I heard that Mac and Flagmaker, who both answer questions here, met up in Nagoya on December 27. What did you discuss afterward? I’m sure it would be helpful for papa-katsu losers like me—I’ve made offers to around 40 women and have only barely managed to keep one arrangement going.

It’s not really a matter of succeeding or failing at papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan). What matters is whether you’re satisfied or dissatisfied, and I’m satisfied with the way I do it. If you get hit in the solar plexus with a ball, you might as well enjoy the surprise rather than focus on the pain. We were talking about predictable outcomes, weren’t we? Success is basically a predictable outcome, so in a sense, it’s boring. It’s when things don’t go as expected that you get genuinely fresh stimulation, lol. P.S. If I approached 40 women and only one of them continued seeing me, I’d be truly grateful for that one person and treasure her. I’d think, “Because I was able to meet this one person, I’m a successful papa-katsu participant.”

You’ll probably find it more helpful to read all of Mac’s columns and mine. That’s because, on that particular day, I simply went bar-hopping with him and had fun. I didn’t have any particularly useful insights to share with the questioner. Also, in my view, Mac is successful at papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan), whereas I’m a failure. It’s just not for me.