So what exactly are "hosts?" in venues?

[Omedon]

In Japan

And just like that, it clicks.

The one thing the venues I’ve visited have had in common is that they were chosen to suit my character, who is a samurai, where I’m really just an unworldly white guy from Canada. So it seems “hosts” are a cultural thing being mimicked in what is in this context a "JRPG," where said culture is a neat and desirable backdrop.

Needless to say, I am not interested in paying for that.

Ok, now I know… and maybe I should try different venues because I don’t consider the friendship equivalent of the comedy trope of “girl bills guy after sex and he’s blindsided by it” to be funny. It’s actually kind of really depressing!

It was one of the most uncomfortable experiences I've ever had.

Yes, this.



Thank you for your insight!

And before anyone comes at me with “did it feel good in the moment, and isn’t that worth something,” I respectfully disagree with that line of argument on the grounds of being emotionally fleeced.