Hostess bar is a place to drink where female staff entertains customers (mostly male) by sitting at the same table and with attentive conversation.
There are different types of hostess bars in Japan, whose names and prices are different. Here I will talk about the most prestigious one, which is called a "club" unless otherwise mentioning.
Major places in Tokyo, which there are many clubs, are Ginza, Akasaka, and Roppongi.
Price they charge is amazingly so high that normal person like myself can never go (in fact, I've never been there as a customer). I heard that a table charge (i.e. charge just for a seat, thus not including an order) is normally more than US$1,000 (!). Accordingly, a club is usually used by either very wealth person (such as high-profile person, doctor, etc.) or one who doesn't have to pay himself (such as business executive and politician).
Hostess there wears Japanese kimono in many cases and tries to educate herself to catch up with various topics, such as politics, economy, sports, international matters, and so on, which the prestigious customers possibly prefer to have a dialogue with her.
Needless to say that a hostess' biggest and only motivation would be "money" and a customer should know it but still likes to visit the place, which provides mysterious atmosphere, by paying lots of money.
It sounds to me just waste of money, but maybe those people (both a hostess and a customer) must know the different world, which I don't know.
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