It’s pretty average overall (lol).
Lunch: 10,000–20,000 yen
Regular dinner: 20,000–40,000 yen
Dinner for special occasions: 40,000–50,000 yen
Hotel: 10,000–40,000 yen
My dates are either dinner only or dinner plus a hotel, so my budget per date is generally a combination of the amounts above.
I don’t have a particularly strict budget for each date. I don’t have a set monthly dating budget either, but since I also have a lot of business-related social engagements, the number of dates doesn’t fluctuate much, and my monthly spending stays fairly consistent.
My budget is actually lower than the date budget cited in the report published by the marketing department.
When it comes to meals, expensive doesn’t necessarily mean delicious, so I try to discover tasty places I could also visit regularly on my own.
Usually, it’s around ¥10,000 for the two of us.
But when it comes to food, it really depends on the woman. Some would rather go to McDonald’s than a high-end restaurant.
Lately, I’ve mostly been choosing JR-affiliated hotels or Mitsui Garden Hotels. I’ll also go to a love hotel if it’s clean and nice.
Since I’m meeting such a wonderful woman, I always try to prepare as though it’s a special occasion.
I don’t think things continue with women I can’t feel that way about.
You mean for the first meeting, right? I also joined Universe, and since dining is mandatory at first—and the club gently encourages the kind of approach you described—I used to choose fairly expensive restaurants. I’m talking dinners costing over ¥30,000.
But I gradually realized it wasn’t really meaningful, so now I choose restaurants that are relatively affordable, casual, have a nice atmosphere, and serve food so delicious that the woman might blurt out “Yummm!” while she still has food in her mouth. The bill is under ¥20,000 for two. For the hotel, I use a love hotel, which costs only a few thousand yen. I avoid regular hotels because you can hear the noise through the walls.
Once we get closer, we sometimes go to casual places too—Torikizoku, for example, where two people can eat for around ¥4,000. We finish eating in an hour and then spend more than another hour chatting, so it’s really more of a fee for the space than a meal. On the other hand, at love hotels, extensions can add up to over ¥10,000.
I don’t set a monthly budget, but I do set an annual overall guideline based on a percentage of my cash-flow disposable income—that is, the amount left after expenses are deducted from what I earn myself, excluding investment returns. The next thing I budget for is new-partner exploration. This includes the introduction fee and however many dates it takes to get a general sense of things, starting from the first meeting, such as whether she’s Type B. I allocate a fairly large portion of the overall budget to exploring until I find someone I really like. Once I find a good match, though, I tend to narrow things down and become pretty devoted, so once things settle, I’m usually operating at around half of the total budget.
I’m sure I’m in a different segment from the person you’re seeing, but since you asked for a reference point, I thought I’d share. I hope this is also helpful to the men who are regular club members.
Taro
