Tokyo Hostess

In 1992, Carita Ridgway arrived in Tokyo from Sydney to work as a nightclub hostess. A beautiful, blonde, 21-year-old model, Carita was a prized 'gaijin girl' (Western girl) whose job it was to serve drinks to Japanese businessmen, light their cigarettes, flirt. She thought the job would be fun and glamorous; a great way of earning a lot of money quickly. But she did not know that behind the lights and excitement of Tokyo's nightclub scene lies a terrible darkness. Many beautiful blonde Western girls have found themselves lured into performing sexual acts for money, seeing their job slowly change from nightclub hostess into that of high-class prostitute. For Carita, her glamorous adventure ended even more tragically - she was raped and then murdered by a merciless sex killer. With firsthand accounts from other 'gaijin girls', interviews with Carita and Lucie's friends and family, and insights into the mind of their twisted killer, this is a groundbreaking, authoritative and gripping account of Carita Ridgway and British hostess Lucie Blackman's lives and deaths. Clare Campbell lifts the lid on the often horrifyingly sleazy world of Tokyo nightclubs.