90-Day Geisha: My Time as a Tokyo Hostess [Hardcover]

Chelsea Haywood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2009

An introspective journey into the glamorous world—and temptations—of Japanese nightlife, by former model Chelsea Haywood.

The hard-drinking, drug-taking, all-night culture that dominates Tokyo’s Roppongi district can be a surreal place. Overworked Japanese business men will pay handsomely for the services of a hostess—someone to talk to, someone to provide hot towels and drinks, and sometimes just a companion with whom to sing karaoke with all night. Intrigued by rumors of this strange subculture and armed with her 90-day work visa and new husband, Matt, Chelsea throws herself into the lion’s den. Yet what she discovers about herself and about the inhabitants of this nocturnal life far exceeds her expectations.

Hostessing, she comes to find, has “very little to do with sex, quite a lot to do with psychology, and nothing to do with prostitution.” Her personality and conversation skills are her top commodity, and Chelsea quickly finds herself charmed by these billionaire men, many of whom are funny, intelligent, even kind, and often, very lonely. But as she becomes more and more attached to her clients, Chelsea soon finds herself getting burned at her own game, as the endless presents, compliments, and destructive atmosphere of alcohol and drugs threaten to take both her marriage, and her sanity, to the edge.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Haywood, a Canadian model who was 20 when the events of this book occurred, reassured herself and her husband, Matt, that working as a Tokyo hostess in an upscale Roppongi bar was more akin to being a geisha than a prostitute. Once she got the temporary but full-time job as hostess at Greengrass, all she had to do was look hot in a dress and heels, keep the rich customers drinking, make conversation and occasionally sing karaoke, all for a couple hundred dollars a night. Or so she thought. As she quickly learned, she had to be popular with the clients by building relationships, going on dohans, or dates, outside the club, and generally being at her favorites' beck and call. Some of the clients got pretty weird, such as the importunate, chatty surgeon Nori, who took the author on extravagant shopping sprees in the hope that she would love him, and the dangerously morose, cocaine-fueled Yoshi, the scion of a Japanese entertainment empire whose jaded diffidence Haywood began to fall for. Gradually, the mollifying of lonely older men's egos began to grate on the author, and she succumbed to a punishing routine of drink, drugs and late nights, rarely spending time with her husband (he also worked at a club), while declaring that Matt was completely supportive. Haywood's sulky pose at decadence is not quite convincing. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* When night falls on Tokyo’s Roppongi district, harried businessmen find a welcome respite from the relentless pressures of work. Here alcohol flows freely, drugs are easy to obtain, and, for a price, they can forget their cares in the company of a lovely young woman—or two or three. Canadian fashion model Haywood finds herself immersed in this surreal world when she begins a three-month stint as a Tokyo hostess. Being a hostess isn’t about sex; these coveted women are prized for their engaging personalities, conversational skills, and willingness to sing karaoke (sometimes very badly). Of course, it doesn’t hurt to be drop-dead gorgeous, which Haywood certainly is. Her very understanding husband (also a model) isn’t bothered by the fact that his wife is surrounded by men who aggressively ogle her and ply her with drinks. Among them: Nori, a moody, possessive gastroenterologist; Koji, an obsessive, foulmouthed Oxford PhD; and cool, handsome and super-rich Yoshi, who brings out lustful feelings Haywood tries desperately to deny. Is it worth risking her marriage for a man who considers her little more than a commodity? Like Karin Muller’s Japanland (2005) and Lea Jacobson’s Bar Flower (2008), Haywood’s candid, lively debut celebrates the cultural complexities of modern-day Japan. --Allison Block

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Pegasus (December 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1605980714
• ISBN-13: 978-1605980713
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,672,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Limited by her circumstances, March 25, 2009

By 

milkfed (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 90-Day Geisha: My Time as a Tokyo Hostess (Paperback)

Considering Chelsea Haywood is living in one of the most exciting cities in the world, her story about her time working in a hostess bar is actually kind of lame. I think there are other hostesses out there who would have far more interesting stories to tell about themselves and their clients than what Chelsea did and I found myself more interested in her co-workers -who seemed to have much much more intriguing stories to tell - and less interested in her.

Admittedly, I liked the book until I read how she and her husband decided that she should write a book about being a Tokyo hostess before she even got to Tokyo - meaning her whole reason of going there and living the life was all for the purpose of selling a book. It seemed so contrived. I know there are girls out there who work in this job because circumstances brought them there, and I think reading about those girls would have made for a more honest story.

I was quite disappointed as the blurb on the back of the book made it out to seem she was constantly rubbing shoulders with all sorts of notorious figures while living the high life but this isn't quite true. I could relate to her insights into what it's like to live in Tokyo and the strange contradictions which surround you, as I lived there for a while myself - and anyone who has spent time there will have a million more interesting stories of their own about the culture and the people. Therefore, Chelsea Haywood's story is hardly groundbreaking.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The title was the most exciting part of the book., September 10, 2010

By 

Lisa Moore (Prospect Park, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 90-Day Geisha: My Time as a Tokyo Hostess (Hardcover)

Wikipedia defines a geisha as traditional, female Japanese entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance.

Chelsea Haywood was not a geisha, she was a hostess. She tells you in the begining of the book that she was only trying this job because she wants to write a book. For profit.

Before I read the book, I was really interested to see where her journey was going to take me a reader. Halfway through the book I realized I wouldn't like her as a person if I knew her. She writes that her customers constantly tell her how wonderful, beautiful she is. She shows distane for newer hostesses that come along like she's a professional who's been doing it for years when she did it a total of 3 months, and acts like she is so much better then the girls who come from the Eastern European countries. She begins to break the one major rule "do not fall for the clients, its all a game" and then wants us to feel for her when she finds out it is. She has the husband who she's soooo in love with, he's her rock that came to Japan with her only to flirt with the idea of divorce.

I finished the book thinking "why did I waste my time?"

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Superficial view of a complicated subject, January 14, 2010

By 

K. Stout "History Maven" (Palo Alto CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 90-Day Geisha: My Time as a Tokyo Hostess (Hardcover)

This book feels a bit like a stunt, or a reality show. A young attractive model and her husband decide to go to Tokyo, where she'll work as a hostess in the nightclub district for 3 months, and report on what it was like. Her hostess job is to encourage the men who frequent these clubs to order drinks, stroke their egos, and, if possible, get them to take her on dates for which the club is paid a fee.

A strange thing for a newly married couple to embark on, but nevertheless...

Chelsea does a decent job of reporting on the strange culture of the clubs, with the enforced happiness and heartiness. She quickly is lured by a rather sinister figure who she finds attractive into doing drugs, and this seems to challenge her sense of herself and her marriage. But it all feels a bit like a made up drama.

It was a quick read, and I found it mildly interesting, but there was a strange voyeur aspect to the reporting, even as the author claims she was drawn into this life quickly and far more deeply than she expected.