The Daily Omnivore

A pink salon, or pinsaro for short, is a type of brothel in Japan which specializes in oral sex. A pink salon is unusual in that the service is offered in small booths within a large open-plan room. The client is served soft drinks or alcoholic beverages by the ‘companion’ who performs fellatio on him. There may also be additional activities such as fingering the ‘companion’ and sumata (a Japanese term for a non-penetrative sex act where the sex worker rubs the client’s penis with her hands, thighs (intercrural sex), and labia majora).

Unlike the west, Japan does not have the same stigmas attached to sex work. Many young Japanese women work in pink salons throughout late high school and college as work is plentiful and pay is much better than in customer service positions. However, the work is demanding and an employee may be required to fellate over a dozen men in a single four hour shift.

An image club, is a type of brothel in Japan similar to ‘fashion health’ parlors (a form of massage parlor which circumvents Japanese anti-prostitution laws by offering a range of services that stop short of sexual intercourse).

They differ in that image clubs are themed along popular sexual fantasies such as a business office, a doctor’s office, a classroom, or a subway car. The prostitutes themselves, whose activities are usually limited to oral sex, wear exaggerated costumes appropriate to the setting and the desire of the customer.

No-pan kissa (literally ‘no-panties cafe’) is a Japanese term for cafes where the waitresses wear short skirts with no underwear. The floors, or sections of the floor, are often mirrored. Customers order drinks and snacks and may look at, but not generally touch, the staff. The shops otherwise look like normal coffee shops, rather than sex establishments, although they charge around four times as much for coffee.

A later development in certain no-pan kissa was the creation of small private rooms where the staff provided sexual services like oral sex or masturbation. Eventually such coffee shops gave way to ‘fashion health’ clubs (a form of massage parlor which circumvents Japanese anti-prostitution laws by offering a range of services that stop short of sexual intercourse), and few, if any, remain. In addition to no-pan kissa, there have also been no-pan shabu-shabu, and no-pan yakiniku restaurants; and no-pan karaoke.