Tough-talking Shinjuku hosts apparently don’t approve of such get-rich-quick dreams.

In hard-working Japan, many people’s days off are few and far between, so as we get into the latter half of December, people across Japan are eagerly looking forward to the New Year’s vacation season.

Of course, if they could afford to, a lot of people would rather simply go on permanent vacation, quitting their jobs and spending every day living a life of leisure and luxury. That daydream feels just a little more financially feasible with Japan’s annual Nenmatsu Jumbo, a lottery held at the end of the year with a jackpot of one billion yen (US$6.9 million).

So when a trio of our reporters, Mr. Sato, Masanuki Sunakoma, and Takashi Harada left the office on a recent evening, before getting on their trains for home at Shinjuku Station, they decided to head to a lottery ticket sales booth.

▼ Takarakuji (宝くじ) is the Japanese word for “lottery”

Unfortunately, we sometimes work some pretty late nights at SoraNews24, so by the time our team rolled up, the booth was already closed for the day. Thankfully, Nenmatsu Jumbo tickets go on sale quite a bit before the drawing is held, so they could still come back and purchase tickets the next day. On the other hand, according to fortune tellers, this was supposed to have been an especially lucky day, so they couldn’t help feeling a little crestfallen at having let such auspicious timing slip through their fingers.

But as they stood there staring forlornly at the closed shutter of the ticket booth, they became aware of the billboard above it. Tilting their heads back to take it all in, they saw that the billboard had a strongly worded message for them.

▼ “Don’t count on being lucky. Earn your own money, you jackasses!”

This advice was brought to them by Majesty Nova, a host club located in the surrounding Shinjuku neighborhood, which contains Japan’s densest distribution of high-profile host clubs. Also on the billboard were a quartet of hosts with shiny skin, remarkably red lips, and tightly tailored suits, as well as individual titles such as “15,000,000 Player,” presumably designating that host’s highest one-night earnings.

Despite the forceful command, the intended effect of the sign was a little hard for us to suss out. We’re guessing it’s supposed to be an indirect recruiting ad for the club or its management group, but there’s no mention of them currently hiring or any sort of contact information. You could also see it as the club bragging about how popular its hosts are as a way of promoting itself to customers, but just like with hostess clubs, a night at a host club tends to be anything but cheap, and will quickly drain a lot of the money you earned.

Still, the message was echoing in our reporters’ heads the next morning when they passed by the ticket booth and billboard on their way to the office, and so Mr. Sato and Masanuki both resisted the lottery tickets’ siren call and kept walking without buying any.

Takashi, on the other hand…

…purchased 10 tickets at that very booth, right under the disapproving eyes of the signs’ hosts. “Yeah, I saw the sign, but it got my competitive juices flowing, and now I want to wint the lottery even more!”, he explained.

He won’t know if he’s hit the jackpot until the end of the month, but we can’t blame the guy for trying. After all, you know what they say: Money won is twice as sweet as money earned…you jackasses.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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