A man whose teenage son ran up a $54,000 credit card bill in a champagne-fuelled tour of Japanese girlie bars does not have to pay most of it back, a court has ruled.

The 16-year-old and his friend took his father's platinum American Express card around luxury nightspots in the ancient capital of Kyoto, quaffing whisky and sparkling wine at up to 380,000 yen ($3,700) per bottle, Japanese media said.

The youngster, who was not identified because of his age, was ushered into swanky clubs where patrons are expected to pay for time spent with attractive women, whose job it is to laugh demurely at their host's wit.

There is no suggestion he paid for sex.

Kyoto District Court ruled last week that bar owners and the credit card company bore the lion's share of responsibility for the misuse of the card in 2010, media reported.

The court ordered that the boy's father pay 800,000 yen out of the 5.5 million yen bill his son had racked up.

Originally published as Teen doesn't have to pay back $54K