Lately, the number of female members has been steadily declining. Is this club just going to keep going downhill?

Sales are up year over year again this year, right? That’s certainly something to be grateful for. Many female members originally hope to leave once they find a good man. They join thinking they’ll be able to enjoy nice meals as well as an adult relationship (intimate). But if they end up meeting a man who offers the same allowance as men on apps or dating sites, takes them straight to a hotel, and offers nothing different, they quickly leave. (If the men are at the same level, they’ll probably decide that apps or dating sites are the better option.) That’s why many women have been leaving every month for years. If new memberships outnumber withdrawals, the total number of members increases; if withdrawals outnumber new memberships, it decreases. Recently, the number of women seeking Dating Type A had grown disproportionately, so we took steps to reduce the number of Type A women. As a result, new memberships have temporarily declined in the short term. But I believe the number of Type B and C women is probably about the same as before. (I haven’t checked the figures carefully, though.) We had already anticipated that reducing Type A women would lead to fewer new memberships, and we’ve recently started taking other measures as well. So I expect the number of Type B and C women to increase going forward, eventually bringing the total membership back to its previous level. Of course, I don’t know what things will look like two or three years from now. But if reducing A and increasing B and C doesn’t work, and membership numbers actually decline, then that’s when I think it would be fair to call it a downward spiral. I honestly don’t understand the idea that things are already in a downward spiral when sales are currently strong. Naturally, people who think it would be fine as long as the total membership remains high, even if there are many Type A women, may feel uneasy about the future. But Type A women receive very few offers, so I don’t think it has much impact on men who are actually looking for women they want to make offers to. Come to think of it, recently there was a Type A woman who received offers from three men shortly after registering. I wondered why, and then noticed that her profile said: “No previous experience with men.” That made me realize there are men who want to pursue a woman with no experience with men, even if she’s Type A. In that sense, the men who made offers to her may wish there were more Type A women. But I feel it’s probably more a matter of them being okay with Type A only when the woman has no previous experience with men.

You can also search for membership numbers when searching for women. If you look up milestone numbers—for example, how long it took to reach 1,000 registered female members—you can probably tell whether the number of female members is increasing or decreasing. papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan) itself is one personal solution women use to deal with issues in Japanese society, so I don’t think it will disappear unless Japanese society undergoes a major transformation. As a means of doing so, though, its popularity will come and go. Clubs can simply stop operating if the costs no longer justify the benefits.

If you can’t even clearly see what tomorrow holds for your own company, worrying about someone else’s company won’t do you any good. I get the feeling the person asking this question is the type to lose money on stocks.

Where is the data showing that the number of registered users is declining? I think the clubs anticipated being overtaken by web-based services, so they created Batoro as a countermeasure. They also opened lounges for meeting people in person to compete with the izakaya matchmaking boom. Even if things are gradually shrinking, as long as papa-katsu can continue steadily—much like Japan’s current economy—I don’t think it necessarily has to keep growing year after year. The population is going to keep declining, so the overall trend will basically be gradual contraction. The key seems to be whether they can remain profitable and continue operating under those conditions...