Society

Host clubs go digital in the wake of business closures with live-streaming app toU

Apr 16 (soranews24.com) - The clubs themselves might be closed, but you can still spend time with your favorite host, even if you canâ€™t physically be with him.

With a large number of non-essential businesses in Japanâ€“and across the worldâ€“temporarily closed to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, a lot of people are out of jobs for the foreseeable future. No less is that true than for the host club industry, whose business is in entertaining women (and some men) with one-on-one attention from handsome men.

While ordinarily the best of the hosts can make as much as tens of millions of yen (hundreds of thousands of US dollars) per month, the host clubs being closed means they canâ€™t make a dime. And with everything closed and the Japanese government highly recommending that people stay home, more and more people are likely to feel a lack of social connection in their lives, which is, until now, a hole that the host club industry has always been able to fill.

Donâ€™t worry, though; thereâ€™s a win-win solution! C-FU, Inc, a Japanese entertainment, fashion, and marketing company, has re-released their app, toU (pronunced â€œto youâ€) especially for the host club industry and the people they entertain.

toU is a live stream app for male influencers that was released in December last year. It allows influencers to stream live videos for 30 minutes, during which fans can send them â€œgiftsâ€ in the form of hearts. At the end of the session, the fan who sends the most hearts to the streamer gets three minutes of a one-on-one chat with them.

While this is a little bit different from the traditional host club system, itâ€™s easy to see how it might appeal to the host club industry and its customer base. The app allows hosts and their regular customers to meet face-to-face once again through live streams and chats, so itâ€™s brimming with possibilities for the host industry. And not only that, but those who have never been to a host club or are too shy to go can try it out from the comfort of their home!

Though the app was fairly new, the service was temporarily closed in February for improvements, with plans to reopen it again in June, but with the changes brought about by coronavirus, the company decided to restructure their plans to launch the re-release sooner for the sake of the host club industry.

The new version of the app has streamlined its process to be focused on communication. There are no more special gifts or flashy animations that users can send to their favorite streamer. They can only send hearts, which they can purchase in-app. The idea was to make it so that anyone, even first-time viewers of live streams, can feel comfortable participating, and so that fans can simply enjoy the conversation between the streamers and the viewers.

Japan To Set Rules For Higher Tourist Fees

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has announced plans to draw up guidelines for the introduction of a so-called dual pricing system that differentiates between foreign visitors and local residents.

Kyoto Raises Lodging Tax as Peak Travel Season Begins

Kyoto City significantly raised its lodging tax from March 1st, increasing the maximum charge per person per night from 1,000 yen to as much as 10,000 yen, in a move aimed at tackling overtourism and funding the preservation of cultural assets, even as questions remain about its impact on visitors and the local economy.

Foreign Visitors and Ex-Rescuer Pull 80-Year-Old Woman From Hakuba Crashed Car

A former emergency responder and foreign tourists worked together to rescue a woman in her 80s who was trapped inside an overturned light vehicle in Hakuba Village, Nagano Prefecture.

Tokyo Metro Begins Touchless Ticket Gate Trial

Tokyo Metro and Toshiba have launched Japan’s first demonstration test allowing passengers to pass through ticket gates without touching them by using their smartphones’ Bluetooth function.

Himeji Castle Hikes Admission Fee for Non-Residents

The admission fee for the World Heritage-listed Himeji Castle in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, was revised on March 1st for the first time in 11 years, introducing a dual pricing system that significantly raises costs for visitors from outside the city.

MEDIA CHANNELS

MORE Society NEWS

Five Arrested in Tokyo Midnight Drifting

Five people have been arrested after repeatedly performing dangerous drift driving on a road in Tokyo’s Ota Ward, sending up clouds of white smoke in the middle of the night and drawing police scrutiny.

Mountains of Garbage Plague Tokyo Public Housing Complex

Large amounts of what appear to be illegally dumped garbage line the roadside at the Tokyo Metropolitan Kirigaoka Danchi in Kita Ward, where a decline in residents has left fewer eyes to monitor the sprawling public housing complex that first opened in the 1950s.

Fuji-Q Highland Supervisor Sent to Prosecutors

A site supervisor at Fuji-Q Highland in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture, was referred to prosecutors on March 2nd over a fatal accident in February 2025 in which an employee died during maintenance work.

Female Teacher Arrested Over Deadly Assault on Elderly Man

A 48-year-old woman who works as a lecturer at an Osaka prefectural high school was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a man in Osaka, with the man later confirmed dead at the hospital where he was taken.

Men Clash in Centuries-Old Naked Festival

The Konomiya Hadaka Festival, an unusual Shinto ritual dating back more than 1,250 years in which men wearing only loincloths collide violently with one another, was held on March 1st at Konomiya Shrine in Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture, drawing around 10,000 participants who surged toward a designated “sacred man” believed to absorb misfortune through physical contact.

Avalanche Strikes Nagano-Niigata Ski Resort, Four Injured

An avalanche struck an advanced-level course at Madarao Kogen Ski Resort, which spans Niigata and Nagano prefectures, on February 28th, leaving four people injured, including two family members.

Man Dies After Falling During Ice Climbing in Gifu

A man in his 50s died after falling while ice climbing in Gero, Gifu Prefecture, on March 2nd, after a report was made shortly after 9 a.m. from a person at the scene in Osakacho stating that he had fallen along with a sheet of ice and become trapped beneath the collapsed mass.

Mito Murder Suspect Planted Tracking Tag on Victim’s Car

A man indicted on murder charges over the killing of a 31-year-old nailist in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, is suspected of attaching a location-tracking “lost-item tag” to the victim’s car, investigative sources said, with police planning to rearrest him on March 2nd on suspicion of violating the anti-stalking law.

< 2 3 4 5 >