In Japan more than 63, hostess clubs β often called kyabakura β operated with licenses in , according to the Japan National Crime Prevention Association. Bloomberg Photo. As dusk falls, businessmen flock to karaoke and hostess clubs to close deals and build relationships in the liquor-lubricated intimacy of young women.
Call it bonding over vice. In parts of Asia, corporate men continue to openly drink with colleagues or business clients at venues where women escorts are paid to consume alcohol, sing karaoke and β often illegally β perform sexual favours, according to interviews with men and women including Regina Yuan, who works at a Shanghai-based start-up.
For year-old Yuan, her reality entails entertaining clients from out of town β often for several evenings in a row β sometimes drinking with them while picking up the bill, and shouldering most of the burden for her own safety.
She said the roster of clients who visit such clubs includes prestigious Chinese investment banks, insurance and finance companies and increasingly, venture capital funds. The tradition underscores the distance Asia has to go before women are treated as equals at work even as governments encourage them to stay in the labour force and rise to higher ranks. Some men, often junior, compare the experience to hazing. Women risk being left out β and missing important networking opportunities β or embracing the culture and opening the floodgates for misogyny.
Work culture. While such male-bonding outings may occasionally occur in the US and UK, interviews show the practice remains embedded in the Asia work culture. In Japan, China and South Korea some start-ups, venture capital and finance companies say they try to enforce best practices, yet the conduct is hardly being eliminated.
