This is columnist R☆A.

Maezawa from the Corporate Planning Office here as well. At the time, our response to your inquiry was: “We will be closed through May 20, and during this period we have also temporarily suspended the acceptance of columns. At present, we are only handling the minimum necessary arrangements. I had assumed that our column writers had already been notified, but it appears your notification was overlooked. We sincerely apologize. Accordingly, we will review the column after May 21 and publish it afterward. Depending on the content, it may possibly be published next month. Also, if the closure is extended—which we are currently considering not doing—the period during which we are unable to accept columns will be extended as well. We apologize for the inconvenience despite the time you took to write the column. Please wait for our contact after May 21. In addition, the person in charge of columns is scheduled to be replaced by someone else. We believe the new person in charge will contact you regarding this as well, but if you do not hear from anyone after the 21st, could you please contact us again?” That was the message we sent. > However, saying, “The person in charge has left, so we no longer have your manuscript. Please send it again”—what kind of response is that? > > Even if someone leaves the company, ensuring a proper handover and transferring responsibility for materials received from members and column writers is a basic responsibility at any company. > > Also, even if the email address was a personal one, if the person belonged to the club, I believe it should still have been possible to search for it. I also question whether they made any effort to do so. What? Your manuscript had been lost? I’m shocked that something like that could happen. This goes far beyond simply asking whether it was appropriate—it’s absolutely outrageous. I want to demand an explanation from the person responsible for the department and find out what on earth happened. The proper response would have been to bring a gift of apology to R☆A’s home, or to whatever location you preferred, and apologize in person. To simply say, “Please send it again,” is completely unacceptable on a basic human level. Anyone can make a mistake. But when you make one, apologizing properly is only natural. I believe it’s precisely when someone makes a mistake that their true character is revealed. I would hope they did more than simply apologize by email, but personally, I find that response completely inadequate. I’ll ask what happened regarding how this matter was handled. I’m sorry that, despite your original inquiry, I failed to follow up with you afterward.

I’m columnist R☆A. Thank you, everyone! I’m truly grateful that you took the time to respond even to my rather rant-like question. I’ll wait patiently and calmly, taking things at my own pace. Megumi, Thank you. I’m just an unremarkable middle-aged woman. I look forward to your continued support. Mac, Thank you. Yes, I suppose I’m a bit complicated—or maybe just an attention-seeking woman. Please invite me again sometime (I’m not asking you to make me an offer, haha. I’m currently taking a break from the site).

I’m Kamihikōki, a male member. The column is probably just an extra feature. Leaving aside the first draft, by late April the club had stopped accepting submissions, so sending in an article while they were desperately dealing with COVID would have been against the rules. It’s understandable that the article disappeared… And since having to deal with it now would probably be a nuisance for the club as well, let’s quietly keep watching over them with a sympathetic eye until around August and wait without doing anything until then. You can send the article after that. As Flag Maker mentioned, there was already a queue even before COVID, and depending on the content, submissions could be skipped or put off until later. So rather than rushing, I think it would be better to handle things calmly and in a way the club will appreciate… If you can’t do that, the club probably wouldn’t want you to become someone who writes columns for people who constantly complain—although “column writer” sounds far too grand, so I can’t bring myself to call it that. Perhaps you should withdraw? Judging from the content of your question and your actions, I don’t get the impression that you’re particularly popular with women, so based on that alone, I’m not interested… Sorry m(_ _)m P.S. Megumi, Thank you. Oh, I see. m(_ _)m I think I may have read that column before… Unlike men, women are better off being a little sly, so since this is a column for women, I’ll leave matters concerning women to the women. P.P.S. R☆A, I’m sorry for mistaking you for a man and writing all that… m(_ _)m I hope you’ll forgive me for wanting to convey how the club probably feels—though if I got it wrong, that was another case of me getting ahead of myself… Women are at their best when they charge in like machine guns… One of my long-term girlfriends is in her forties, and I’m constantly subjected to rapid-fire lectures from her about all the little details, delivered like a barrage of bullets… A woman’s perspective is truly invaluable.

I’m Basil, a male member. If you think of it as a legitimate company, you might wonder what kind of operational management system they have. But if you see it as simply a dating club, it’s not too bad, is it? They handle the arrangements properly, and I’ve never had any particularly unpleasant experiences. In times like these, people should be more selective about the businesses and services they use. I’m sure it has some promotional value, but for the club, it’s probably little more than one of the services they offer their members. Sorry for butting in when I’ve never even written a column.

I’m Flagmaker, a columnist. We earn points for posting columns, so wouldn’t you be afraid that complaining to the club might make them question the “quality of your columns”? lol I’m scared of being judged on my “column quality,” so I’m extremely careful with the person in charge too lol All we can do is write columns that make the person in charge think, “I want to post this one quickly.” Let’s all be patient and wait quietly, lol. I’m really looking forward to reading the column.