Posted by Sue Perlmutter on Thu, Jul 30, 2009 @ 07:52 PM
As anyone who has dipped his or her toe into the global tide pool knows, doing business in Asia is never dull. Twists and turns await at every corner, and no culture there is without its various eccentricities. This week's news provided evidence of some of the fallout from the current economic downturn in the region, and one story in particular caught my eye.
Japan, a country that has, over the centuries, experienced its share of earthquakes of all sizes, is undergoing a seismic shift of a different sort: in response to the country's economic woes, women are, of all things, turning to the hostess trade for income in shockingly large numbers. Hostessing in Japan has meant not overt prostitution - illegal there, interestingly - but rather the art of entertaining male clients through conversation and stylized flirting of a sort, and has been a fact of Japanese life for ages. To me, of significance is not so much that it is taking place, since Japanese women, after all, are nothing if not pragmatic and resourceful. It is, rather, the perception of hostessing itself which has altered quickly and dramatically, all the more interesting in a country known for so vehemently resisting change.
On the one hand, this may sound shocking and disturbing, since it further objectifies women in a strongly male dominated culture. Indeed, as Japan's economy has been its continuous downward spiral, there has been a trend toward taking women off the permanent payroll and instead hiring them only as contracted and or temporary workers, highlighting the country's pronounced gender bias (it is said, in fact, that women comprise a shocking 90% of the temporary workforce - see http://www.jpri.org/publications/workingpapers/wp85.html). At the same time, however, some see the hostess trade as a glamorous one, especially lately. The New York Times mentions that, in fact, some current young hostesses have suddenly been idolized as pop cultural icons, though descriptions of 'exhausting' and 'stressful' in the same article by those in the trenches is far more typical. This will only worsen as competition for jobs ramps up -- and it surely will, now that this consensus driven culture has taken some of the tarnish off the hostess image.
What is even more serious is the negative effect this is having on these young women's salaries, with the increased supply of workers and decrease in the bars that employ them. Additionally, this phenomenon accentuates not only the rampant gender bias in Japan, but that of age as well, since Japanese companies typically don't hire temporary woman workers over the age of 35 (see highlighted article above) . As I see it, Japan has a duality about it, some would even say a 'schizophrenic' quality at times, and this phenomenon is no exception. In contrast to the aforementioned star status these hostess ingénues enjoy is the overarching cultural dimension of being inconspicuous and unassuming, of staying ‘in the middle,' and of simply not attracting attention of any kind.
It will surely be interesting to monitor this latest trend on Japan's cultural front, along with its economy - at least, that is, until the next unexpected phenomenon comes along in the Land of the Rising Sun. In the meantime, this provides yet more reason for companies dealing with Asia to continue expecting the unexpected.