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Tokyo Hostess: Inside the shocking world of Tokyo nightclub hostessing
*** THE BOOK BEHIND THE MAJOR NETFLIX THE LUCIE BLACKMAN CASE *** In summer 2000, Lucie Blackman arrived in Tokyo to work as a nightclub hostess. Pretty, blonde, 21 years old, Lucie was a prized 'gaijin girl' (Western girl) whose job it was to serve drinks to Japanese businessmen, light their cigarettes, flirt. Lucie thought the job would be fun and glamorous; a great way of earning a lot of money quickly.But she did not know that behind the lights and excitement of Tokyo's nightclub scene lies a terrible darkness. Many beautiful Western girls have found themselves lured into performing sexual acts for money, seeing their job slowly change from nightclub hostess into that of high-class prostitute. Although Lucie never took this path, her glamorous adventure ended even more tragically - businessman Joji Obara was convicted of dismembering and abandoning her body. In this groundbreaking, authoritative account of Lucie's life and death, Clare Campbell lifts the lid on the often horrifyingly sleazy world of Tokyo nightclubs.
416 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 8, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 14, 2019
If anyone saw the recent Japan travelogues from Sue Perkins on the BBC, you would have seen a country full of daft quirks and eccentricities delivered in the irreverent comedienne's trademark "Oh arent you a silly bunch" humour.
But what lies behind the oddities and unique, bizarre traditions of this rather insular nation of beauty and cosmopolitan grandeur and technological revolution is a deep dark psyche and contradictory nature. A simplistic severity and traumatic attitude towards sex and the genders amid dominated and submissive porcelain doll children. A race of people who think and act towards those of other nationalities like nobody else and who have a perverted fascination with foreigners. And in particular, women.
Which brings us to the suburbs of Roppongi and Kabukicho and the dark, seedy world of adult entertainment. Of deeply sick and twisted men and their fetish for non-Japanese, catered for by hostess bars, strip clubs and brothels. Restaurants you can cuddle cats and eat off toilet bowls, then head to a vending machine to pair of used schoolgirl's knickers. Of anime comic novels that are deeply soaked in violence and Paedophilia.
But then again, you can buy those in the Japan Centre store, in Piccadilly Circus if were that way inclined. Yeah, it's a fucked up place.
Tokyo Hostess follows a few cases from over the years of the naive and hungry for adventure who find themselves in what they believed to be a safe and innocent profession. That of sitting in a cafe and fake laughing at business men, desperate for smiles and attention, away from their stern but agreeable wives. But what they evidently find is an occupation fraught with punishing schedules, peer pressure and the lure of drug and alcohol addiction. Not to mention dangerous temptations.
The way the girls featured in this book were killed also were both harrowing and inventive. Not to mention brutal and worryingly highlights a psychological nature of a fascinating peoples and a forever evolving, peculiar culture.
Lock up your daughters.
But what lies behind the oddities and unique, bizarre traditions of this rather insular nation of beauty and cosmopolitan grandeur and technological revolution is a deep dark psyche and contradictory nature. A simplistic severity and traumatic attitude towards sex and the genders amid dominated and submissive porcelain doll children. A race of people who think and act towards those of other nationalities like nobody else and who have a perverted fascination with foreigners. And in particular, women.
Which brings us to the suburbs of Roppongi and Kabukicho and the dark, seedy world of adult entertainment. Of deeply sick and twisted men and their fetish for non-Japanese, catered for by hostess bars, strip clubs and brothels. Restaurants you can cuddle cats and eat off toilet bowls, then head to a vending machine to pair of used schoolgirl's knickers. Of anime comic novels that are deeply soaked in violence and Paedophilia.
But then again, you can buy those in the Japan Centre store, in Piccadilly Circus if were that way inclined. Yeah, it's a fucked up place.
Tokyo Hostess follows a few cases from over the years of the naive and hungry for adventure who find themselves in what they believed to be a safe and innocent profession. That of sitting in a cafe and fake laughing at business men, desperate for smiles and attention, away from their stern but agreeable wives. But what they evidently find is an occupation fraught with punishing schedules, peer pressure and the lure of drug and alcohol addiction. Not to mention dangerous temptations.
The way the girls featured in this book were killed also were both harrowing and inventive. Not to mention brutal and worryingly highlights a psychological nature of a fascinating peoples and a forever evolving, peculiar culture.
Lock up your daughters.
January 21, 2010
An eye opening account of hostess bars in Japan, focusing on the Lucie Blackman case and the investigation around it. I'm pretty fascinated by the sexual politics and sociology in japan, so this was a very helpful work for anyoine who wants a better idea of what can happen and go wrong. As the author too has lost a relative to tragedy the way the subject was treated with sensitivity rather than salaciousness.
February 6, 2023
this is the true story of lucie blackman.
it is based in 2000.
she is from england and comes to tokyo , japan where she becomes a hostess.
tokyo , japan is the party capital of the world.
she is a western girl.
she becomes a hostess.
she is pretty and blonde.
and starts working over there.
she just thinks that it is a harmless way to earn money.
she is sold into the sex industry.
she sees a lot of clients.
one day she just goes missing and is no where to be find.
they find out that a man called joji obara is involves in the missing case.
it is found that she has been killed and her dead body is found.
her parents and family come from england and try to find out the truth.
she dies and jojii obara is charged with her killing.
it is based in 2000.
she is from england and comes to tokyo , japan where she becomes a hostess.
tokyo , japan is the party capital of the world.
she is a western girl.
she becomes a hostess.
she is pretty and blonde.
and starts working over there.
she just thinks that it is a harmless way to earn money.
she is sold into the sex industry.
she sees a lot of clients.
one day she just goes missing and is no where to be find.
they find out that a man called joji obara is involves in the missing case.
it is found that she has been killed and her dead body is found.
her parents and family come from england and try to find out the truth.
she dies and jojii obara is charged with her killing.
April 22, 2019
Pretty sure I already read this one years ago, before I was interested in Japan, but couldn’t especially remember it and a copy was up for grabs, so had a reread.
Interesting and thought provoking. I don’t believe it is the normal experience of a hostess, but the girls in this were certainly unlucky in meeting this particular man. I have to say, not the safest work (not victim blaming in any way) and a good cautionary tale for young women after some easy money in Tokyo. Bad stuff can happen even in a safe country.
Interesting and thought provoking. I don’t believe it is the normal experience of a hostess, but the girls in this were certainly unlucky in meeting this particular man. I have to say, not the safest work (not victim blaming in any way) and a good cautionary tale for young women after some easy money in Tokyo. Bad stuff can happen even in a safe country.
February 26, 2011
It used to be that crimes against foreigners by other foreigners or by Japanese (against foreigners) didn’t concern us. It wasn’t worth the paperwork’. Tokyo Hostess is the true crime account of murdered 21yr old English woman Lucie Blackman who arrived in Tokyo to work in the Water Trade (Japanese night time entertainment business involving female company and drinking) as a hostess in the right light district. For a hostess, dohans (out of club dates sanctioned by bar owners) were everything and often proved to be the difference between having a job and being unemployed. It was on one of these dohans that Lucie would ultimately end up drugged, raped, murdered, and hacked to pieces by the murderous predator Obara (seemingly responsible for many such incidents on western and Japanese women alike). The depiction of Tokyo nightlife was well executed and thorough – numerous clubs were mentioned and other unsavoury establishments and figures, interestingly enough, the Yakuza was hardly mentioned. Tokyo Hostess painted an unflattering picture of the Japanese police and their seeming reluctance to investigate crimes involving foreigners (see above quote), while aspects of the murder investigation did little to evoke the readers’ sympathy towards Lucie’s father (after accepting ‘condolence money’ from the accused) – all of this added to the unique feel and tone of the setting. Overall, an interesting account of an unsavoury murder and dangerous profession – 3 stars.
May 11, 2020
Dropping one star from this rating. It was 5 years ago and I don't even remember reading this but apparently I did?
Anyway, it's an interesting read but is it normal for books like this to have no list of references or bibliographies? Clare Campbell referenced Lesley Downer and Angela Carter, iirc, but even if you say where you pulled your in-text quotes from, you surely have to list the books down in the end? What about all the newspaper articles? The websites? Hell even a list of Japanese newspapers and tabloids would be nice.
Some of the Japanese words weren't even translated, so we're just left to look at things like fuzoku annai, with a note that it's a 'garish shopfront offering a computerised entry point into the bizarre array of sex establishments stacked up high in the entertainment buildings' which is a very leading description to words that literally just mean 'included information'--or a computerised directory, if you will.
I mean, I'm not saying it's bad, and I'm even going to play nice and not assume racism where it likely doesn't exist. But there is a damning of sex work here, a focus on the sexual aspects of Joji Obara's actions and the general atmosphere of Roponggi at the time, that I don't quite trust? But heck, we all need to be read and if 'Japan is told to be safe but look at what they actually do!! These middle aged men read manga-porn in the subway!!!' is your clickbaity angle of choice, then so be it.
Anyway, it's an interesting read but is it normal for books like this to have no list of references or bibliographies? Clare Campbell referenced Lesley Downer and Angela Carter, iirc, but even if you say where you pulled your in-text quotes from, you surely have to list the books down in the end? What about all the newspaper articles? The websites? Hell even a list of Japanese newspapers and tabloids would be nice.
Some of the Japanese words weren't even translated, so we're just left to look at things like fuzoku annai, with a note that it's a 'garish shopfront offering a computerised entry point into the bizarre array of sex establishments stacked up high in the entertainment buildings' which is a very leading description to words that literally just mean 'included information'--or a computerised directory, if you will.
I mean, I'm not saying it's bad, and I'm even going to play nice and not assume racism where it likely doesn't exist. But there is a damning of sex work here, a focus on the sexual aspects of Joji Obara's actions and the general atmosphere of Roponggi at the time, that I don't quite trust? But heck, we all need to be read and if 'Japan is told to be safe but look at what they actually do!! These middle aged men read manga-porn in the subway!!!' is your clickbaity angle of choice, then so be it.
August 10, 2016
This Book is about about the girls who travel to Tokyo in search of money and model jobs only to fall into the nightclubs as Hostesses. The work of a hostess is often seen as easy money however the sleazy reputation of these nightclubs are not realised until a girl starts her first job.
Before long girls are lured into sex acts for money. Sometimes girls such as Lucie Blackman's body being found in a cave. More recently Lindsay Hawker was also found murdered in Tokyo.
This book exposes this seductive sleazy world of tokyo night clubs interviewing girl who work in these clubs and lucie blackman's family and friends and uses Linday's personal diaries.
Easy and interestig book to read. Teaches how the clubs work, how the Mama-san's manage the girls. How they are taught that "Men are supreme so you have to obey their every whim". Instruction were given how how to dress and if you disobeyed the dress code you are fined. The inside story of these clubs and this lifestyle is very interesting and I recommend it.
Before long girls are lured into sex acts for money. Sometimes girls such as Lucie Blackman's body being found in a cave. More recently Lindsay Hawker was also found murdered in Tokyo.
This book exposes this seductive sleazy world of tokyo night clubs interviewing girl who work in these clubs and lucie blackman's family and friends and uses Linday's personal diaries.
Easy and interestig book to read. Teaches how the clubs work, how the Mama-san's manage the girls. How they are taught that "Men are supreme so you have to obey their every whim". Instruction were given how how to dress and if you disobeyed the dress code you are fined. The inside story of these clubs and this lifestyle is very interesting and I recommend it.
February 27, 2010
I'm fascinated by all things Japanese, but this book fell a little short of the mark. Campbell's journalistic approach was a little dry for me, however, Tokyo Hostess is a quick and interesting read, particularly for readers who enjoy true crime stories.
February 10, 2013
well written and interesting
August 30, 2014
Tabloid stuff laced with some background search on history and manifestations of the phenomena of hosts/hostesses in Japan, without any real conclusion.
October 14, 2012
Extremely moving account that reads with chilling realism.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews