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A flight of fancy for the elderly of TokyoBy:
ROBERT WHYMANT FOR most Japanese men a stay in a luxury hotel with an airline stewardess for company is the stuff of dreams. But for the reality, only pensioners need apply. For £688 it is probably the closest most of them will get to the attentions of a geisha and for many it will be a last wish come true. Customers check into Tokyo’s five-star Okura Hotel with a flight attendant and dine with her. They meet for breakfast the next morning and take a stroll, or do a spot of shopping. The Royal Dream Stay Plan, as the package is called, is restricted to those who are aged more than 65 and infirm, and has no connection with shady match-making services. The stewardess sleeps in a separate room, of course, or at her own home. Kumiko Wakabayashi, who runs Royal Service, a business catering for the elderly, said: “We think it’s ideal for people who have grown weaker with age and are keen to get out and about.” It is the latest way that Japanese firms have devised to cash in on the country’s ageing society. Providing care and other services for old people is one of the fastest-growing business sectors. The success of the Royal Dream Stay Plan has much to do with the fascination exerted in Japan by airline stewardesses. “Flight attendants are so good at taking care of people’s needs, and at keeping people amused, they are ideal for this work,” said Ms Wakabayashi, a former nursing care worker. But surveys also show that, for men, they are the most desired of all working women. Girlie magazines routinely pander to male fantasies by showing stewardesses stripping off their uniforms. Ms Wakabayashi said that she has had to turn down hundreds of men excited by the prospect of a date with a stewardess. “They pretend to be 65 or over when they phone,” she said. “But I’m in my fifties, and I can tell from their voice they’re younger than me.” Customers, some of whom are aged more than 80, are accepted only after Royal Service calls family members to confirm age and state of health. “We can also look after the wheelchair bound,” Ms Wakabayashi said. Royal Service has 14 women on its books, aged between 24 and 45, some retired, some still flying on a part-time basis, all having worked for Japanese airlines. Because of the demand, the company plans to enlist another dozen stewardesses. For many, the stewardess packages are like a dying wish come true. “Our customers say this was something they’d always wanted to do, before it was too late,” Ms Wakabayashi said. The service assumes that customers are beyond the age when their hands might wander. But stewardesses are particularly good at coping with that sort of problem. “I’m always having to handle passengers who get ideas,” said one flight attendant. “So it’s no big deal.”
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