Could someone explain the difference between papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan) and compensated dating?

I’m Hikouki, a male member. As Maezawa-san wrote, I think they’re similar but subtly different. In compensated dating, too, people may repeatedly go out for meals and then to a hotel with the same man dozens of times, so if you look only at what they do, the distinction may be almost impossible to tell. But the people involved are completely different. (When the people are different, the substance of the relationship is completely different too.) Several decades ago, I introduced multiple men to a girl who looked like Ryo and Hirosue because she wanted to do compensated dating. The men who pursued compensated dating were people who weren’t wealthy—truck drivers, teachers, and so on—or men who were stingy despite having decent incomes (men who couldn’t afford to play around with women). Longtime friends, wealthy men, and womanizers don’t even show an interest in compensated dating. They can obviously find partners on their own, and they have girlfriends, so they would never do compensated dating. Likewise, women who don’t do compensated dating will never do it, no matter how desperate they are for money. They simply refuse on principle. I think papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan) involving those kinds of men and women is something entirely different from compensated dating, and that the two will never truly overlap. (Though I can’t help feeling that some proportion of Type C participants may be mixed in…)

I’m だて◎ゆめ, a male member. I see compensated dating and papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan) as fundamentally different things. To me, compensated dating brings to mind one-off encounters with high school girls under 18.

Maezawa from the Corporate Planning Office here, answering as well. When people talk about papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan), TV programs these days often give the mistaken explanation that it means getting paid simply for having dinner with a man. So, assuming that explanation were actually correct: Papa-katsu and enjo kōsai (compensated dating) would be completely different. That said, I feel television networks may have deliberately defined them as different because it would be difficult to make a program about them if papa-katsu and enjo kōsai were considered the same thing. Universe Club, which was the first organization to popularize papa-katsu around the world, promoted it as the practice of finding a papa through a dating club or similar service. So, in the world of dating clubs, it’s taken for granted that a papa may also have an intimate relationship with you. In that sense, enjo kōsai and papa-katsu could be considered fairly similar, but the difference is that enjo kōsai generally assumes a one-time partner. You don’t necessarily have to be wealthy to support a woman just once. Also, since enjo kōsai is basically intended only for intimacy, you could say that the couple goes straight to a hotel and doesn’t go on dates involving meals or anything else. By that definition, papa-katsu involves a long-term relationship that includes meals and other dates, while enjo kōsai does not. They seem similar, but with some subtle differences.

I’m Saito, a column writer♪ I’ve never engaged in compensated dating, so I can’t say for sure, but wasn’t the term originally coined to describe high school girls exchanging sexual favors for money? It became widespread back then because there were no local ordinances regulating it, but it’s illegal now. As for the long-standing practice of “Ginza hostesses sleeping with male customers,” I don’t recall it ever being referred to as compensated dating. Apparently, that isn’t illegal. (Though opinions vary.)