Believe it or not, our crack Japanese-language reporter, Mr. Sato, has been struggling with his self-image recently. In recognition of all his hard work, we decided to spring for a makeover for the poor guy, and not at a pet grooming salon like we did before.
No, this time, Mr. Sato is getting the full-on host bar treatment, complete with a photo session commemorating his transformation into a guy so hot women would pay money just to sit and drink with him.
The RocketNews24 offices are located in Shinjuku, not far from Tokyo’s Kabukicho pleasure quarter and its warren of hostess and host bars. As Mr. Sato walks past the latter on his way to work, he can’t help but notice the photos of suave, handsome hosts plastered on the signs of the establishments they work for, and by the time he gets to the office, he’s completely depressed over how uncool he thinks he looks by comparison.
But with a job that sits at the crossroads of modeling and hospitality, certainly hosts don’t just rely on their God-given good looks, right? As in any profession where appearances count, they obviously put a lot of effort into grooming and fashion, and those glossy photos that reel customers into their bars are taken by professionals. So we decided to see if we could get Mr. Sato looking just as sharp as a Tokyo host.
First up was a visit to AnZie, a beauty salon located on Omotesando in the trendy Harajuku neighborhood. AnZie’s stylists took Mr. Sato’s salt-and-pepper hair and dyed it a youthfully fashionable light brown, and also trimmed and styled his powered-up locks.
Since no one’s been able to definitely settle that argument about whether the clothes make the man or the man makes the clothes, we decided to cover both bases by outfitting Mr. Sato with a fitted suit and subtly bold purple dress shirt.