Tokyo Girls

It is a game we all agree to play... We are buying and selling dreams. "I couldn't believe that they were paying me to drink and party and just sit around and talk to people. I thought it was fabulous." Jamie was making a thousand dollars a night when she started working in a hostess club in Japan. Little did she realize that she would eventually flee for safety to a remote Thai island. Hilary is hostessing in a Tokyo nightclub to pay off her student debts. Nancy came to Japan to study butoh--a contemporary dance form. Dhana was offered a million dollars to marry one of her clients. Tokyo Girls is a candid journey into the world of four young Canadian women who work as well-paid hostesses in exclusive Japanese nightclubs. Lured by adventure and easy money, these modern-day geisha find themselves caught up in the mizu shobai--the complex "floating water world" of Tokyo clubs and bars. Drawn by fast money, some women become consumed by the lavish lifestyle and forget why they came. One hostess calls it "losing the plot." With a pulsating visual style, Tokyo Girls captures the raw energy of urban Japan and its fascination with the new. Shot in Canada, Osaka and Tokyo, this is a riveting inside look at the impact of the "economy geisha." Desired mainly for her looks, the hostess is rapidly replacing the cultural institution of geisha--women trained in the ancient art of traditional entertainment.