This is Seattle, one of the respondents.

This is completely unrelated, but regarding the “700 new graduates who applied to a dating club management company,” those 700 were “people who registered their interest,” not “applicants,” so I’m not sure it’s quite as astonishing a number as it sounds. Sorry. If you pay to place an ad on sites like Rikunabi or Mynavi, it’s relatively easy to increase the number of registrations. Rikunabi in particular used to encourage people to do a “bulk pre-registration” for categories such as Tokyo, small and midsize companies, and food service. (That was the case when I was job hunting, so things may be different now.) So I sometimes wonder whether there’s any point in competing over the number of people who simply registered “for now” without ever submitting a formal application. That said, 700 may still be a large number for a dating club.

I don’t plan to read the book for now, since I can’t bring it into my home. But just looking at the headline— 700 applications from new graduates. That’s incredible. And the fact that it’s in this industry makes that figure absolutely astounding. Providing opportunities for men and women to meet must be incredibly fascinating. Perhaps, in this world, there’s nothing else—no product or service—that can make grown adults (hmm, middle-aged men? Old men?) feel this excited. Or is that just men? Moving people’s hearts and stirring their emotions is appealing, rewarding, tremendously interesting, and fun. It must be a fulfilling job that really challenges you intellectually. Connecting men and women, with no tangible product or direct service, while a third party outside the company determines the customer’s satisfaction—this is a very strange, slightly mysterious world. That’s what makes it so fascinating and keeps your mind constantly engaged. It’s a world everyone—or at least men, anyway—instinctively and genuinely longs to try and be involved in. And when it comes to dating clubs, it’s even more so, since it’s not something people can easily talk about openly. Then, from a woman’s perspective, hardly any woman would think, “I want to date a man badly enough to pay him.” So how foolish are men? And women—how beautiful they are, with their almost magical allure. It’s a world where, despite money being involved, you try to grasp something money alone cannot buy. Can men make women’s hearts race, just as women make men’s hearts race? Perhaps women, men, and the staff can all savor that thrill endlessly—forever…

After reading your email, I was thinking of purchasing it, but it seems to be available only in print, with no e-book version in sight (crying). I’m considering giving in and buying the print edition, but I feel that an e-book would be easier for people with families to purchase discreetly. I’d really appreciate it if you could consider offering one! (Sorry, staff, I know this is just my unsolicited opinion…)

I haven’t read it yet, but since you mentioned the early days… Right after joining, I spent a lot of time thinking about what kind of relationship I wanted, so I read through this Q&A box and the columns from top to bottom. At the time, there were posts about Universe’s early days, such as the founders sharing an office, snippets of their discussions, column articles, and answers in the Q&A box. They made me think, “That makes sense,” and I learned a lot from them in my own way. One of Universe’s strengths is that, as you can see from this anonymous Q&A box, it opened up the world of dating clubs. Whether that’s good or bad, I think they also helped make dating clubs more casual by popularizing the term “papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan)” for the activity of looking for a papa. Just as a small example of that casual atmosphere: The woman I’m seeing says that dating through a dating club isn’t bad at all. 〇Besides the money, meeting someone like me—an older man she normally would never have come into contact with—has taught her a lot, and she feels it has broadened her as a person. 〇Even after starting a job, she can understand her supervisor’s way of thinking and the meaning behind the guidance she receives. 〇She can interact with supervisors and older people without feeling intimidated. That’s what she says（笑） Sorry this wasn’t directly related to the question.

Maybe I’ll quietly go to the talk event♡ > You wrote that this Q&A box gets three times as many views as the main site. The Google Core Algorithm Update started this morning, so the Universe web analytics team will probably be swamped for the next couple of weeks, tracking traffic fluctuations by keyword and gathering information. I’m hoping the traffic doesn’t drop.

President Kida, congratulations on the publication of your book! I’ve ordered a copy, and it’s supposed to arrive tomorrow, so I’m really looking forward to it! I was planning to attend the talk event in Osaka, but a few things came up, so I’d like to watch the live stream in real time on TwitCasting. I’ll add my thoughts tomorrow after work, once I’ve had a chance to read it!