How is everyone planning to spend this winter?

“My daughter told me, ‘Something really grown-up happened—look, look!’” I got a shock and started worrying about what might have happened. Then she showed me… huh? Wait, it was just a supermarket rewards card. Not even a credit card… What? “Amazing, right?” Huh? That’s it?? Seriously… I’m Paper Airplane, a male member who breathed a sigh of relief that she was still just a kid. It’ll be easier to invite her to a hotel, and we’ll be able to relax and settle in there more comfortably. I think we’ll still be able to enjoy ourselves and have a fulfilling time as before. It’ll also be easier for both of us to coordinate our schedules.

Maezawa from the President’s Office here. Thank you for your question. Around this spring, things changed dramatically due to unprecedented requests to stay home and the state of emergency. However, people have gradually gotten used to the situation, so I don’t think we’ll see changes as major as those at the time. Also, since the previous state of emergency caused significant damage to the economy, there seems to be concern that further economic damage could end up being worse than the impact of COVID-19 itself. For that reason, I don’t think another state of emergency can be declared so readily. If that’s the case, relationships with papas and the number of women staying active will probably continue at about the same level as now. Since the number of dates decreases every winter and increases in summer, I’m optimistic that, compared with the current situation, the number of dates will decrease by about the same amount as in a normal year—and no more than that. However, if a state of emergency is declared, we’ll see a repeat of the nightmare in April, when the number of dates nearly disappeared, and it would feel like the crisis had returned. That said, unlike last time, our company is now financially strong enough to withstand a few months if necessary.

I’m Tetsu, a male member. That doesn’t bother me at all, haha. I went on a date this week, and I’ve already made an offer for next week too. One of my fondest memories is traveling to Ise-Shima on a nearly empty Tokaido Shinkansen during the state of emergency. You’d never normally get to experience a bullet train with only about five people in the entire car. It was comfortable, and there were hardly any people wherever we went, so the risk of infection was low. Those were the good old days. That’s what I say, but I do take proper precautions, and I never pressure women who are afraid of COVID. Even with precautions, you can still get infected, while some people don’t get infected despite taking none. In the end, whether you catch it or not comes down to luck. I don’t want to waste my precious time on that kind of coin toss.

This is Marika. Papas who were already into solo travel, as well as those in prominent positions such as civil servants, tend to meet less often when COVID is spreading because they lose their usual excuses to go out. But many others still meet while taking every possible precaution. Since they’re meeting discreetly in private rooms, it can feel more clandestine, and some relationships even become closer than before. In my case, we’ve been talking about secretly taking a trip somewhere not covered by the Go To campaign. Other than that, some people meet someone nearby just for dinner, or only at a hotel.