Academics Put Japan’s Hostess Culture in Context

Check out this interesting round up of responses to the controversial New York Times article on Japan’s hostess culture. In the original article, the following phenomenon was explored:

with that line of work, called hostessing, among the most lucrative jobs available to women and with the country neck-deep in a recession, hostess positions are increasingly coveted, and hostesses themselves are gaining respectability and even acclaim. Japan’s worst recession since World War II is changing mores.

It would be easy to say that the downturn economy has done these young women a favor by destigmatizing their work, and therefore, allowing them to earn a living without the previously requisite shame. But the economic reality reveals a far less simplistic picture:

But behind this trend is a less-than-glamorous reality. Employment opportunities for young women, especially those with no college education, are often limited to low-paying, dead-end jobs or temp positions…Even before the economic downturn, almost 70 percent of women ages 20 to 24 worked jobs with few benefits and little job security, according to a government labor survey. The situation has worsened in the recession.

Aya Ezawa, a sociology lecturer in the Japanese Studies Program at Leiden University in the Netherlands, seems to have hit one of the major missing points smack on the head:

At a time of economic downturn, it is worrisome that the media in Japan and abroad portray hostessing as a glamorous job and a woman’s road to success. Instead of focusing on the hostesses, it would make more sense to examine the attitudes of the men who are willing to pay a high price for being entertained, served, and pleased by women with short skirts and heavy makeup.

And, of course, I would add, expanding economic opportunities, especially for young and low-income women so that they can make a true choice about being involved in hostess work or doing other kinds of work that more genuinely match their interests and gifts.