Expensive 'cultural' experience

I had intended to make my next post about something a little more cultural, but I had the opportunity to attend a watered down mizu shoubai 'event' in Umeda, Osaka (no pun intended). This past Friday some friends and I payed a visit to a bunny bar. This is on the lower end (financially) of mizu shoubai but was nevertheless an interesting cultural experience.

We were lured in to this fine establishment by a sweet talking Japanese girl who appeared to be no older than 18. I was a little wary at first because the bunny bar concept was still new to me.
A Bunny Bar, is not the kind of thing you see a lot of in America. I think the closest comparison is Hooters, but the atmosphere is completely different. The atmosphere inside the bar was hardly sexual, except for the outfits of course. The women seemed genuinely friendly and never really forced us to drink. The girls would ask lots of questions and always smile. We were essentially paying more to drink at this bar because the women were made to talk to us. I guess I dont really see the harm in this kind of business, but I still don't quite see the need for this kind of business. I think the fact that I am a foreigner makes it easy for me to remove myself from the situation. Long story short, we actually managed to leave the bar after spending only 3000yen, not too bad.

Upon coming to japan I found the whole idea of mizu shoubai and the trillions of yen a year sex industry very interesting. How did this phenomenon come about and why is there a need for it? Is there so much stress in Japanese society that this is not only needed, but common place??
Hopefully I will have some answers in the near future.


If you are interested, there is a great documentary about host clubs in Osaka entitled The Great Happiness Space

http://www.thegreathappinessspace.com/