I’m a little shocked that she immediately replied to the scout, “Yes, absolutely. I look forward to working with you.” Is it really “absolutely”?

Thank you for your question. Kida, our representative, will answer as well. I was a little shocked to see Hara immediately reply to the scout, “Absolutely, I look forward to working with you.” Absolutely? Really? I interpret the true meaning of your question as: “Scouting is illegal, isn’t it? Writing ‘absolutely’ in a public Q&A box where everyone can see it—is something wrong with her?” With that understanding, let me answer. First of all, Hara does have a devious side, so I suspect she’s trying to win people over by playing this somewhat scatterbrained character. I also make sure to keep an eye on her. To be clear, our company does not do business whatsoever with scouts who engage in street scouting. Even scatterbrained Hara knows that this is a matter of life and death for us, so we handle it properly. That said, we do our best to build good partnerships with online scouts and scouts who receive referrals from friends. For example, our company works with people known as affiliates—essentially online advertising hunters. The performance-based commissions we pay them can exceed four million yen a month. The days of approaching women on the street with, “Hey, miss, are you making good money?” are over. Personally, I think many street scouts see themselves as allies of women. But most of them probably don’t pay taxes, so I believe they’re still in the wrong. In any case, I’d like to tell Hara that anyone who posts anonymously, “Are you looking for scouts?” is either completely out of their mind—or not really a scout at all—and it’s best not to get involved with them.

Staff member Hara here. This is just my personal opinion, but in response to another question, our representative, Kida, previously mentioned that women introduced by scouts can sometimes have a rather laid-back, easygoing vibe—and it’s true that there are many women like that. That said, there are also plenty of women among them who are very popular as mistresses. Rather than focusing on whether a woman applies directly, is introduced by a scout, or comes to register through some other route, we hope you’ll see it as a positive whenever a wonderful woman for our male members registers with the club. That said, scouts are also subject to club rules, just as male and female members are. The basic requirement is that they be able to make introductions in accordance with those rules, and our club staff take the time to discuss this with them carefully to make sure they understand.