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Host / Kyabakura (Maho Fujimoto) TOP PAGE
Introduction
Do you know how much money host clubs make? According to Henson (2013), “the 1200 estimated host clubs throughout Japan bring in around $1.4 billion dollars annually and the average salary of a host is $10,000” (page 15). Therefore, these host clubs and kyabakura industries attain large amounts of money, and it can definitely be said that the industry is a successful business. However, where are these industries seen?
When someone asks about the location of the host clubs and kyabakura in Japan, most Japanese people would answer Kabukicho. Host clubs and kyabakura are one of the key industries that represent Kabuki-Cho. Especially, when you enter the Hanamichi-Dori (check the map below for location), you will immediately recognize numerous host clubs’ signboards lined up on the street. These signboards could be a tool or a landmark to notify pedestrians that they have entered the host clubs and kyabakura industry area.
Research Focus
The research on host clubs and kyabakura signboards is worth analyzing because just from the signboard and how it is composed and approached to the viewers, it reveals many information about the industry such as the purpose, their main focus, targeted audience, and their expectation to the store, workers’ characteristics and status, and success. Thus, by understanding how these signboards are presented and work in the Kabuki-Cho, we can learn why and how they are successful in their business as well as acknowledge why Kabuki-Cho is popular for host clubs and kyabakura.
This research page’s main purpose is to explore different composition and visual representation strategies to identify what makes this Kabukicho host clubs and kyabakura significant and distinct from others by examining 5 domains that analyze different aspects of the signboards.
The research use about 180 host club signboards which include about 470 hosts and 21 Kyabakura signboards which include a total of 51 kyaba-jyo found through my multiple fieldwork research in Kabukicho for over a month.
What is Host / Kyabakura Industries
Host and Kyabakura industry are both night entertainment businesses where workers provide drinks and communicate with customers by sitting at their tables. The services of host clubs and kyabakura are similar. The difference is the gender of workers and customers. At host clubs, male workers are hired and target female customers, while at kyabakura, female workers, called kyabajyo, serve male customers. Drinks in these industries are overpriced. Not only does the customer order and pay for their own drinks, but they also pay for drinks for the host or kyabajyo. Hence, customers spend extreme money on these industries. Although their services include flirting with customers, there is no sexual activity in the store, and contains a “no touching” policy.
MAP / FIELD SITE
The map on the left indicates the location of the host clubs and kyabakura that were found on the signboards. Therefore, only the store signboards that I found through my multiple field research on Kabuki cho. Most of these signboards were found in front of their store/building or located on the street of Hanamichi-Dori or Kuyakusho-Dori.
📍The colored pins on the map indicate:
💙 Dark blue: Host clubs
💜 Pink: Kyabakura
💛 Yellow: Hanamichi-Dori
💚 Green: Kuyakusho-Dori
DOMAINS
Difference between Host Clubs and Kyabakura Signboards
Venn diagram shows the differences and similarities of the features of signboards. As the diagram indicates, host clubs incorporate a wide range of variety and offer different types of workers. In contrast, kyabakura lacks diversity and but more unity in all features.
How Different Types of Hosts are Presented on Signboards
The Venn diagram and the 5 domains the pages covered on this page revealed the diversity of hosts in host clubs in Kabuki-cho. The chart below concludes how these different types of hosts utilized these categories or domains covered in this research.
Conclusion
The page explored 5 different domains and discovered not only differences between the host clubs and kyabakura but achieve the purpose of the research to find what was distinct and significant from other signboards. Different approaches have been made to appeal to the viewers. One significance of the host clubs and kyabakura signboards is the representation strategies of the workers. Since in this industry, the workers are the product of their business, workers need to strive to present themselves with an expected appearance by establishing Japanese cultural beauty standards, or present in desired characteristics through their posing, clothing, and language use. In order to achieve their image as a worker, some breaks the gender norm of becoming more feminine than masculine. Furthermore, the overall composition of the signboards such as lighting and colors contributed to creating the unique Kabuki-cho atmosphere of “the city that never sleeps”.
Other Pages Related to Signboards
Sex Industries (Hana Komiyama)
Muryo-Annai Jyo (Kanon Iwata)