Host club culture. Illuminated host and hostess club billboards on a corner building in Kabukicho, Tokyo

Photo: Alpgiray Kelem · Japan · 2026-06-08 · Editorial use

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Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan - June 8, 2026: Illuminated billboards advertising host and hostess clubs cover a corner building in Kabukicho, Shinjuku, at night. Framed portraits of young men with styled hair fill the upper panels under club names such as club el and NO NAME, while portraits of women advertise Club Bacheron on the lower floors. A red neon sign reading Sophia 3 glows above the corner entrance, and a sign for Rapier marks the ground floor. Black taxis pass through the intersection in the foreground, one blurred by motion. In host clubs, male hosts entertain mostly female customers with conversation and drinks; hostess clubs offer the same service with female staff, and Kabukicho holds the largest concentration of such venues in Japan. A revision of the Entertainment Business Law that took effect in June 2025 has tightened rules for host and hostess clubs, banning customers from drinking on credit and restricting payments to recruiters and certain forms of advertising.

• City Life
• City Street
• Portrait
• Street
• Advertisement
• Bar
• Billboard
• Blurred Motion
• Capital Cities
• Car
• Commercial Sign
• Corner
• Crosswalk
• Driving
• East Asia
• Entertainment Club
• Facade
• Glowing
• Hairstyle
• Honshu
• Human Representation
• Incidental People
• Japan
• Japanese Culture