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The story
A thread claiming that cabaret clubs (hostess bars) are seeing fewer customers and going bankrupt one after another popped up on 5ch’s “Live News G” board, drawing 41 replies. Posters pointed to the bankruptcy of a card-payment company, the high cost of a night out, and customers drifting to alternatives like concept cafés, fan-support (‘oshi-katsu’) spending, and VTubers. Others questioned the business practice of writing off cabaret club bills as client-entertainment expenses, while some framed it as simply “young people drinking less.” Opinions were split on what’s really behind the industry’s slump.
What people said
Ah, so that's the reason.
What's supposed to be fun about that?
Those hostesses were pulling in a high hourly wage, you know.
Drunk people committing crimes get a lot of attention too.
At concept cafés you also have to buy the girl a 2,000-yen drink — made me swear I'd never go back.
Way too ridiculous.
Young people don't even drink these days.
Even treating someone to dinner works out cheaper than a hostess club, so it's easier on the wallet apparently.
Insane pricing.
At that rate, a sex club would be the better deal.
Why can cabaret clubs even be expensed in the first place?
If that's allowed, let us expense sex clubs too.
If young people flow into fields like elder care instead, us old guys would be happy too.
Of course nobody wants to go.
Cabaret clubs can be expensed under the pretext of entertaining clients.
Sex clubs, no way.
I get that, I'm saying it's weird that it's legally allowed to be expensed at all.
Guess everyone was just gritting their teeth and going along with the extroverts.
'Papa katsu' (paid dating with older men) is cheaper and gets you better service.
Re: #42
Young guys in their 20s and 30s might not get the point of it, but once you're an old man that young women won't give the time of day, you'll pay big money just for a boring conversation.
I love throwing huge Super Chat donations at my favorite streamer three times a month lol, and getting noticed by them is the best.
That's even more baffling than cabaret clubs.
You're paying huge amounts to someone you haven't even met in person?
Bottom of the barrel even among cash-cow fans.
Not sure what you're misunderstanding, but it's the customer's job to keep the hostess happy, not the other way around.
But I guess VTubers have the huge advantage of not requiring you to actually go outside.
Either way, the only conclusion is that both are garbage.
With a cabaret club you have to drink face-to-face with pretty women and worry about who's watching.
In the online world you don't even have to show your face, you can still talk to the person, and you don't have to care what anyone thinks.
Plus, it's full of your own kind, so it's comfortable.
Whether the woman sits right next to you or across the counter.
Re: #90 — also, a girls' bar is still just a bar at the end of the day, so sometimes people go there just for a normal drink.
Background and Key Points of the Debate
Behind this lies the growing trend of people in their 20s and 30s drinking less, plus a tax practice that lets cabaret club spending be written off as ‘entertainment expenses’ under the guise of client hospitality. In the thread, many voices called this expense treatment ‘unfair’ compared to sex clubs, while others praised the cabaret club’s distinctive experience of ‘having a lively time as a group,’ surfacing points that go beyond simple pricing complaints. The spread of cheaper alternatives to in-person hospitality — concept cafés, ‘oshi-katsu’ fandom spending, and VTuber donations — was also cited as a contributing factor. Note that the posts never identified which specific company’s ‘card company bankruptcy’ was being referred to, so that claim remains unverified even as the discussion moved forward.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Live News G) thread “[Sad News] Cabaret Club Industry: “Help! No customers are coming and we’re in a bankruptcy rush!”“.
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