Documentary on Host Clubs
jamie | June 4, 2008For those interested in hosts, I’m still trying to find the time to put together the video interview with our own foreign host, but until then, thanks to reader kancho who pointed out this 2008 Edinburgh film festival award winning documentary entitled The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief.
The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief,” introduces an extraordinary hidden world of Japanese nightlife in Osaka’s Cafe Rakkyo. The denizens of this glamorous demi-monde, dedicated to partying till they drop, are captured by first time documentary producer/director, Jake Clennell with candid and poignant insight. Presided over by the charismatic, enigmatic Issei, the number one “host boy” in town, the club offers a new twist on the ancient geisha tradition. Glamorous host boys make beautiful young women laugh, feel good about their lives — and pay handsomely for their pleasure. In this secret, outcast society of wealthy young people, money seems to mean easy gratification. But all these stylish players have to pay for their pleasures, and they can cost more than money.
