Booth Babes in Japan Seek Blog Following

Posted on October 12, 2006

Japan's booth babe lifestyle is more advanced (or weirder) than it is here in the U.S. Wikipedia defines booth babe as "a slang term referring to attractive women hired specifically to draw attendees into the booths of commercial exhibitions." They are commonplace at some gaming and electronics shows. Booth babes were supposed to be banned at this years E3 Expo, an annual gaming convention. However, they appeared at the show anyway wearing more clothes than in 2005. In Japan there have been no bans. An article from Reuters suggests that the booth babe lifestyle is embraced by some Japanese girls who try and accumulate as many fans for their blogs as they can in order to impress the talent agencies and land a contract.

"Please remember to check out my site!" she said, writing down her name on trade show pamphlets.

Hoshikawa's agency, Style Corp., would pay for her blogging operation once she could show them she had a good following of admirers, she said.

"I need more fans, so I can get more gigs, and someday become a race queen," she said.

She declined to say how much she was paid, but said the top companions get more job offers from the big electronics companies and earn four to five times as much per gig.

Some of the girls don't have much trouble attracting a male following.

For fans like Tatebayashi, the "companions" posing next to some of Japan's most technologically advanced gear are far from gratuitous.

The mini-skirted women are the reason he took the afternoon off work and, his best cameras in tow, trekked out during a typhoon to the convention center, a two-hour train ride from his home in western Tokyo.

"It's a long-term investment," he said. "Plus, maybe some of them will become my friends."

Joystiq has more about booth babes in Japan in this article about the Tokyo Game Show (TGS).

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