In Defense of Numbers - Unknown Women Surviving in Kabukicho (2000s-2010s)

In Defense of Numbers - Unknown Women Surviving in Kabukicho (2000s-2010s)

When a young woman from the countryside moves alone to Tokyo and enters the nightlife world, the first thing she faces is "daily life measured by numbers. In cabarets, sales are directly related to the number of nominations, and the number of nominations and bottles sold directly determine the evaluation, remuneration, and seating order. In general, the store has a monthly sales ranking and a ranking of the number of nominations, and a system to visualize performance over a certain period of time is in place. Since the numbers are linked to salary increases and exposure (in-store announcements, event placements, and SNS PR), "accumulating numbers" is the only leverage for unknown newcomers.

Therefore, she first increases the number of regular customers through steady sales, and after building up the number of nominations and the number of customers per customer, she aims to transfer to a "famous" store. After transferring to a "famous" shop, she will be subject to jealousy, rumors, and pressure from her colleagues in exchange for a more glamorous environment, but here, too, numbers work. The feeling that "as long as you make the numbers, you can shut them up" is born from the rule of the night shift that it is not popularity that determines the pecking order, but the visible score sheet. Channels for receiving nominations before visiting a store, such as photo nomination and web nomination, have expanded, and personal SNS operation has become an infrastructure for obtaining nominations.

The external environment also encouraged this "numbers bias": the 2011 Gang Exclusion Ordinance reduced the influence of the "public face" of the industry, while stores were inclined to govern themselves through self-cleansing and visualization (data and rules), The pressure to explain hierarchy and treatment in numerical terms has intensified. But the old risks have not disappeared. As tourism has increased, there are still warnings about overcharges and "titles" that create credibility for short-term players, and credibility tends to be replaced by numbers.

The redevelopment of Kabukicho, including the opening of the Shinjuku Toho Building (a.k.a. Godzilla Head) in 2015, has given the area a "look" of its own. At the same time, the era has changed to one in which individual cast members constantly post information on Instagram, etc., and announcements of attendance, events, and companionship are integrated into one. The survival strategy here is clear: use numbers as a shield. The cold indicators of sales, nominations, and rankings are the only defense against jealousy and rumors, and also the most reproducible weapon for unknown women coming from scratch to regain their bearings.