Pink Salons: A Case Study

From Jonathan Dunham:

Mon, 29 Aug 94

This is a long story, but completely true. I have but one request of my patient readers: NO CLUELESS FUCKING CROSSPOSTING GODDAMMIT! I do NOT want to listen to idiotic kvetches from any of those soc.* fuckwits; this is strictly a.t. material, so far as I am concerned.

(1) Introduction

From 1983 to 1988, I lived and worked in Tokyo, a truly tasteless town. I lived in an area called Nakano, on the west side of town, and so I wound up spending a lot of time in Shinjuku, a nearby train hub/ party district. If one exits from the east side of the train station (the world's busiest, BTW), there are three main areas for which one can head: towards the department stores (feh!); a little further on, to Shinjuku 2-chome, the gay-bar area (and the source of many tasteless tales, but not today's); or due north, to what some might consider the ground-zero of modern tastelessness, the area known as Kabuki-cho.

This area includes several movie theaters, some bowling alleys, many small restaurants, and an incredible concentration of nomiya, which translates literally as "drinking shops." Sprinkled liberally throughout are a variety of sex shops. This latter market shall be the focus of this discussion.

(2) Market Overview

The sex-shop market can be divided, based on price and function, into various segments. There are, for instance, the "adult toy" shops, which sell, um, adult toys. And pornography, but without depictions of pubic hair (yet another story). These, however, I do not consider to be part of the actual sex industry, because they do not encourage, or even allow, the display and stimulation of the little yellow Mantool(tm).

(A parenthetical note (hence the parentheses): you're not allowed to flame me for nasty comments like that, because despite my name and appearance, my mother is Japanese, so the Richard Pryor Principle applies. Nyah-nyah!)

At the high end of the market are what were, in the period in question (1984-85, approximately), referred to as "toruko-buro", lit. Turkish baths. These are flat-out brothels, where much fun can be had for around Y20000 (US$200 today, but about half that before the "endaka" crisis of 1985). Most ban all foreigners. I may discuss them later, if there is sufficient interest, and I will include at that time the explanation of why they are now officially called "soaplands."

It is at the lower-priced end of the market that the functional market segmentation can be most clearly observed. There are, for example, strip shows, where the stripper has sex with volunteers from the audience. There are also "nozoki-beya", lit. "peeping room," which are pretty much what they sound like. (An interesting twist, so to speak, is that during the show, a girl moves from booth to booth, selling handjobs.) There is also the "fashion massage", which seems to be a shower followed by a handjob. The focus of this study, however, is upon the shops called "pink salons."

The pink salon is distinguished from its lower-priced competitors by several extra services offerred. These are 1) food, 2) alchohol, and 3) blow jobs. Absent, however, are some of the amenities of the costlier soaplands: bath, massage, and penetration. (Also, soaplands traditionally supply cigarettes, both before and after.) At this point, it would be useful to describe a typical visit to a pink salon.

(3) Description of Services

A pink salon can be recognized by the huge sign that says "PINK SALON". They often have martial names, like Hinomaru (Rising Sun) or Napoleon. There is usually a polyester-tuxedoed, curly-haired gentleman standing in front; we call him the "chimpilla", but not to his face. His function is to invite prospective customers, and to screen out the undesirables. (NB If you are reading this, then you are likely to be in the latter category, regardless of your gender.)

For some reason, the shop is usually located on either the second floor, or in the basement. Along the stairs are displayed pictures of the female employees. At the end of the staircase is a foyer, where there stand a cashiers desk and an usher. You pay the cashier, choose your drink (beer, whiskey, or shochu, a type of kerosene), and are escorted to your booth.

The pricing scheme is based on time of day (prices go up by Y2000 after 8:00 pm) and whether or not you choose a girl from the pictures, or take the next available employee. (The choice is an extra Y2000.) At the place where most of our research was performed, this meant a price varying between Y6000 and Y10000. This entitles one to the standard 50-minute hour.

The salon itself is a series of large rooms, each filled with loveseats. The sofas are high-backed, and the room is dark, affording a surprising degree of comfort and privacy. This arrangement allows for fast and discreet drink service. A tray of boring snacks, usually wrapped rice crackers and such, is brought. When a new drink is needed, it is brought; however, I cannot say whether or not a new snack tray would be brought, since nobody has ever actually finished their plate. YMMV. Loud pop music, both Japanese and Western, plays in the background.

OK. The customer is shown to his seat, and given his drink. A few minutes later, a girl shows up. She has several oshibori (hot washcloths), one of which is given the customer, just as in a restaurant. It is considered proper form to engage in some trivial conversation. Usually this begins with "Hey, you're not Japanese!" (Once again, YMMV.) You quaff on your beer, smile nicely, and wait for her to signal that she is ready to begin working. She will usually do this by placing her hand over your genitalia and massaging them. Unbuckling and unzipping are provided.

In the course of this conversation, the customer is usually asked if he would like to play with his waitress's tits. "So desu ne" ("well, yes, actually I think I would") is the traditional response. Out they pop,the actual mechanics of the operation being dependent of the type of outfit she's wearing.

(A sartorial note: I was surprised to discover that the employees choose their own outfits. What surprised me was the fact that the outfits they chose were so often so drab. A popular motif was shiny prom-type dresses, which probably prevent customers from engaging in excessive finger-fucking. My friend Matsuyama _claims_ that he knows of a place where the girls dress as nurses and nuns, but I suspect that this is just an urban legend of some sort.)

At a mutually-agreed point, determined by the swiftness and vigor of the erection process, the blowjob itself will commence. Careful readers recall that this all takes place on a loveseat. At Miss Nippon, the best franchise (IMHO), she will stand up, pull her panties down and off one leg (nicely efficient touch, preventing panty loss through negligence or pilfering), turn around, and reseat herself, head in customer's lap. That is, she is now facing the client, with one leg dangling over the arm of the sofa. (It is thought by some that the foot-over-the-edge serves as a signal to waiters that it might not be a good time to drop off another beer.) This affords the opportunity for a bit of finger play, if the client is so inclined. Note, however, that it is considered _extremely_ bad form to try anything cunnilingual in nature. This position also has the advantage of allowing the client to directly observe the course of his blowjob. Furthermore, it prevents the client from spilling his drink, should he desire to sip from it during the operation.

Prior to the actual commencement of the process, a second, by now slightly-cooled oshibori is used to clean the client's capital goods.

The blowjob itself is usually of the chrome-removal ilk (as in, "She could suck the chrome from a trailer hitch."). Customer suggestions (e.g. "ano..tama no hou ni chotto namete kureru?", lit. "Uh...could you do me the favor of licking my balls a bit?") are usually heeded, if reasonable. Coming in the mouth is expected. Swallowing, however, is strictly out, for several reasons. First, the sheer volume involved would pose problems. (I estimate the typical caseload as between 10 and 20 clients/girl/six-hour shift. This is a smaller caseload than most doctors or nurses, and probably more on a par with, say, barbers or beauticians. That is, it is a typical caseload for the semi-skilled service sector.) A second reason is suggested by the actual semen-disposal procedure: when the client has finished ejaculating, a third (_thoroughly_ cooled) oshibori is used to clean off the softening JapanTool(tm). At the end of the cleaning, as the girl sits back up, she discreetly spits the extracted sperm into the oshibori. (On occasion, a fourth oshibori would be used for this last purpose.) She thanks the client, asks if would like another drink, gathers up all the oshibori, and vanishes. (Don't worry; she'll be back.) A particularly crass and daring researcher (me) asked what was done with all the linen. He was told that the employee would show the sperm-bearing oshibori to the assistant manager, before depositing all of them in a hamper.

This implies that employees are compensated on a piece-work basis. This is a highly effective incentive scheme, for it encourages individual productivity and initiative, and also maximizes customer satisfaction. It is not clear, however, how widespread the practice is in the industry. This inference can be made by comparing two different franchises, Miss Nippon and Hinomaru, and the differences in their marketing and customer-service strategies. (Their pricing schedules are identical.)

(4) Comparison of Services

At Miss Nippon, the service is what Matsuyama liked to call "iki-hodai", lit. "all-you-can-go" (NB in the Japanese language, one doesn't "come"; one "goes"). It is not guaranteed that the second go-round will be with the same service representative, but it _is_ guaranteed that the client will at least be offered the opportunity. Your humble correspondent always took these opportunities, in order to help maximize the income of his new-found friend and minimize his own costs per blowjob. He also had the chance to prove that a third go-round is both allowed and possible, given the time constraint. (He was also much younger then, alas.) This may explain why the customer base tends to be younger than that of Hinomaru, where seconds are NOT included.

Hinomaru, on the other hand, engages in fairly extensive advertising. For instance, they advertise on commuter trains, including the heavily-used Yamanote and Chuo lines. Clearly, they are targeting a market in which consumers don't perceive a need for multiple blowjobs in a single visit. The Japanese flag itself is called the Hinomaru, and is the emblem of the chain; this, too, suggests a bias towards the older generation. It also suggests that the employee compensation structure must be different. A simple salary scheme could discourage personal initiative; we suspect that employees are given a variable portion of each client's fee, with a small premium paid for actual extraction of sperm. That is, the different target markets require
different services, and this in turn requires different employee incentives.

(5) Questions for Further Study

It would, at first glance, seem relatively simple to answer the question: what is a blowjob worth? To the customers at Hinomaru, a blowjob is worth 6000-10000 yen. But then you have to subtract out the other services provided - drinks and snacks. It is also difficult to determine what part of the cost should be allocated to the tit-fondling service. At Miss Nippon, the picture is even cloudier, because of the multi-blowjob option. The pricing of this option is itself a tricky problem, because of high variability in the rate of the decline in marginal utility. In other words,
for some individuals a second or even third (*preen*) blowjob is a basic requirement, while for others it is an option that is highly unlikely to be exercised. This is an area that requires further
analysis.

Another interesting question concerns the cost structure. That is, what are the components of the variable costs? Clearly, they would include linens, drinks, and food. But what about labor costs? They depend, of course, on the compensation structure, but are clearly easier to determine for the Hinomaru case. It seems possible that the greater ease with which marginal costs can be calculated could be a reason for the lack of the multi-blowjob option. In any case, it seems that questions related to resource-planning are tied up with those related to accounting, service structure, compensation, and marketing strategy. And that, of course, is why I find this to be such an interesting industry.


Jonathan, who is now a married man, and almost never does this sort of thing anymore. No, really. Seriously.