| The Japanese consumer has an insatiable
thirst for the new. If it’s new, they
want it. For example, every year each
of the major breweries market several
“new” brands of beer that are indistinguishable
from last years brand. And they sell.
Consumers of the sex industry are not
immune to this trend, with ever-more specialized
forms of establishment catering to their
desires being marketed. One of the latest
types of establishment is the “Happening
Bar”. Similar in most ways to Swingers
Bars, which have been around a lot longer,
the only difference being that Happenings
Bars will allow in single people while
Swingers Bars only allow in couples. There
are reputed to be about 40 such clubs
in Tokyo, about evenly split between Happening
and Swingers. After paying a hefty membership
fee followed by an entrance fee (females
only pay a nominal fee) you enter a bar
area. What happens next is up to you and
the other patrons who are present. Maybe
you try on one of the many costumes that
may be available, or join a group in one
of the smaller semi-private rooms, but
the general rule seems to be “anything
goes”, with S&M being fairly popular.
Obviously, in such a public space it attracts
many of those with a voyeuristic or exhibitionistic
bent. Happening Bars made the news in
the summer of 2005 when Japan’s most famous
male porno star, Chocoball, (so named
for the color of a certain part of his
anatomy, was arrested in one for indecent
exposure. He had made the mistake of advertising
on his website that he would be “performing”,
and the police had to act in the face
of such a breach of the unwritten code
that protects illegal sex businesses from
police scrutiny. For more on Chocoball
read Speed Tribes by Karl Taro
Greenfeld. |