Ooops! One of Raoul's "parties" gets busted

[Escaped Lunatic]

Sorry to read about the problems Raoul.


Shanghai calls off matchmaking party for foreigners

Wed Aug 9, 4:08 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - Shanghai has banned a party for a tour group of 11 American men wanting to meet Chinese women, saying matchmaking agencies lack licences to set up dates between locals and foreigners, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Shiji Jiayuan, a Chinese online dating agency, invited women online to apply to meet 11 men from Washington state touring the city at a party on August 15, the Shanghai Daily said.

The men, all single or divorced, were aged from 43 to 67 and included computer engineers, doctors, lawyers and bankers, the paper said.

The agency chose 25 women out of 230 applicants to meet the Americans, basing their decisions on "family background, appearance and profession", the paper quoted Gong Haiyan, the agency's founder, as saying.

"We declined the really young applicants -- some were only 20 years old," Gong said.

The event was scrapped after Shanghai's Civil Affairs Bureau sent a notice of the ban to the agency, the paper said.

"Many issues show up during (cross-cultural) relationships, but they rarely occur in relationships with someone from the same country," the paper quoted Xu Anqi, a relationship expert, as saying, who cited problems including communication, cultural values and living habits.

[Newbs]

Well spotted EL.

[icebear]

The vast majority of relationships in my family are 'cross cultural'. Guess we're doomed!

Raoul you better plan on setting Ob and I up with a few of these 230 honeys when we hit your neck of woods.

[George61]

"We declined the really young applicants -- some were only 20 years old," Gong said.

So you and OB prefer the older women, IB?

[Raoul Duke]

Yeah, guys, there are some nice ladies on the street sweeper squad here all set to meet ya.

And don't take any guff from George, guys. Here's a photo from HIS last party...

[George61]

I'll come back to that one!.........................need more coffee first.

[Raoul Duke]

Yes, I'd say so.
You do that; I'm off to bed...

[icebear]

Women are plenty fine until, oh, I don't know... 31?

[con's fly is open]

icebear said:

Women are plenty fine until, oh, I don't know... 31?

Know what happened with that ban? Word got out to the locals: "Hey, they're coming for our women!"

[Escaped Lunatic]

Perhaps we are approaching this entire situation from the wrong angle?


Monday July 10, 2006
Male geisha
By LINDA SIEG

DRESSED all in white and smiling, Yuka and Manato stand side-by-side before a pyramid of champagne glasses, framed in an arch of white, pink and red balloons.

“I really love Manato,” says Yuka, while a score of black-suited young men kneel before them, chanting loudly.

“I’ll never forget this day,” he replies.

The scene in the dark, smoky night club seems modelled on a wedding, but no nuptials are under way.

Instead, Yuka is paying around ¥1mil (RM31,320) for the champagne the pair pour into the tower of glasses to mark Manato’s 25th birthday at Club Raphael, a “host club” where women are pampered by the men of their dreams ­ for a price.

Around 150 such host clubs dot the streets of Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment district, ranging from small ones like Club Raphael to the famed Ladies’ Club Ai a few blocks away, where more than 170 gigolos are employed to ply their trade in a glitzy night spot complete with dance floor and band.

“Hosts say things that ordinary guys are too embarrassed to say. They are sweet-talk professionals,” says Yuka, 27, fingering the beads adorning her dyed-brown hair.

“This place isn’t real,” she added. “It’s like Neverland.”

Host clubs have been around for decades, but in recent years have become the focus of a media blitz that has made them seem more mainstream, if not necessarily respectable.

The TV drama Yaoh, King of the Night, based on a popular manga comic, was a big hit with viewers before its tale of a host dedicated to “making every woman happy” ended in March.

Top-ranking hosts have turned TV celebrities, and Internet sites and magazines devoted to the topic provide a plethora of information for would-be hosts and nervous novice clients.

“It used to be that women were afraid of getting caught going to a host club, so they went in the back way. Not anymore,” Takashi Aida, 66, who founded Club Ai in 1971 and now owns five night clubs in Kabukicho, says in an interview.

“Now everyone comes in the front,” says Aida, flashing four diamond rings, a diamond-studded watch and a diamond tie clip.



For hosts like Manato, who worked a string of low-paid jobs before turning gigolo, the attraction of the job is clear.

“I’m not very bright, so this is the only way I can make a lot of money,” says Manato, his dyed-brown hair pulled up in a partial top-knot and wearing a subtle smidgen of lipstick.

Popular hosts at Club Raphael can average around US$25,000 (RM90,000) a month, while stars at Club Ai rake in as much as US$45,000 (RM162,000) ­ almost entirely from commissions on the liquor they persuade their female customers to buy, managers at the clubs said.

“I made as much last month as in three years at my old job” says 25-year-old Kiyomaru, a slender high school dropout who attained No.1 status at Club Ai after 10 months as a host.

Whether hosts provide after-hours services is up to them.

“If customers have money, they can do what they want with the host ­ go on dates, go out to dinner, have a physical relationship,” Kiyomaru says.

Many hosts drift into the job. Others are looking for a quick fix of funds to start their own business. Some say they enjoy the attention they get, but still don’t plan to hang around long.

“I’ve been on TV. I’ve been in magazines. People I don’t know, know me. I can do what I like. I can be famous,” said Kiyomaru. “Now I’ve reached the top, I need to find a new goal.”

Competition is intense to become a top-ranking host like Kiyomaru ­ the designated darling of customers willing to shell out wads of cash for a stream of liquor and romantic patter.



Many hosts, though, drop out after the merest taste of a tough apprenticeship that begins with scrubbing toilets and can include trolling the streets to solicit or “catch” customers.

Even successful hosts tend to quit the business after a couple of years, worn out by the heavy drinking and late hours.

The appeal for female customers is more of a mystery, for all the hosts’ talk of making the women feel like princesses.

Nightclub hostesses and sex industry workers looking to turn the tables after an evening of catering to men account for a large percentage of the clientele, those in the business say.

“I come for a change of pace. Maybe there are people here who want to deceive me, but as long as I know what I’m doing, I can enjoy myself,” says Reika, 56, a long-time Club Ai customer who runs her own night club nearby.

Students and office workers looking for a thrill and middle-aged housewives and businesswomen with money to spend can also be found smoking and drinking with a bevy of hosts.

“It’s the mirror image of hostess clubs,” says John Clammer, a sociology professor at Tokyo’s Sophia University. “You’ve got a lot of working women, single, getting a bit older and probably not going to get married, and they can afford it.”

Beneath the glitter and ersatz romance, though, lurks a melancholy strain. As Club Ai PR adviser Mitsue Nakumura put it: “They have money and they have free time, but I think they are lonely women.” ­ Reuters

[MK]

It’s about goddamn time the authorities started cracking down on these so called ‘recruiting services’. If only the vast majority of foreigners knew about the real situation on the ground, then they would never sign these contracts. It’s these clueless newbies who are making the situation so much worse for the rest of us.

[ObertonGluek]

Oh man, I'd so 'do' the woman 3rd from left on that picture. Fiiine!

[ObertonGluek]

admin said:

Ok, here is my run-down on this lovely picture. From left to right;

1) Trans-sexual. No doubt about it.
2) Plank of wood in her ass.
3) My wife, as pointed out in my previous post. Just beautiful.
4) That's a fat scottish guy with make-up on.
5) She's dead. That's the stuff you see in Zombie movies.
6) Allergic to flowers.

[Raoul Duke]

Interesting. That's the one George selected, too...

[con's fly is open]

Gotta clean this keyboard before my brother gets back.