A "cabaret club"

A weird court ruling in Tokyo.

But I suppose non-Japanese people are puzzled at reading this news. What's a "cabaret club"? It's not a cabaret. My English dictionary says, "A cabaret is a restaurant or nightclub where live entertainment such as dancing, singing, or comedy is performed." No, if you go to a cabaret club in Japan, you won't see live entertainment.

This is a place for adult men to drink and have a chat with hostesses. That's the whole purpose of cabaret clubs. Some customers end up having intimate relationships with hostesses though cabaret clubs themselves are not part of Japan's infamous sex industry. (A distinction is a bit blurry, though.) It sometimes happens that a married man costs his family by falling in love with a cabaret club hostess. Smart businessmen or elite bureaucrats can be customers as well. Hostesses are therefore required to have a good skill to strike interesting conversations with such smart guys. Appearance is obviously an important factor to get loyal customers. In a way, the above court ruling is understandable.

If you are a man and work in a company or in a government office, your boss - who is almost always a man in Japan - often takes you to a cabaret club after working hours. As you might know, you can't reject such offers even if you have a girlfriend or wife. Going to cabaret clubs is not a shameful thing in front of your male collegues and friends. This kind of thing is part of the reasons I didn't try to get a job in Japan after finishing a college.

By the way, Japanese people call cabaret clubs kyabakura ("caba" plus "clu" - we like abbreviating a phrase this way). You almost never hear someone say "cabaret club" in full length.

The above description of cabaret clubs may be wrong as I haven't been to such places - I don't like drinking in the first place, plus I don't like such girls as working at cabaret clubs. If you are a Japanese man and spot a wrong description, post a comment anonymously.

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I think the judges are frequent customers...