In addition, a top hostess might receive perks: an apartment subsidized by her most besotted customer; dinners at the best restaurants in Japan; presents of designer clothes, jewelry and computers; trips around the world; or, perhaps most tantalizing, a sponsor who allows her to circumvent Japan's strict visa laws and remain in the country.

Of the six months I worked in the business, I made my highest salary for just a couple of them. This was about three months into the job, by which time I had my own customers, and still gave a damn about the job. More important, I was still having fun then, and my obvious enjoyment made me popular.

From the beginning, I made fairly good money, and even picked up two non-hostess jobs through my customers. One man recommended a female friend who needed a private English tutor, and another man, the head of a hair accessories company, paid me very well to spend an afternoon modeling his barrettes and bobby pins.

It's not unusual for hostesses to locate business opportunities through their more trusted customers. Mr. Kobayashi, the politician turned consultant, offered several times to help me with my academic career. Exactly how he could do this was unclear, but he repeatedly stated his indebtedness to the hostessing system for his own success.

He told me, "The mama-san of a famous hostess club in Ginza was as responsible for my career as anyone else. She introduced me to people I needed to know in politics, and she didn't even charge me her full prices until I was making enough money."

She undoubtedly did this because she knew that Mr. Kobayashi would one day be a high-placed official who would bring lots of business to her club by entertaining clients there. Her help had instilled in him an appreciation of the practical, corporate aspect of hostessing. Mr. Kobayashi viewed hostesses as colleagues, in a way, since they helped him with his clients.

But most men don't hold so respectful a view of the girls they toast with such high-priced whiskey. There is a dark side to this profession, a high price you might have to pay for temporarily living the life of a supermodel. It took me a few months to fully realize this. Some of the worst dangers are to the hostess's physical health -- the late working hours, physical exhaustion and heavy drinking do take a toll.

Drinking alcohol is unavoidable. While Verdor, unlike many clubs, didn't have a drink-back system (wherein customers must buy hostesses ridiculously priced drinks and the girls get a cut of the bill), there was still a lot of pressure on hostesses to get tipsy. In hopes of making them livelier, the club required even girls who claimed to have health problems that prohibited them from drinking to have at least one glass of alcohol before the waiter would switch their drinks to orange juice or iced tea.

The customers' logic is not so different from that of young men at a fraternity party: Get the girl drunk and maybe you'll get laid. I frequently heard customers asking the waiter to make a girl's drink strong, and I've seen hostesses continue to be served long after they had become completely drunk. For women who stay in the business for years, alcoholism is a pernicious threat.

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