Mama-san

A "mama-san", or "mamasan" is usually a woman in a position of authority, especially one in charge of a geisha house or bar or nightclub in Japan and East Asia.

The term is also used to refer to a woman who works in a supervisory role in certain establishments in Southeast Asia, typically those related to drinking places. Papa-san may be used to refer to a man in a similar position.

The term is a combination of the English word "Mama" and the Japanese suffix -san which is a polite honorific attached to a person's name or title, coined by U.S. soldiers in Japan after World War II. This probably has had some influence in its spread to other Southeast Asian countries.

The term mama-san in Japanese is emphatically not a polite reference to a mother, and should never be used as such. Most Japanese children today call their mother mama, but the term does not persist into adulthood. The proper term to refer to one's mother, in Japanese, would be okaa-san.

Also, it would be considered extremely rude to refer to the lady in charge of a respectable restaurant or inn as mama-san. The proper title for such a person is okami or okami-san.