, an

abbreviation An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

for , are telephone-based dating services originating in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. In the original incarnation of the telephone club, popular in the mid-1990s, a male client would pay a fee to enter a booth with a phone. The phone would then ring with calls from women or girls willing to go on a date – the implicit understanding being that this would lead to paid sex. These clubs have been outlawed as fronts for

prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

in some jurisdictions in Japan. In modern telephone clubs, members pay a fee, after which they are supplied with the mobile phone numbers of women who sign up voluntarily to the sites. The caller then may arrange a meeting with a girl. Participants in the practice of ''

enjo kōsai is a type of transactional relationship similar to the western equivalent being a call girl of Sugaring. It is the Japanese language term for the practice of older men giving money and/or luxury gifts to attractive young women for sexual favors ...

'' are thought to make use of this service. A variation on the same theme is the , a mobile phone and personal computer based dating services originating in

. The term comes from the contracted form of the Japanese . Emails are exchanged between members through a central server, ensuring email addresses remain private. Mail clubs are used in various ways, the most common being for dating, friend searching, or to find sex partners. It is common that only the male has to pay to participate.

References

{{Prostitution in Japan Communications in Japan Sexuality in Japan Japanese sex terms Prostitution in Japan