I’m a 53-year-old man (not currently a member). I’m tired of using apps for papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan), so I’m considering joining a club. Since I live in Saitama City and work in Chiyoda, I’m unsure whether I should contact the Tokyo branch (based in Ginza) or the Omiya branch to join.

Maezawa from the president’s office here—I’ll answer as well. The current Omiya branch manager is also excellent, and Ms. T from the Ginza branch is very capable too. That said, it seems that Mr. O—an excellent staff member who often appears in Saito’s columns—usually handles interviews with male members. Wait, everyone’s excellent, so there’s no clear answer. (笑) Since you work in Chiyoda Ward, you may want to go on dates after work, so I imagine Ginza would often be a convenient meeting place. In that case, it might make sense to have your interview in Ginza and register there. Because Tokyo has so many members, you might wonder whether the staff would have trouble remembering you. That could happen if you’re an ordinary member, but if you’re in the Black class, as long as your feedback from women is good, you may still receive messages recommending women even if you register in Tokyo. For Platinum or Gold members, if you don’t make an impression on the staff in Tokyo, there’s a chance you could blend into the crowd. However, there are also many staff members, so if something gives them a reason to remember you, you may start receiving recommendations. Basically, regardless of the branch, staff tend to recommend women to men in the higher classes more often. Also, women can see which branch you registered with, so even if you meet in Ginza, they may wonder if you’re a man registered with the Omiya branch. At regional branches, there aren’t as many male members, so one advantage is that the staff are more likely to remember you. However, you can change your registered branch later. So I’d suggest registering at whichever branch is easier for you to visit first. If you later feel that you should have registered at the other branch, you can simply switch branches. (There may be restrictions on changing branches during campaigns, but under normal circumstances, it’s easy to do.)

I’m a male member, “Paper Airplane.” At your age, I think this is an ideal time—arguably the best time—to join the club. I’d recommend choosing a branch that’s convenient to get to from your home or workplace. If you’re in or around Tokyo, I don’t think the location matters much. Also, more than simply asking for advice, relationships between men and women are something you’ll have to learn through experience: refining your eye, finding the right people, and drawing the ones you’re attracted to toward you.

I’m Kazu, a male member. If you’re planning to register as a Black member and have deep enough pockets that you wouldn’t mind making a substantial number of offers, I think registering in Tokyo would be best. Otherwise, your local branch may be the better choice. First of all, unless you’re a Black member, I wouldn’t expect too much in the way of recommendations from the staff. You’ll probably understand why if you read the section titled “About the Concierge Service” on the page below: https://universe-club.jp/men/join/ Most recommendations naturally come from women registered at your own branch. The staff keep the preferences of Black members and regular high-value male members in mind. When interviewing a woman, they may think, “Mr. ○○ would probably like her,” and recommend her to him. Through the concierge service, they may also remember women they’ve interviewed and suggest them to you. So if you’re hoping to make use of recommendations or the concierge service, Tokyo might be the better option. That said, it seems Tokyo has several branches, so I’m not sure how that works in practice. Also, Tokyo probably has a lot of Black members and regular high-value customers, so you’d likely need to make quite a few offers for the staff to remember you among all of them. The staff’s recommendations are fairly good, but they can’t perfectly understand or share every member’s preferences. It’s extremely difficult to put the type of woman you’re looking for into words and explain it to someone else. Your preferences may also change as you gain experience, and there’s only so much the staff can learn about a woman during her interview. I try to make an offer to at least one out of every two women recommended to me. Even among the women I meet that way, though, only about one in two or three turns out to be someone I’m genuinely glad to have met. I try to make offers to one out of every two recommended women because the staff are doing their jobs too, and I imagine they’d get discouraged if their recommendations never led anywhere.

I’m Flaren, a male member! It sounds like you were in a situation similar to mine, unsure between three branches. In the end, I chose based on which one was easiest for me to get to for the interview… When I first joined, the staff at the woman’s branch handled the arrangements. These days, the staff at the man’s branch takes care of them, but I haven’t noticed any difference in the results before and after the system changed. By “results,” I mean whether I was able to be matched with someone who seemed likely to make the relationship as a whole satisfying—not whether things progressed after dinner. (Though “matched with” is a rather impolite way of putting it.) Even with the staff’s help, I feel that, ultimately, it comes down to your own judgment and appeal. So I think you could just roll the dice and decide. You can always transfer to another branch later, after all.