In September 2004, Akiko Takeyama walked into Kabukicho, Tokyo’s redlight district, and experienced fi rsthand the district’s (in)famous hosts and their aggressive fl irtation. Being an inquisitive anthropologist, Takeyama immediately felt some familiarity with the host who approached her— someone pursuing an “alternative” life path to “conventional salarymen/ housewives roles” (p. xiii). Feeling “like a celebrity” (p. xiv), Takeyama “grew attracted to” the host (p. xv). Not knowing how to characterize “the nature of [her] relationship” (p. xvii) which involves monetary transactions, this became the initial trigger for Takeyama’s long-term research to explore the labyrinth of male escorts in the early 2000s. Based on frequent visits to host clubs in Tokyo as well as in Osaka in 2003–4 and in follow-up research until 2013 (p. 17), Takeyama unravels what is commonly known as the “Kabukicho Dream,” where “people’s temporal sense of future, present, and past . . . fold into restless feelings of both hope and despair” (p. xviii). Suggesting that “the host’s aspirations and the client’s dreams may already have aligned in the future-oriented neoliberal cultural ethos” (pp. 12–13), she argues that “the art of seduction mirrors neoliberal governance and permeates social interactions” (p. 16). Staged Seduction is “an account of host club participants’ human dramas” (p. xviii), where male hosts sell “romance” to female patrons and simultaneously pursue their own economic goals. According to Takeyama, Tokyo is a “futuristic,” “affective cityscape” that provides opportunities for young people to achieve their dreams through fl exible labor and lifestyle consumption (p. 32). This cityscape overrides the previous political economic paradigm, she argues, and host clubs offer “the emancipatory possibilities of fl exible labor, expressive consumption, and neoliberal subjectivity in the new millennium Japan” (p. 38). Hosts are “young, handsome men” who are “self-employed, independent agents who exercise autonomy over their tables” (p. xiii). Without formal skills or qualifi cations, their job is to “arouse women’s sensual fantasies” (p. 1) and to “produce and consume love” (p. 3), by entertaining female customers as well as drinking, eating, dating, and having sex with their patrons. Coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, hosts are desperate, aspire to get rich quickly, and seek upward mobility by selling their “love” through “their paradoxical—commodifi ed yet entrepreneurial—male subjectivity” (p. 21).

中文翻译：

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舞台诱惑：竹山明子在东京主办俱乐部出售梦想

2004 年 9 月，竹山明子走进东京的红灯区歌舞伎町，第一次体验了该地区的（不）着名的主持人和他们咄咄逼人的调情。作为一名好奇的人类学家，竹山立刻对接近她的主人感到有些熟悉——她是一个追求“传统工薪族/家庭主妇角色”的“另类”生活道路（第十三页）。感觉“像名人”（第十四页），竹山“越来越被主持人吸引”（第十五页）。由于不知道如何描述涉及货币交易的“[她] 关系的性质”（第十七页），这成为竹山在 2000 年代初期探索男性伴游迷宫的长期研究的最初触发点。基于 2003-4 年频繁访问东京和大阪的东道主俱乐部以及直到 2013 年的后续研究（第 17 页），竹山解开了俗称的“歌舞伎町梦”，在那里“人们对未来、现在和过去的时间感。. . 折叠成充满希望和绝望的不安情绪”（第十八页）。建议“主人的愿望和客户的梦想可能已经在面向未来的新自由主义文化精神中保持一致”（第 12-13 页），她认为“诱惑的艺术反映了新自由主义的治理并渗透到社会互动中”（第 12 页）。 16)。Staged Seduction 是“东道主俱乐部参与者的人类戏剧的记述”（第十八页），其中男东道主向女主顾出售“浪漫”，同时追求自己的经济目标。Takeyama 认为，东京是一个“未来主义”、“情感城市景观”，为年轻人提供了通过灵活的劳动力和生活方式消费实现梦想的机会（第 32 页）。她认为，这种城市景观超越了以前的政治经济范式，主办俱乐部提供了“在新千年日本，灵活劳动力、富有表现力的消费和新自由主义主观性的解放可能性”（第 38 页）。主人是“年轻、英俊的男人”，他们是“对自己的桌子行使自主权的个体经营者、独立代理人”（第 xiii 页）。没有正式的技能或资格，他们的工作是“唤起女性的感官幻想”（第 1 页）和“生产和消费爱”（第 3 页），通过招待女性顾客以及喝酒、吃饭、约会和与他们的顾客发生性关系。来自弱势背景的东道主非常绝望，渴望快速致富，并通过“他们自相矛盾的——商品化但具有创业精神的——男性主体性”（第 21 页）出售他们的“爱”来寻求向上流动。