Respectable host clubs from Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district have formed a union to take on the yakuza and make sure their business of pleasing women young and old remains a clean one, according to Shukan Asahi (12/1).

The Shinjuku Kabukicho Host Club Anti-Organized Crime Gang Association has also pledged to crack down on underage drinkers and promised to tackle the problem of bottakuri, where extortionate charges are made for drinks or even simply entering establishments.

Union members - there are 27 host clubs involved -- have also made up a list of 13 principles they promise to keep, including not employing underage hosts, providing clearly understandable pricing systems and not forcing sex work on women who rack up huge bills they can't pay.

"The Vice Squad at Shinjuku Police Station asked me in August to form the union. They want to get rid of the yakuza and asked me to give them a hand. I guess this is all part of Tokyo Gov. (Shintaro) Ishihara's efforts to clean up Kabukicho," said Takeshi Aida, operator of Club Ai and a legend in the Japanese host world. "Tokyo's now officially a candidate to host the Olympics, so we want Kabukicho, the city that never sleeps, to become a clean city we can be proud to show the world."

Aida says the most common problem he's heard about with host clubs in the entertainment district has been bottakuri. Liquor that typically retails for about 5,000 yen is sold off for 10 times that price and hosts work in packs to force young women to keep drinking - and buying - until they have spent enormous sums. It's not uncommon for women as young as 20 to rack up bills in the vicinity of 2 million to 3 million yen in a single night!

"In the host business, it's now possible to start up your own club with as little as 2 million or 3 million yen. There are illegally operating host clubs popping up all over the place and they drag down the good name of host clubs operating properly within the law," Aida tells Shukan Asahi. "A few years ago, the yakuza came in and ruined my place, and they've shot me before. I'm fully aware that starting this union could be a dangerous proposition."

Host clubs have tended to keep to themselves, but Aida is confident that he has the diplomatic skills to get the union members to bind together to form a powerful force.

"It's true I've got a huge rod," the 66-year-old legendary host tells Shukan Asahi, "but I've got a huge heart, too." (By Ryann Connell)