Female members sometimes say, “Q: What made you join UC? A: I had some unpleasant and frightening experiences doing papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan), so I thought UC might be safer.” What exactly do they mean by “unpleasant” or “frightening experiences”? Were these things that happened through the popular dating apps/sites these days? Experiences, secondhand accounts, or staff responses are all welcome, as long as they can be shared here in the Q&A box. I’d rather not ask women I meet directly, since it would bring up negative topics.

Maezawa from the president’s office here. I’ll answer this as well. Thank you for your question. > Since asking the women I’ve met would make it a negative topic of conversation. If you ask after you’ve been intimate or have gotten to know each other well, I think it would be fine. You might even get more in-depth information than you would from the staff. That said, if the issue is that the allowance is too low, it may be something you can’t bring up if your own allowance is low. (笑) > What specifically do you mean by “unpleasant or frightening experiences”? I haven’t heard many stories myself, so it would be great if another staff member could answer, but… Looking at what people post online, there seem to be many cases where women are deceived—for example: A man says he put the money in an envelope and hands it over, but after they part ways, she opens it and finds it empty. Or afterward, he says he forgot to withdraw the money and asks her to wait by the ATM entrance while he goes to get it, then escapes through the other entrance. And because they have no information about the men, the women are left with no choice but to give up. With Universe, however, the company has the man’s personal information on file, making it easier to report the incident to the police if something like that happens. That may be why the men also refrain from doing anything wrong. That’s how I see it.

I’m Tetsu, a male member. These are stories about bad apples, right? Being used and left without receiving an allowance. Going to his place to discuss the allowance, then seeing him suddenly change when I said I wasn’t satisfied with the terms. Being pressured into things I couldn’t do in an adult relationship. Being subjected to unprotected sex without consent. And so on. There seem to be a lot of cases that go beyond mere bad behavior and could rightly be called criminal acts.

I’m Kazu, a male member. I assume you’re talking about apps. From what I often hear, the usual complaints are being ghosted after intimacy, receiving less allowance than promised, or being intimidated.