Tokyo Hostess

I just finished reading the book Tokyo Hostess by Clare Campbell. Published in August 2009, it is a chilling read and a well written insight into the lives of the clubs in Tokyo for gaijin girls.

This morning I woke up to the news that the alleged killer of one of the girls in the book, Lindsay Ann Hawker has been captured by Japanese police.

At last.

Recent book publication by Clare Campbell

Anyone else read this book?

Campbell has researched it with a great deal of care and compassion. The majority of the book focuses on Lucie Blackman and her stay in Tokyo working in the nightlife of Tokyo’s Roppongi district. The job of a hostess in Tokyo for many gaijin girls has typically been seen as a way to earn good money and Lucie was depicted as a young girl keen to pay off debt and enjoy traveling in Asia before settling down to her life in the UK.

What happened to her was a terrible waste of life. Stories of other girls, Carita Ridgway, an Australian hostess for example are also included in this book. So too, is the story of Lindsay Ann Hawker.

Yet there were critics who questioned why Hawker’s murder was part of this publication. But I agree with Campbell that it was a timely and necessary inclusion.

One of the themes that was constant throughout the book was that the girls thought Japan was ’safe, safe, safe’. I think this book is a reminder to youth that such naive assumptions are dangerous and Japan like anywhere else in the world is a place where care still needs to be taken.

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