It's been touched upon in the thread already, but Japan's crazy expectations don't limit themselves to jobs, success in life and all that. They're also applied to your free time. This is another completely alien concept for westerners, usually, but Japanese fun outings often involve checklists and psychotic structure and order. We will hit these specific bars, in this specific order, and we'll be done by 1:25 AM on the dot, which gives us exactly 14 minutes and thirty seconds to catch the last bus home. There's no room for spontaneity with these dudes. And they drink hard, too. Alcoholism is not even perceived as such. The same straight laced boring salaryman you met three hours ago cuts loose like a motherfucker and wilds out on karaoke all night, drunk outta his gourd, like there's no dichotomy to be had there. And the next day, he'll be at his office's door at 6 AM sharp, all cleaned up, and ready to work until he passes out, then hang out with his coworkers late into the night again.
These people have no time to themselves once they enter real adult life. It's all either job time, bonding with colleagues time, or highly structured family time on the weekends. Most jobs foster a sort of "family" atmosphere, where everyone's expected to be personally involved in the success of the company, partly out of professionalism and partly out of building a relationship between workers, management and top brass. Meeting people in this climate is rough, prostitution and adult entertainment aren't really frowned upon, and women in the workspace are treated with the kiddiest of kid gloves because men over there are just terrified of fourth wave feminism and sexual harassment lawsuits, but they make absolutely no attempt to act natural about it. Bosses will straight up tell their employess to never touch a female employee even in a friendly way, and to avoid her if it would result in one on one time, with 0 regards for comfort or mood over sticking to the rules.
Of course people would like to pay to hang out with a young, hot, dressed up and made up woman, because they're not gonna get a chance or an acceptable social situation to do so otherwise. It's not just for poor lonely fucks, though the industry certainly preys on them, it's the proposed solution to loneliness, or just what you do if you wanna have a good time. Just throw money at the problem; It's not like you get many chances to fix it otherwise. They don't have the same concept that it's pathetic to pay for that sort of thing. Wanna fuck a woman? Go to a soapland. Cheaper than dating. Lonely? Go to a hostess place, you'll get to talk to a pretty girl for a few hours. Most westerners don't "get" hostess clubs and that's reasonable, but most Japanese guys don't think there's anything wrong with them. Honestly, I think Japanese guys would think DSP paypigs are crazy when they could be blowing that money on hot 20 year old girls they could talk to and get shitfaced with instead. Seems like a straight upgrade.
You're basically paying money to get a date with a hot woman who will flirt with you but not fuck you. Hardly any more wasteful than giving 150 dahllers to a greasy polack to put on an autistic vest. The streamer industry in many ways is pretty much just the Western equivalent of Japanese host clubs. I get that Phil's so far below having any degree of professionalism that he just openly doesn't give a fuck about what his audience wants, but by god, if you're getting 150 dollars the very least you can do is tough out your vest and cowboy hat until the end of a stream. A host would.
Hosts and hostesses at least try to put forth the best possible service, they take good care of themselves to stay attractive and nice to look at for as long as possible, they actively keep up with current topics of discussion and practice their conversational skills to ensure that they don't hit a snag with their customers, and they try their hardest to keep you entertained and happy if you request them at their joint. Whether the whole thing is a scam and would require one to be absolutely crazy to pay for that sort of thing, since paying makes it pointless, is pretty much a moot point. On the other hand, Phil's a toxic asshole who will straight up "I dunno whatcher dhalkin' abauht..." questions he doesn't want to answer, has no favorite games, has no favorite songs, and all he can talk about is what microwave delicacies he's devoured lately. The dentheads are getting a raw deal bankrolling this clown. A host or hostess would come dressed to the nines and ready to talk videogames to death with them for the same amount of money. Because their job involves striving to be a dream date, even if it's for only half an hour. If you're already in a situation where paying someone to be nice to you for a while seems like a good choice, you can do a lot better than Phil.
