barber pole dances
things i’ve learned about seoul:
- it’s one of the largest cities in the world (10million+). only recently supplanted by mumbai, sao paulo, and perhaps shangai.
- you can get GbE internet to the home. for $25/month.
- but who needs that when you can get hdtv to your phone, allowing you to watch tv on the subway?
- “korea is a man’s fantasyland”. so says anthony, the local sales rep. despite the customs form asking if you’re bringing in pornography, apparently korea itself is not so puritan. prostitution is rampant. from the seoul times:
Barber shops. Turkish baths. Room salons. Hostess bars. Strip clubs. Massage parlours. Brothels. About 358,000 men buy sex each day. That’s a lot of money. And a hell of a lot of sex. So why? Korea is not the first place you think of when the words ‘sex’ and ‘Asia’ are bandied around. Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia, Japan. These are all places that have a reputation for pay for play horizontal dancing. But Korea is better known for its cell phones and fermented cabbage.
However, the fact is that prostitution is everywhere in Korea. From the ubiquitous barber pole to the basement coffee shops, prostitution is a higher chunk of the GDP than agriculture. According to a report released by the Korean Institute of Criminology (KIC), the nation’s sex trade was estimated at 24 trillion won (US$ 20.4 billion) last year, accounting for 4.1 percent of 578 trillion won, the total GDP.
Nearly 20 percent of men aged between 20 and 64 visit prostitutes on average 4.5 times every month, spending a sum that breaks down to 154,000 won (US$ 130) each time.
anthony notes that while you can go to the barber pole places, the quality is “not that good”. he says that an alternative are karaoke clubs, which vary depending on which country you’re in. in japan the girls come and just sing with you. in korea, they come, sing, and drink, and you can touch them. and in china, they come, sing with you, have drinks with you, and then you can sleep with them.
see all this information i’m learning out here? it’s cultural exchange, man.
Posted at July 26, 2006 9:00 PM
