Hostess club 'Apalon' catered to Japan's elite

(First published on April 4, 2022)

First in a five-part series

TOKYO — Nightclub hostesses have a long tradition in Japan that is originally born from the world of the geisha house — a richly colorful social institution, ages old, where graceful kimono-clad women, trained from childhood in art of music, dance and subtle praise entertained well-to-do men of high social standing behind closed doors. The hostess club has evolved as a more egalitarian and westernized form of nighttime amusement — one that did not demand the hard apprenticeship and unyielding servitude that characterized the geisha world and were also more accessible for the common man.