Culture & Lifestyle

Asahi Geino (1/24)

Following the "Oil Shocks" of the mid 1970s, Japan succeeded in reducing its reliance on imported petroleum from 77 percent to 49 percent of its total energy consumption. Nevertheless, the recent impact of surging oil prices is being felt throughout the economy.

Now Asahi Geino (1/24) provides yet another nightmarish scenario, foretelling a futile, fun-less future for Japan's hardworking salarymen, who face inflated fees for not only for food, but for frolic and fornication as well.

"Beer prices will be going up 3 to 5 percent, the first rise at the retail level in 18 years," points out economist Haruhiko Sato. "Likewise for Japanese sake (rice wine) and imojochu (sweet potato spirit), as makers in Kyushu have hiked their prices. Prices have even gone up for the hors d'ouvres served with the drinks as well."

The inflationary spiral may spell ruin for the so-called 5,000-yen cabaret clubs that for decades have provided recreation to rank-and-file salarymen on shoestring budgets.

"Police have been cracking down harder on 'kyabakura' (cabaret clubs) that stay open until the wee hours, and more and more clubs have been shutting their doors for good," says Sato. "So the clubs that remain in business are under no competitive pressure. Many think only in terms of short-term profits and have been raising their prices.

"Naturally the rise in oil prices will impact on the sex business," remarks analyst Takashi Kadokura, who for over a decade has specialized in researching Japan's underground economy. "At 'soaplands' and fashion health massage shops, increases in fixed costs like electricity and gas will have to be passed on to customers."

Take the price of the Type-A heavy oil used to fire the water boilers at soaplands, which Kadokura notes has leaped upwards from 66 yen a liter at the start of 2007 to around 80 yen a liter by November. As a result, many soaplands have boosted their admittance fees.

"Some of the shops will explain at the door to arriving customers, 'We had to raise prices due to the oil squeeze,'" a writer covering the 'pink' trade tells Asahi Geino. "But others tell them, 'We've boosted the level of service.' Or else they might keep their price pegged to the same as before, but shorten the time -- which is effectively the same thing as raising the price."

"Some shops may also use the pretext of higher oil prices to skim off from the fees that go to the masseuses," the writer adds.

Even the "delivery health" outcall-type businesses, where customers are serviced in hotels or their own homes, are not exempt from the effects of the energy prices.

"Delivery health shops have been expanding the territory they cover," Kadokura explains. "Some will now even dispatch women to neighboring prefectures. If the girls ride in passenger cars or taxis, that's going to raise the costs. So there's a strong likelihood that apart from the service fees, they're going to have to start charging extra for transportation."

Even laundry services for bed sheets and towels, used heavily by love hotels and erotic massage parlors, are looking for ways to cut corners.

"We can tell, some crooked laundries have been using less soap -- there's still a lingering odor in the towels they deliver," sniffs a massage parlor operator to Asahi Geino.

Even the lotion used by shops to give erotic massages is affected by higher petroleum prices, since it uses a paraffin base, forcing more shops to switch to cheaper imports with a synthesized sodium polyacrylate base.

As bad as things look now, however, the worst may be yet to come.

"After energy prices rise, you generally have a time lag of about six months before consumers feel the full impact," notes Kadokura. "I think the big punch to the "below the belt economy" is going to land around the middle of the year.

"But if the cost for everyday necessities rises too much, things might come to the point that wage-earners will have no pocket money left for recreation at all," he adds.

Economist Sato foresees a slightly different scenario.

"Since some companies will benefit from inflation, it will depend on which sector people are employed in," he observes. "So the wages of some will go up and others will go down, and we're going to see a widening polarization, with restaurants, night clubs and sex shops and so on that are either ultra-deluxe or ultra-cheap.

"But I suppose the average salarymen, the guys in the middle, will have nothing good to look forward to," Sato predicts. It looks like gloomy times ahead. (By Masuo Kamiyama, contributing writer)