What did Saki do for the money?

I think Saki was too young to have sex with a business man. There is a big business of hostess clubs where people are paid money to basically to simply have someone dine with them or help the "party going."

But it is a pretty shameless business. It is easy for girls to end up having sex after the dinner, or people end up falling in love with hostesses, and are known to spend all their money on the hostess.

And besides that, being a hostess is very lowly regarded by females. If a wife found out that her husband was going to a club, it would be equivalent to finding out your husband was at strip club.

Bounce Ko Gals shows a decent depiction of hostessing with teenage girls. Smart girls won't have sex with guys, but some girls will go for the extra money. The Great Happiness Space is a documentary showing the disturbing business of male hostessing. It clearly shows that prostitution of a real business in Japan.

Anyways, point is, she probably didn't have sex with him. But what she did is considered really bad in Japan. Probably the closest example in the US would be if a girl went to take photos with that creepy guy in the mall. If a guy took a photo of a child topless, it might not scar the child because they don't know what is fully going on or what the intentions are. But we all know when people find out what is going on, hell breaks loose by the parents.

no, she just sang karaoke. the post above by MIYABI is correct. the word "karaoke" (in japanese) is clearly seen on the two windows in the background when she leaves.

Her school "mates" set up her innocent gym-shoes and referred to their owner as being in heaven.

A lot of the symbology used in the film is very subtle. There is a very disciplined use of certain details to show the passing of time and so on, but Saki's entrance in the film is a little peculiar.

She was seen throwing something into the water at night or late. (They made a splash and were all about the same size – could they be music CD's?). She runs away from Akira when she notices she is discovered and is later seen at the school after being obviously bullied by her classmates.

She seems lonely, and is either the subject of bullying because of this, or that her "friends" have discovered how she makes money. There seems to be an agonizing tabu surrounding the fact of being a child to a single parent. Whatever it is it sure isn't healthy...

Saki makes money on the side by singing with old men at Karaoke clubs. She is seen with her telephone as a man approaches her as he is holding his. She has done this before. There is no body contact, he is holding his work-briefcase. They later come out of the Karaoke bar and we see that Akira is waiting the whole time outside. (Poor Akira! It must have been great for him to wait for sombody that will actually turn up...) Akira's horrified reaction has a direct connection to his subconcious hatred of his mother, and the nasty way she has treated him and his siblings. Saki's method of earning, using herself as bait (even if it is sexual in nature) is enough to send Akira running, running away from his painful feelings.

Nobody's perfect!