Amigos

While in Japan one often finds themselves being friends with people they would never dream of if they stayed in their own country or comfort zone. For example, becoming good friends with a 60 year old woman, or a 50 year old man with a family. My most recent friends are Filipino. Chris and I went out to lunch with them the other day and learned a lot about their profession and culture.

To be precise these Filipinos work at a hostess bar in Hagi. It is shocking because most of them either have some college education or have graduated from college. They come to Japan looking for money to send to their families, keep for themselves, or in Jay's case to get world experience. It seems as though they sign up with a program, maybe similar to the JET program and get placed in various cities to work at different bars (there are 2 in Hagi and Tonga in Ube is also organized through this company).

Sadly their complaints about their job are a lot larger than ours. We complain that we are bored and don't work much and we only get 15 days of nenkyu a year. When we arrive welcome parties are planned for us and we end up on the news. These people are ignored and worked to the bone. They get 2 days off a month and on those days they are to call their customers to keep them happy. They really rely on eachother and help eachother out when in trouble. There are many tricks to the trade they use the keep themselves safe and customers happy. In one night a girl will drink about 20-25 beers. After drinking 10 beers they are allowed to have a glass of Oolong-cha and then have to go back to drinking again. They all have to pass a singing test in order to be accepted into the program so they perform during karaoke. Many of us know how old Japanese men get when they are drunk. Usually mean and touchy feely. If a man is starting to get fresh they say 'Sawaru, sawaru 1000en' (touch touch 1000 yen) and that usually works to keep the men away. They also try reverse psychology. They said they will become the sukebe (pervert) first to keep the men in place. If the men get too violent and rough they will pinch their nipples really hard or grab their dicks with force. Of course the same men come to the bar night after night and then call the girls during the day. Sometimes to play a joke on their customers if they see them out during the day they will yell HI to them and try to embarrass them. Of course the girls will get ignored because the men don't want to be known for going to the hostess bar. I am not sure if anything really fishy goes on, it didn't seem like it. They said if they see a man outside the club they will go with 2 girls in order to be safe.

So these are Chris and my new friends. I equate it as being friends with a stripper. It sounds quite suspicious but deep down they are just normal people trying to make a little money.