Why are many flight attendants in Japan forced to provide “indecent services” to pilots? (4 photos)

In Japan, being a flight attendant is a prestigious profession and remains a dream for many young women. Every year, tens of thousands of candidates strive to take up this position at the country's leading airlines.





However, the reality is that wages in Japan are either stagnating or declining, and work shifts are becoming increasingly grueling.

According to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the income of flight attendants in the country has fallen significantly over the past 20 years.

From 2004 to 2015, the average annual income of Japanese flight attendants aged 25-29 fell from 4.9 million yen to 3.8 million yen.

While these amounts are still in line with the average annual salary in the country, the downward trend continues. As a result, more and more flight attendants are resorting to providing various "indecent services" to pilots in order to maintain a high standard of living.

Yes, this was even directly written about in several major Japanese news outlets



The Japanese publication Shukan Post published an honest story of a 30-year-old flight attendant about the hidden realities of her profession. She shared how some of her colleagues find a way to improve their financial situation by accepting various offers from pilots.

According to her, during pre-flight checks, flight attendants line up in front of the captain and his assistant. At this point, pilots may discreetly give certain hand signals to a girl

For example, if the captain puts four fingers to his nose, it means he is willing to pay her 40,000 yen to spend the night with him at a hotel. If the girl agrees, she discreetly hands him her phone number, usually on a piece of paper.

"I never thought I would agree to something like this before," the flight attendant admitted in an interview with the Shukan Post. "But the amounts were very tempting."

According to her, sometimes the payments reached 80,000-100,000 yen for one meeting. Thus, in a month of work, the young flight attendant could double or even triple her official monthly salary.

Such situations are especially common on domestic flights of small and medium-sized airliners





Japanese airlines often put pilots and flight attendants in the same hotels, which creates a convenient environment for such interactions in real life after work (even though both flight attendants and pilots may be married to other people at the time).

According to another flight attendant, discussing such stories in women's locker rooms, such as at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, has become quite common.

“Recently, one of my colleagues complained that she received only 60,000 yen from two pilots for three dates,” the girl told Tokyo Reporter.

At the same time, according to the flight attendants themselves, younger women under 30 receive higher fees.

For them, the amounts start from 80,000 yen and up, depending on their appearance.



Yes, for the Japanese, appearance and age play a key role in how much they are willing to pay for “such dates” (probably, as for any other men around the world).

Very beautiful Japanese women can easily demand amounts of 150-200,000 yen for such meetings.

Some flight attendants also find additional ways to earn money by working as hostesses at elite parties or in prestigious bars in Tokyo's Ginza district after their regular work, which also brings them quite a solid income, since many men would like to drink and chat with a woman who works as a flight attendant and has been to many countries, notes Tokyo Reporter.