Notes

Discover even more concerning women-only host bars in Gangnam, Korea
South Korea's quick economic growth has suggested some stunning adjustments within its traditional social framework, consisting of the surge of supposed host bars, where rich females pay the equivalent of countless dollars for male company.
In the dim light of an underground room, a loads completely groomed boys stoop in rows, calling out their names.
Muscular, with shiny boy-band hairstyles, they pack alongside right into the narrow area, waiting for us to make our selection. Outdoors in the corridor, more of their coworkers are showing up for an additional evening at job. It is 2am, as well as we are their very first consumers.
Concealed beneath the pavements of Seoul's ritziest postcode, Gangnam, the males at Bar 123 are component of a growing industry, which outgrew the lengthy practices of Japanese geisha as well as Korea's kisaeng homes however with one essential difference - the consumers below are all females.
Referred to as "host bars", these all-night drinking areas provide female customers the opportunity to pay and select for male friends, occasionally at a price of thousands of extra pounds an evening.
Among the ladies I meet at Bar 123 is Minkyoung, a waitressing supervisor for a five-star hotel. When or two times a month, she claims she comes to host bars.
The allure of host bars can be subtle. Below, she says, she has more focus from her male friends, even more selection as well as, crucially, more control.
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" In routine bars the people that consume alcohol with me have just one goal - to have a casual sex. I don't desire that, so that's why I come below, I want to have enjoyable," she states.
Hosts are hired by bars similar to this one to give friendship and also home entertainment. Formally that implies putting beverages for their consumers, chatting and also dancing with them, and singing karaoke.
Host bar in Seoul
Sex is not formally available in most host bars. That would be unlawful however also Minkyoung seems pleased to touch and flirt with her host, and also the males here estimate that around half the clients intend to pay for sex, either on or off the facilities.
James has been operating at Bar 123 for a couple of years. In Korean culture, he states, there is a great deal of satisfaction and bargaining a price for sex is never ever done clearly. Instead, he tells me, it is all to the host's own analysis.
" The individuals right here are pros - we understand what we're doing," he says.
" After speaking to a lady for a hr we generally recognize how much cash she makes and what she provides for a living. We've currently evaluated her personality and what she agrees to offer."
James and other hosts state their clients consist of several of South Korea's elite, which the cash and benefits available boggle the mind. One client James fulfilled, during his initial week in the job, asked him to authorize himself over to her for two years.
" She claimed 'let's make a contract. I've got this item of paper as well as I've numbered it 1-5. Whatever you list following to those numbers, I'll obtain you.'".
James states at the time he took it as a joke but since discovered the exact same lady invested ₤ 60,000 ($ 97,000) on another host.
" If it occurred currently, I would certainly do it - I 'd be thinking straight.".
Actually probably, host bars outgrew among Korea's most established and also, some claim, misogynist business practices - the room beauty salon. These are exclusive alcohol consumption areas where teams of males pick, and also are offered by, eye-catching women people hosting.
It was the hostesses' need to allow off heavy steam after job, claims veteran host Kim Dong-hee, that developed the preliminary demand for host bars, with all-male staff.
" What these hostesses desire is to [make us] do the exact same point they needed to carry out in their very own office. These girls are forced to do things they don't wish to provide for cash.
" I think a lot of them are in discomfort, and also a lot feel lonesome. Put simply, they intend to acquire our time and also our bodies.".
Hostesses still make up a large percentage of the clients at host bars here, yet at Bar 123, for instance, as much as 40% of the clients on a provided evening are now from other strolls of life.
The reasons for that growing charm are connected up in South Korea's rapid financial surge. Within 50 years, the country changed from post-war destruction to OECD member.
According to Jasper Kim, head of the Asia-Pacific Global Research Group in Seoul, something essential was lost along the method.
" I assume that with all this rapid development comes rapid modification, and also Koreans just do not recognize just how to deal with it. Increasingly, commercialism is surpassing fundamental social standards that you would certainly anticipate a number of years earlier.".
Jasper Kim claims South Korea's infamously long working hrs have actually left many Korean women feeling lonely, while the country's technical advance has left many people feeling separated.
" The human aspect of Korean culture that existed before simply does not exist today. Individuals are concentrated on innovation, people are concentrated on their work, they aren't focused on human relations any longer.
" In lots of means, Korean culture today type of advises me of 1960s society in the United States, where it's on the edge of some type of cultural transformation.".
The grandfather of Seoul's host bar scene, Kim Dong-hee, agrees that a number of the females that come to host bars are not spending for sex but also for friendship, which is why he opened a brand-new chain of freshly-marketed outlets intended at the mainstream market - called Red Model Bars.
Red Model Bar hosts.
Picture caption,.
Hosts at Red Model Bars can not touch clients.
" Men intend to have aesthetic enjoyment as well as wish to feel points, they're tactile. Women like to chat and to pay attention. Which's why I thought about opening a bar similar to this - a kind of dialogue bar.".
Red Model Bars are different to typical host bars in one crucial respect - there is a no-touching guideline. Hosts rest on one side of the table, consumers on the other, as well as no physical get in touch with is allowed, and also absolutely no sex.
Perhaps as an outcome there is a lack of furtiveness among individuals who work or consume alcohol right here - the lights are reduced, the decor mostly dark red and also the room is divided right into discreet booths, however it is an open-plan space and hosts as well as clients are separated in each cubicle by a big table.
This brand-new service model depends completely on ladies paying the equivalent of hundreds or also thousands of dollars to talk with good-looking young men over a beverage. Still, it appears to be working - three new branches result from open this year.
Resting at a table at one end of the bar was among their routine customers, a florist called Kim Nayu. She tells me she comes here daily to fulfill her much-loved host and also talk about issues she is contending work.
The price for this piece of male interest is $487-650 (₤ 300-400) a day.
" Talking to friends would certainly be less expensive" she confesses, "but they don't listen as much. They're hectic, and in a rush to speak about themselves. Below, people will certainly take notice of me and also they'll pay attention to me.".

" I spend a great deal of cash but it's worth it wherefore I get emotionally. People pay to visit see a psychologist or psychiatrist, so it's similar but much less difficult.".
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Nayu's preferred host Sung-il claims it can be difficult to keep his specialist as well as individual life different.
" Honestly I would certainly be lying if I say I have not been attracted to take points even more with some consumers, since we're human, we're men, however there are regulations.".
Among his clients yapped to her spouse concerning him and when the 3 of them fulfilled, Sung-il and also the hubby ended up being close friends.
" No one hides - the employees do not hide that they work right here, as well as consumers can be open also.".
This visibility is posing a brand-new kind of difficulty to South Korean society, different from the often shabby underworld of conventional host bars as well as their hinterland of male hooking.
By supplying ladies a "commendable" method to test traditional sex duties as well as flex their economic power, these new bars ask concerns of Korean society that are coming to be more difficult to ignore.
Hear the complete report on BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents. You can pay attention through the Radio 4 web site or through the Crossing Continents podcast.
The appeal of host bars can be subtle. Right here, she says, she has even more interest from her male friends, more selection and also, crucially, even more control.
James has been functioning at Bar 123 for a pair of years. Instead, he tells me, it is all down to the host's very own evaluation.
And also that's why I believed of opening up a bar like this - a kind of dialogue bar.".


Website: https://kangnamhoppa.com/