'Blind Date Cafe' Gaining Massive Popularity in Vietnam
Men Choose Matches by Viewing Women's Photos
Customers Mostly Men from Korea, China, and Japan
Men Pay Fees, Women Use Free System
A 'blind date cafe' that has become wildly popular in Vietnam has been embroiled in controversy over its sexual content. The cafe operates by having men from countries such as Korea, China, and Japan choose local women through a 'secret mirror' that only shows specific parts of the women's bodies, leading to criticism that it is a disguised prostitution brokerage.
The scene of a 'blind date cafe' that has recently become wildly popular in Vietnam. Please note that the explicit parts have been pixelated. [Photo by TikTok]
On the 4th (local time), Vietnamese local media reported that critical posts about the blind date cafe, which has been trending on social networking services (SNS), have been continuously posted. The cafe, which began operating in Ho Chi Minh City last month, separated male and female rooms with special glass. From the men's side, they could see specific parts of the women's bodies through the glass, but from the women's side, they could only see their own reflection in the mirror.
Photos released by the cafe for promotional purposes show a man sitting in a men's room without any lights. The man is looking toward the women's room on the opposite side, where a woman wearing a short miniskirt is seated. Due to the special mirror installed between them, the man can observe the woman's face or body parts, but the woman cannot see the man.
When women in the women's room are spending personal time, a man watching from the opposite side 'selects' the woman he likes. The designated woman checks the information such as the man's pre-written name, age, nationality, and occupation, and if she accepts the meeting, about five minutes of conversation time is given. After the conversation, both parties decide whether to continue meeting.
Men pay 180,000 dong per hour (about 9,800 KRW) to meet women. The cafe also sells fixed-price tickets: ▲3 hours for 300,000 dong (16,000 KRW) ▲1-day pass for 500,000 dong (27,000 KRW) ▲3-day pass for 1,000,000 dong (54,000 KRW). Women, on the other hand, enter for free. To attract female customers, the cafe offers free drinks and promotes itself with the slogan 'an opportunity to communicate with foreigners.'
A man and a woman matched at a matchmaking cafe in Ho Chi Minh are having a conversation. Photo by TikTok
The media reported, "Most male customers are Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, and the women are young Vietnamese." Vietnam's state broadcaster VTC pointed out, "The women's seats are designed higher than the men's, so if they wear short skirts or shorts, there is a risk of being secretly filmed by men sitting opposite."
The cafe owner, Lina, said, "I opened the cafe to actively give men the right to find a partner," adding, "We have faced backlash such as the cafe's SNS accounts disappearing due to recent negative public opinion. However, since no illegal activities have occurred inside the cafe, we have no intention of closing the blind date cafe." Regarding the double windows, she said, "I was unaware of this issue until the controversy arose," but added, "From now on, we will try to inform those entering the women's room that 'you cannot see the men's room from the women's room.'"
Nguyen Thi Quynh Trieu, People's Committee Chairwoman of Ben Thanh Ward, said, "We are aware that the business method of the newly opened 'couple matching' type cafe has become controversial," adding, "On the 2nd, we conducted a joint administrative crackdown with public security authorities on the cafe and found multiple violations such as fire prevention law, food hygiene law, and labor contract law violations. However, no violations were found regarding the issues pointed out by the media and SNS." She continued, "At present, there is not enough evidence to accept the claims that women's sexuality is being commodified and prostitution is being encouraged as true," and indicated there is no legal problem by stating, "The installation of one-way mirrors is entirely at the discretion of the business operator, and there is no legal basis to forcibly prohibit it."
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