I’m Mozuku, a male member.

Maezawa from Shacho-shitsu here, answering as well. Thank you for your question. I think there are many perfectly valid ways to meet someone. Some people want to meet right away, while others prefer to talk online first. Some would rather exchange emails before meeting in person. I think any of those approaches are fine. If one doesn’t suit you, you can simply ask for an arrangement that works better for you. One advantage of email is that by communicating beforehand, you can already get a fairly good sense of what the other person is like before meeting. That can also make the date go more smoothly.

I’m Basil, a male member. Since the other person’s information is verified through the club, you can trust it and contact them whenever you like. Depending on the situation, you may even be able to skip the initial dinner, so it could be fairly useful. That said, if you want to move things along quickly without endless back-and-forth, women don’t know anything about you, so men probably need to flesh out their profiles, including uploading photos. With that in mind, despite the time constraints, I think the online option is better—even if it costs an extra 5,000 yen.

I’m a man in my 60s, still searching. As I mentioned in a previous answer, Letter Date itself began when I received a reverse offer in the form of fan mail, after which I asked Mr. Maezawa to launch it as “email dating.” It was then tested for about a month at my local branch, and it seems to have finally been rolled out nationwide. I hear the trial went fairly well and received positive feedback. Because of COVID, I still haven’t been able to meet the woman who inspired the idea in person, but we’ve continued exchanging emails almost every day for the past four months. Honestly, it’s enjoyable being able to communicate without being restricted by time. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if some women felt, “It’s not worth spending so much time exchanging letters when I’m not receiving any allowance.” Women who enjoy the interaction as much as I do would be a good fit, but others might want things to move quickly and say, “Please meet me soon.” In that sense, Mr. Mac might be a better match for them. Ah, to all the female members interested in Letter Date: if you’re in a hurry, please send a reverse offer to Mr. Mac; if not, feel free to send one to me... lol

“What? Half the price of online—even though we can’t meet?? That’s expensive…” That was my initial reaction as a male member, Paper Airplane, and I thought I’d pass. But… After about half a day, I started thinking I might try making an offer for either online or a letter date. You can exchange LINE contact information, too. More than anything, you can make an offer without setting a date—and without either of you having to coordinate your schedules—and then actually communicate with each other. Wait… it’s even more flexible than online: you can make an offer whenever you want, and communicate before meeting. Being able to exchange messages beforehand has its advantages and is fun. In particular, meeting after you’ve gotten to know each other and confirmed a few things should make the conversation flow more smoothly and make the experience more enjoyable.