Tales of an Osaka Love Thief

On Thursday 27 November 2008 (early Friday morning) from 12:55 am, SBS is rescreening Tales of an Osaka Love Thief, a very interesting inside look at host bars in Japan, the people who work there, and their clients. It’s a side of Japan that most people have not had full-on contact with, and the ultimate ambiguity of this great doco is fitting. Subtitles in English.

Stylish Café Rakkyo is a host club in Minami, Osaka. Its owner Issei is reputedly the best-earning host in the area. He has many clients willing to pay sometimes thousands of dollars in one visit. The clients seek to be entertained and even to fall in love. But sometimes the boys’ attachments to particular clients gets in the way of their earnings. The strain of their work takes its emotional toll and the top hosts confess they cannot fall in love even if they want to.