I live in Shizuoka. I used an exclusive dating club when I lived in Tokyo, but there doesn’t seem to be anything similar in Shizuoka. We’re located between Yokohama and Nagoya, but both are somewhat inconveniently far away. Shizuoka City and Hamamatsu City, the prefecture’s two designated cities, have a combined population of over 1.4 million. There are also many wealthy people here. I believe there would be plenty of potential from a business standpoint, so why isn’t Shizuoka included in your nationwide expansion plans?

Maezawa from the Corporate Planning Office here as well. > In that case, which branch handles the area? Men can register with whichever branch they prefer, regardless of where they live. (That said, they have to attend an initial interview, so it will probably be a branch near where they live.) For women, the branch is generally determined by their place of residence. (If a woman strongly prefers another branch, she may be able to register there instead.) For Shizuoka, the Yokohama branch is responsible. > Shizuoka has a population of over 1.4 million if you combine its two government-designated cities, Shizuoka and Hamamatsu. I thought, “Wait, wasn’t there supposed to be a branch in million-plus cities?” Then I realized you meant Shizuoka City and Hamamatsu City combined. > So, at present, isn’t Shizuoka included in your nationwide expansion? There are no plans for it at the moment. Basically, I think branches are opened only in cities with populations of one million or more. The exception is the Okinawa branch. Okinawa (Naha City) isn’t a million-plus city, but when expanding from north to south, it would be strange not to have a branch in Okinawa… So I assume that’s why it was established. And since it isn’t a million-plus city, I imagine the staff there have a hard time. Come to think of it, Kawasaki City—one of the million-plus cities—doesn’t have a branch, while Chiba City, which isn’t a million-plus city, does. Chiba is getting close to one million, but considering the declining birthrate, perhaps it will never actually exceed one million.