakami. I'm 20 years old.
I'm a hostess in Ginza.
My salary is just under 40,000 yen a day.
My clients are all kinds of characters.
Some spend a lot but are really humble.
Others are tight-fisted yet throw their weight around.
So it varies.
Hostess clubs in Ginza are closed at weekends.
So I work five days a week.
The club is open from 8 pm to 1 am.
But sometimes I have to drink with clients afterwards.
By the time I get home, it's already about 5 am.
I've only been in Tokyo for six months.
The highest tab I've seen so far here is 3 million yen for a single night.
I have an "uchikomi", which is a sales quota that I set myself.
If I can't meet that quota,
I take home 4,000 yen less for every 100,000 yen that I don't meet.
But if I exceed my monthly quota by 100,000 yen,
I'm entitled to 2,000 additional yen per day.
If a girl says she can bring in 1 million yen that month,
but ends up bringing in nothing,
she's basically in the red.
- Do you wear the same dress every night?
No, that's not allowed.
If we wear the same dress during the same week, we get told off.
When I was young,
I beat up my teacher.
I broke his backbone.
It took him 3 months to heal.
I frantically apologized, but he wouldn't forgive me.
So my parents kicked me out.
I didn't know anything about work or about making money.
So I kind of fell into this job as a nightclub hostess.
I can't get myself out of it. So here I am, still doing this.
Baby, I'm off. Be good!
The hair stylist is busy on some days, and not so much on other days.
So I usually set aside an hour for this.
I have to leave the house quite early,
because it takes ages to get myself ready for work.
I come every day.
I never know what time I get off.
So even if I have to be up early the next morning,
I could be out drinking till 6 am.
It's hard to make any plans.
I have low tolerance to alcohol,
but I push myself to drink, so it's tough.
I feel like my body will give in soon.
This is Ginza, the biggest part of Tokyo.
I'm heading to work now. I'll be drinking till the morning.
The same two bottles please.
- Do you come here often? - Yes, pretty often.
I'm here almost 5 days a week. At least 4.5 days.
With this kind of job, if I had a boyfriend...
he'd get in my way.
Even on my days off,
I have to spend time with my clients sometimes.
Things like that cause problems in a relationship.
Oftentimes, it just doesn't work out.
Jealously definitely comes into play.
It's difficult.
A lot of girls in this industry date their clients.
Clients in Tokyo tend to have money.
So the girls often initiate the relationship.
It's the money that they're after.
I bet about 80% of girls are in those relationships for the money.
The clients that come to Ginza are special.
Celebrities come too.
Like guys from the Johnny's talent agency.
I also entertain politicians. People who you wouldn't normally meet.
I've been in some serious relationships with clients myself.
But they were mostly affairs, so they didn't last that long.
If you go out with a client, you lose a paying customer.
Older hostesses have warned me time and time again.
And it's true. I've lost clients because I'd gotten involved with them.
From a business perspective, it's not a smart move.
Thank you for the drinks, boss!
- See you again tomorrow? - Yes, see you!
When I go out drinking with clients after my shift at the club,
some won't let me go home.
They'll take out a wad of cash and say,
"How about it tonight?"
Or some men will try to drag me into a hotel.
I need gum.
You want me to chew it erotically?
No matter how important someone is,
when it comes to dirty jokes, all men are the same.
However important he is, he'd still have a good laugh with a dirty joke.
It's a universal thing. All men find them funny.
Oh my little Pooh!
Pooh, it's a stranger!