I recently went for an interview with Universe, but when I said during the interview that I wasn’t willing to have an intimate relationship, I was told that men wouldn’t request to meet me under those conditions. Doesn’t that make it an agency facilitating prostitution? The same goes for their relationship types—depending on the type, doesn’t it amount to facilitating prostitution? Am I wrong?

Kida, the representative of Universe Group, will answer. Could it be that I was the one who said that? “I’m dying laughing that an delusional, unattractive woman like you—who hasn’t put in any effort—would ask for an allowance for dinner only. Keep the jokes limited to your face. If you were at least extremely submissive, had a sexy vibe, or were proactive about dating, I’d try to give you some kind of angle and introduce you. But if you’re not interested, don’t come to a dating club with that joke of a face. Use heavily edited photos and try your luck on an app instead.” I thought I’d only said it in my head, but could you actually hear me muttering it? I’m truly sorry… Instead of making lame jokes about prostitution referrals, work hard on Pairs and keep sending messages like, “2 without an adult relationship (intimate).”

I’m Saito, a dating-club columnist ♪ A woman complained, saying, “I think dating clubs are just brokering prostitution.” Hearing your comment, I found myself thinking, “So this is the kind of era we live in now…” I suppose you thought it was a special place where there’s no adult relationship (intimate), yet papas happily pay you lots of money. I don’t feel like women like that even existed in the past. Back then, things were more of a very dark gray area. Times really do change. I belonged to five dating clubs, but— “Universe Club is the only dating club where more than half of the registered women want a first meeting that’s dinner only (no intimacy).” This is the club that made things more mainstream and casual. “You can get a lot of money just for having tea with a papa.” I think many women came to their interviews after being tricked—or at least misled—by friends or scouts with that story. I think the interviewer’s true feelings just slipped out. P.S. I’m not saying in this answer that dating clubs broker prostitution. I’m saying that’s what it felt like. Soaplands are kind of like prostitution too, aren’t they? Tobita Shinchi is kind of like prostitution too, isn’t it? It’s a difficult distinction to interpret.

I’m Joe, a columnist. Legally speaking, Mr. Maezawa is probably right, but although the questioner is looking at this from a man’s perspective, I believe I understand what they’re trying to say. I don’t know the specifics, but state power is ultimately an instrument of force, and when it decides to act, it will. In general, that force is brought to bear in cases such as tax evasion. The people involved have probably taken sufficient precautions in that regard. So unless a new law is enacted or the legal interpretation changes, it seems highly unlikely that anything the staff say or do would become an issue. Now, to the main point. You seem to be Type A, but I imagine there are still quite a few male members who would make you an offer knowing that. So one option may be to register anyway, regardless of what the staff tell you. That said, as the staff have explained, the hurdles will be much higher for you than for people in other relationship categories. With that in mind, please consider what you can offer the men who approach you. At the same time, it’s also important to clearly define what you want. I hope you meet someone wonderful.

I’ll answer as Aizawa as well. That’s a terrible staff member… Although, you’re not talking about yourself, are you?? As Maezawa also mentioned, we never force anyone into an intimate relationship. We have plenty of members who receive offers for dinner only (no intimacy). If that was intended as advice, the first thing to understand is that the setting fee paid by the man doesn’t change even for dinner-only arrangements. That’s because we don’t assume intimacy from the outset, and believe that chemistry is important regardless of the type of relationship. The question is whether you personally offer enough value for someone to pay a setting fee of ¥20,000–¥100,000 just for dinner. Unless you think about what your strengths are and make them your selling points, simply saying, “I’m cheerful,” “I like talking,” or “I’m soothing” won’t help you beat the competition, because there are so many others like that. If everything else is about the same, he might be drawn to someone with the potential for the relationship to develop… Perhaps that was what the staff member was trying to say. That said, every man has different criteria when making offers. Some hardly ever make offers to anyone other than Type A, so perhaps the staff member was simply very poor at explaining it—or had misunderstood the situation. Besides, just waiting for offers is old-fashioned! There are also events that anyone can join regardless of relationship type, so I think this is an era where you need to go out and meet people yourself! > Depending on the type, isn’t this arranging prostitution? I don’t think so. If they set a price and said, “Go to a hotel for this amount!” then I would consider that arranging prostitution. But here, both parties first confirm their chemistry, both have the right to decline, and we don’t get involved in the allowance, so I don’t believe it qualifies as arranging prostitution. It might be different if we received an additional cut when they went to a hotel, but whether they did or didn’t, we don’t receive any money. In fact, we don’t even know whether they went. Of course, falsely declaring your relationship type will only hurt you in the end, so please don’t do that…

Maezawa here. > I was told that if I chose that option, men wouldn’t send me requests. Oh dear. As far as I know, company policy says staff aren’t supposed to say things like that, because it could lead women to change their dating type against their wishes. But with more new staff joining, it seems the policy isn’t being applied consistently. Universe does have Dating Type A specifically for women who only want dinner, so you can register even if you’re only interested in dinner dates. In other words, it’s entirely up to the woman what kind of relationship she wants. That said, there are certain types of women who are more popular in reality, so perhaps they meant it as advice. Still, since you felt the need to ask about it here, I suppose the nuance didn’t come across properly. > Depending on the type, I think it amounts to facilitating prostitution. Am I wrong? Only a court can make that determination. The police may arrest someone if they suspect that’s what’s happening, but they’re only determining whether there’s reasonable suspicion. The final decision can only be made by a court. So, speaking solely from our perspective: Universe simply arranges meetings, up to and including dinner, in accordance with the law. Even if a woman’s preferred dating type is listed in her profile, that reflects her wishes, and we do not become involved in any relationship that follows. I’ve heard that some registered dating clubs even tell clients how much money it would take to enter into an adult relationship. Compared with that, Universe’s policy of not becoming involved in any consensual relationship after dinner seems quite healthy. To begin with, Universe does not provide sexual services. There are many delivery-based and other sexual services out there, and even those services aren’t necessarily considered facilitation of prostitution. Given that reality, I’m not sure why you came to view this as facilitating prostitution. I think it would be better to take a broader look at the world around you.