I’d like to propose an idea that could significantly eliminate the “relationship-type scam” and “fake dinner-only women”*—the termites eating away at the foundations of dating clubs: “Women may not charge male members for transportation costs on the first date. From the second date onward, the amount may be decided through discussion with the man.” Meanwhile, the club would provide each woman with a flat ¥5,000 as a “date support payment” (of course, funded from the offer fee paid by the men). This could improve the current situation, where male members bear all the risk, and create a better balance among the three parties. What do you think?

Thank you for your question. I’m Kida, the site representative, and I’d like to answer as well. There have already been so many excellent answers that I don’t really have anything to add, but when the person someone wants to hear from is the representative, I can’t help but jump in. Actually, there was a time when I seriously considered trying the idea proposed by the questioner. A very long time ago, I pushed through a campaign called the “Considerate Dating Campaign,” which attracted absolutely no attention whatsoever. It was a modest initiative based on the idea: “Rather than both men and women insisting on getting their own way, why not meet each other halfway?” Women who agreed with this concept were marked as such on the members’ site, and transportation costs for dates with them were not mandatory. We managed to gather a fair number of women who supported the idea. However, there was hardly any increase in offers to those women. I think the reason was that many people simply thought, “Huh? What does that even mean?” Even the staff didn’t really understand it themselves, haha. That said, I find the questioner’s idea very insightful and perfectly reasonable. If transportation costs were eliminated, there would be no reason to commit type fraud. And you’re not saying that you don’t want to pay transportation costs, right? You’re saying that you don’t want to have your time wasted after being deceived from the very beginning—is that correct? This really is an issue that goes to the heart of this industry. For now, my opinion is: “I don’t think the minimum amount of 5,000 yen offers women enough incentive to commit fraud or misrepresent their type.” After all, the women people meet through Sugardaddy.jp don’t receive transportation costs, do they? Do they negotiate that in the messages exchanged before the date? I’ll have to try it sometime. Rather than applying it to every woman, wouldn’t it be interesting to have something like Type F: “No transportation costs required”? In any case, compared with members who say, “Do something about type fraud and give me my money back,” and staff who can only say, “Type fraud is unavoidable,” the questioner is a hero in my eyes. Thank you!

I’m Saito, a male member and columnist ♪ Dating-type scams, huh… I have met a woman who openly said, “I’m not interested in that at all, but I get offers if I change my dating type…” (I think that’s incredibly rude and a nuisance to both men and women who are genuinely looking for a relationship.) From the man’s perspective, after paying a decent offer fee and then being told that face-to-face, it’s understandable that some harsh words might slip out. Having your time and money wasted is truly frustrating. (I’m sure there are probably men who even demand that the club refund the offer fee.) That said, the club should keep track of women like that. If there’s no record of it, then it was simply a case of the woman not liking that particular male member. I often happen to see men trying to pick women up in restaurants and various other places, and gentlemen, you’re more unpleasant to watch than you might imagine… Not all of you, of course. I’m not an athlete, but sometimes I think it might be a good idea to record yourself trying to pick someone up and listen to it afterward. It’s not Ginza, but since this is supposedly about free romance, why not just accept it and move on? As the questioner said, wouldn’t it be simplest to treat it as an offer consisting of the transportation allowance plus one from the very beginning, and accept that it’s a transactional relationship? P.S. Dating-type scams… For some reason, I often get caught by women with squirrel-like eyes ♪ LOL

Maezawa here. Maybe my comprehension is poor, but I didn’t really understand what you meant. Even if the man doesn’t pay the first-date expenses, the woman still receives the date fee from the club, right? In that case, even if she leaves after dinner, she’s guaranteed to receive transportation money, so it seems like the only difference is whether it comes from the man or the club… Besides, women pay attention to all sorts of things about a man. They may even be watching to see whether he handles giving her transportation money smoothly and gracefully. If so, someone who gives it to her in a polished way may lose what would otherwise have been a positive impression. If there are other negative factors, the relationship might not develop any further. Also, even when the club provides the transportation money, some men give extra and say, “Keep this for yourself.” Even now, there are men who give women twice or even three times the amount set by the club, despite only having dinner together. I don’t know whether that’s good or bad, but if you meet a woman you genuinely like, maybe it’s natural to want to do that much for her. And giving her extra on the first day might help things go more smoothly from the second meeting onward, so some people may do it as a strategy. That said, if you come up with any other good ideas, I’d be happy to hear them. Although, since this is a Q&A forum, maybe it would be better to send them to the staff by email or LINE…