I’m a female member who joined recently.

I’m だて◎ゆめ, a male member. I’m against bank transfers because they leave a paper trail… My goal is to operate quietly and discreetly, tucked away somewhere in the city, without anyone knowing who I am.

Maezawa from the CEO’s Office here to answer as well. Thank you for your question. It’s unusual to prefer a monthly payment arrangement. Monthly payment doesn’t necessarily mean being paid upfront—it can also mean being paid afterward. In that case, if the relationship ends just before you’re supposed to receive the money, you may not get paid for the time you’ve already spent together. There may even be people who never intended to pay from the beginning. From a woman’s perspective, that seems like a fairly significant risk. On the other hand, with payment upfront, if you agreed to meet three times a month but she suddenly has plans and you only end up meeting twice, the man may wonder what happened. There’s also a possibility that she could simply disappear, which would make it riskier for the man. That’s why I think pay-per-meeting is best until you’ve built up a relationship of trust. Once you’ve been seeing each other for a while and you feel that this person can be trusted, switching to a monthly arrangement may be ideal. That said, if you work on becoming more appealing, men may naturally bring up the idea of switching to monthly payments themselves. So it might be a good idea to focus on improving yourself and becoming someone your partner likes.

Universe Club Tokyo’s Assistant Chief Aizawa here as well. It really depends on the two of you, so whether it’s pay-per-meeting or a monthly arrangement, if that’s what you both want, I think it’s worth suggesting. That said, based on what I’ve heard from both women and men at events and elsewhere, monthly arrangements seem to have quite a few downsides... - Since both people have their own schedules, it can be difficult to coordinate enough meetings to reach the agreed number each month. - Some people have been given the monthly amount upfront, only for the other person to disappear. - Someone was told they would be paid depending on whether they managed to have proper dates by the end of the month. They had planned to meet three times but only managed two, so they ended up receiving nothing. - Some people don’t like bank transfers because they leave a record. - It can start to feel like an obligation, making it difficult to enjoy the relationship. I’ve heard stories like these and more. So lately, it seems that many people—both men and women—have been turning down monthly arrangements.

I’m Kazu, a male member. Personally, I prefer paying in cash on a pay-per-meeting basis. The reason I prefer meeting-by-meeting rather than a monthly arrangement is that it avoids creating unnecessary uncertainty for both sides—such as how many times we’ll meet, how many times we’ve met, or roughly when the allowance should be paid each month. As Riichi also mentioned, I’d rather pay in cash because I don’t want someone who sees the bank transfer records—such as during a tax audit, or a tax accountant or bank employee—to ask about the relationship. The hassle caused by having a record of the transfer can happen to the woman as well. I’ve met several women who brought up wanting a monthly arrangement from the very first date. Based on what I heard from them about their past encounters, I got the impression that men who agree to monthly arrangements tend to expect a lot from the women they’re seeing. By “expect a lot,” I mean things like wanting a serious romantic relationship, exclusivity—such as not having any other papas (male supporters)—or overly dick-brained requests that are inappropriate to make to someone who isn’t even in an adult relationship (intimate) with them yet. My impression is that women who voice troublesome demands are likely to receive similarly troublesome demands from men.

I’m Kobayashi from the Tokyo branch. Based on what I’ve heard directly from male clients, I get the impression that many of them tend to avoid that sort of arrangement… However, some men do pursue relationships like that, so why not gauge his reaction?