I’m Takahashi, a member of the staff.
Once the letter date is complete, you’re welcome to contact and communicate with each other directly. If you’re both comfortable, you can then move on to arranging an appointment.
I hope this helps.
As a club, we ask members to follow the club’s rules up until the date is arranged. After that, the two of you are free to discuss things between yourselves and enjoy a relationship on your own terms.
Normally, the arrangement is considered complete once the two of you have met—technically, once the meal or whatever activity you agreed on has finished.
With a letter date, however, the arrangement is considered complete once you exchange contact information and your introductory message reaches the other person, even if you haven’t actually met yet.
In other words, after exchanging messages like, “Hello,” you’re free to say you don’t want to meet them, or send a message saying, “I’m afraid I won’t be able to meet you.”
That’s because it’s up to you.
So once you’ve completed the letter-date exchange, it becomes a private relationship, and you no longer need to worry about Universe’s involvement.
You’re free to turn someone down if you don’t feel comfortable, and you don’t have to meet them. Your rating won’t go down just because you decide not to meet.
If you think of the initial arrangement as the letter date, then it would be:
First date = letter date
Second date = meeting in person
So I’d say it falls under a private relationship.
That said, letter dates can be ambiguous in some ways, so men sometimes complain when they can’t meet the woman…
From the woman’s perspective, it’s not really a problem since she still receives transportation expenses, but…
I think the part in 【 】 might be what the questioner was trying to say:
【When a man decides on a date right away through a letter date, it feels like he’s using the letter-date system to save on the matchmaking fee. It makes me think he’s cheap and not financially comfortable, which is a bit of a turnoff.】
Sorry if I misunderstood…
Even if a man uses letter dating to reduce the matchmaking fee, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s stingy toward the woman.
The staff simply forward a man’s request to the woman, and if she agrees, email the man. Since the arrangement is finalized without even waiting for his reply, I think it’s very efficient.
The appeal of letter dating is that there’s no hassle of having someone act as an intermediary. Even an old guy like me can appreciate how convenient it is, so I’m sure it’ll be even more popular with the digital generation to come.
