Hinako recently discovered that her mother, Minako, whom was long thought to be dead is acutally alive and working in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. Unable to afford the cost it would take to travel to Tokyo, Hinako asks her classmates to help her reunite with her mother, and they generously donate money to her cause. The most charitable student is Obi, who offers Hinako the largest amount of all the students and asks if she would need someone to help her around Tokyo. Hinako kindly refuses his offer, and heads off, not realizing that Obi is following.
Obi sees Hinako on the arm of Mr. Hamamatsu and believes that she lied so she could go visit her "boyfriend" in Tokyo. After confronting them Hinako explains that Mr. Hamamatsu is a private detective she hired to help her find her mother. Late that night, Obi tells Mr. Hamamatsu how he feels Hinako always felt the void of not growing up with her real parents and how important finding Minako is to her.
The Shinjuku district of Tokyo is notorious for it's "Love Hotels" a place where couples can go to have sex. Minako is believed to be working at one such hotel, The Dream Party. After much searching, "Minako" is finally found, and winds up not being Hinako's mother, but a friend of her parents who has taken to cross-dressing and working there. Hinako is crushed by this realization, but in the end comes to realize how important the family she has are.
Published In:
Big Comic Spirits 1984 August
1 or W
Publication Date: August 1, 1984
Pages: 4 (full color) 20 (black and white)
Anime Adaptation: None
Notes:
Shinjuku – In addition to having a bustling club scene in the red light district of Kabukicho and many bars and clubs in Golden Gai, Shinjuku Ni-chome is Tokyo’s best-known gay district and is likely where the climax of our story takes place. In addition to its nightlife Shinjuku also houses the headquarters of many major corporations like Square Enix, McDonald’s Japan, Nissin Foods, and Subaru Corporation.
Hostess - In Japan, two types of bars are hostess clubs: kyabakura (キャバクラ), a portmanteau of kyabarē (キャバレー, lit. "cabaret"); and kurabu (クラブ, lit. "club"). Kyabakura hostesses are known as kyabajō (キャバ嬢) (cabaret girl), and many use professional names, called "genji name" (源氏名, genji-na). They light cigarettes, provide beverages for men, offer flirtatious conversation, and sing karaoke to entertain customers. They can be seen as the modern counterpart of geishas, providing entertainment to groups of salarymen after work. The clubs also often employ a female bartender usually well-trained in mixology, and who may also be the manager or mamasan. Hostess clubs are distinguished from strip clubs in that there is no dancing, prostitution or nudity.
Hostesses often drink with customers each night, and alcohol problems are fairly common. These problems are derived from mass consumption of alcohol by which many consequences may arise. Most bars use a commission system by which hostesses receive a percentage of sales. For example, a patron purchases a $20 drink for the hostess, these are usually non-alcoholic concoctions like orange juice and ginger ale, and the patron has purchased the hostess's attention for the subsequent 30–45 minutes. The hostess then splits the proceeds of the sale with the bar 50/50. The light or no alcohol content of the drinks maximizes profits and ensures that the hostess does not become intoxicated after only a short time at work.
A love hotel is a type of short-stay hotel found around the world operated primarily for the purpose of allowing guests privacy for sexual activities. Although love hotels exist all over the world, the term "love hotel" is often used to refer specifically to those located within Japan.
In an interview with Kazumasa Hirai in 1985, Takahashi revealed one of the short stories she did in 1984 was her least favorite work she ever produced. While she did not reveal the name of the work, the choices are A Mermaid Never Smiles, Face Pack, and Happy Talk. While the others were quickly collected in tankobon, Happy Talk was published in 1984 but not released in a collected format until 1 or W was released in 1995, eleven years later. Its reasonable to assume this is the story she mentioned to Hirai.
