Japan's silver-tongued Lotharios sell dreams to lonely women
Japanese male host Noel gets a taxi for his 顧客 outside a club in Tokyo's Kabukicho red-light 地区
Cigarette smoke hangs 厚い in the 空気／公表する of a Tokyo nightspot as Aki Nitta sips シャンペン酒 with a trio of 甘い-talking Lotharios peddling 偽の love at 賞与金 率s.
In a country which has lost its mojo, many 豊富な Japanese women spend 注目する，もくろむ-watering sums on male hosts in return for an evening of 甘い talk, flirting -- and often sex.
"I want my heart to ぱたぱたする," Nitta told AFP at a popular club in the Kabukicho red-light 地区 lined with chrome and mirrors.
"Japanese men aren't very attentive and don't show their feelings, but hosts 扱う／治療する you like a princess. I want to be pampered and I don't care how much it costs," she 追加するs.
The 27-year-old businesswoman from Nagoya, spends around $10,000 a month on the 反対する of her 願望（する） -- a faintly androgynous beau with bleached hair and a boyish grin.
But some big-spenders splurge over $100,000 in a 選び出す／独身 night to have their egos 一打／打撃d by smooth-talking 賃貸しの Romeos who themselves can earn five times that 量 in a good month.
Businesswoman Aki Nitta 株 a joke with her host Shia at a club in Tokyo's Kabukicho red-light 地区
There are a growing number of 豊富な and successful Japanese women that have become 失望させるd with 伝統的な dating and instead prefer to 焦点（を合わせる） their romantic energies somewhere they are 保証（人）d to be 扱う／治療するd 井戸／弁護士席.
"I'm 支払う／賃金ing for time, rather than men," explained Nitta. "Time is more important to me so I want to live for now, without any 悔いるs."
Many women -- 範囲ing from 20-somethings to those in their sixties -- lavish expensive gifts on their favourite hosts, buying them diamond watches, 高級な cars, even apartments.
"When I was 20 a 顧客 bought me a Porsche," said former host Sho Takami, who owns a chain of clubs and に例えるs a host's 役割 to that of a psychiatrist, with 利益s.
"It's a 24-hour 職業," 主張するd the 43-year-old after arriving for work in a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce.
"Our real work starts after hours -- going for drinks with 顧客s, はうing into bed at 9am, 会合 another one for lunch," 追加するd Takami, who is 始める，決める to open a host club in Las Vegas next year.
- Chance of love -
Former host Sho Takami, who owns a chain of host clubs, gets out of his Rolls Royce at the 入り口 of one of his clubs in Tokyo's Kabukicho red-light 地区
"It's important the 顧客 believes there's a chance of love. After all that's how you get her to come to the club and spend money," Takami explained.
Host clubs are a $10 billion 産業 in Japan with some 800 発生地s 全国的な.
Around 260 of those are 位置を示すd in Tokyo, most squeezed into Kabukicho's 狭くする streets where flickering neon 調印するs 陳列する，発揮する the 空気／公表する-小衝突d 直面するs of hosts outside clubs with 指名するs such as Romeo, Gatsby and Avalon.
Hosts have been compared to male geishas and Takami believes the culture, which began in the 早期に 1970s, 権力を与えるs women.
"A host's 職業 is to support a lady's heart," he said. "We're here to encourage women's social 進歩. It used to be considered a bit vulgar to party with hosts.
"But times have changed. These days 存在 able to let your hair 負かす／撃墜する at a host club is a 示す of status or success," he 追加するd.
Japan's hosts, denizens of the night 即時に recognisable by their spray tans, crimped long hair and tight-fitting 控訴s, are often （刑事）被告 of preying on women's emotions.
"T he 顧客s are buying affection," shrugged ex-host Ken Ichijo on the terrace of his penthouse flat.
"We're selling them dreams, so you 嘘（をつく） about loving them in return for serious money," 追加するd the 38-year-old club 経営者／支配人, freshly blow-乾燥した，日照りのd and shirt open to 明らかにする／漏らす a medallion.
"That leaves a bad taste for some people who think we're just ripping girls off."
- 激怒（する）ing libidos -
Ex-host and 現在／一般に club 経営者／支配人 Ken Ichijo, 提起する／ポーズをとるs for a photo on the terrace of his penthouse flat in Tokyo
Ichijo argues that it is 簡単に a 事例／患者 of 供給（する） and 需要・要求する.
"Hosts 存在する to fill a 無効の in someone's life," he said. "In this 商売／仕事, the host is the 製品. We pamper to a woman's every need -- listen to her problems, tell her she's beautiful, 行為／法令／行動する out her fantasies."
With harsher 制限s on 開始 hours, 正規の／正選手 police checks and far いっそう少なく 'yakuza' ギャング（個々） 関与, the host 商売／仕事 has cleaned up its shady image in 最近の years.
But the 約束 of sex is still dangled as bait in a cutthroat 産業, 収容する／認めるs Ichijo, whose plush apartment 叫び声をあげるs bling.
"Sex is not やむを得ず part of a host club's service," he said. "But it is part of trying to 満足させる the 顧客 's needs."
Japan's 縮むing birthrate has been 非難するd in part on a growing social 傾向 known as 'herbivore men' -- those who shun carnal 楽しみs and machismo in favour of the 静かな life.
But libidos 激怒（する） の中で the coiffured gigolos at the 最高の，を越す Dandy club, where sex 労働者 Megumi Suzuki is a 正規の／正選手.
"Hosts are charming and they understand a woman's feelings," purred the 27-year-old as a snake-hipped host in leather pants and winklepicker shoes lit her cigarette.
"I come here to blow off steam. The men are like sparkly things -- I could come every day and never tire of them."
