I'm a convenience store for male members.

Maezawa from the President’s Office here, answering as well. Thank you for your question. I don’t think things were particularly chaotic, and rather than worrying about whether something was unpleasant, most strange posts simply weren’t questions to begin with, so they weren’t displayed. (笑) > I feel like something similar happened a long time ago, too. You’re thinking of the members-only message board. The reason that board was eventually discontinued was that members would ask things like: “I’m a new male member. How much should I offer as an allowance?” Then senior male members would reply, “¥30,000 should be fine,” or “¥20,000 is more than enough.” New members would take that advice at face value and offer that amount to women, and incidents like this kept happening. The staff were also monitoring the board even if they didn’t post, so we received a steady stream of comments such as, “Please get rid of this board. It’s awful.” That’s how it eventually disappeared, as I recall. Those really were terrible times. If it had continued as it was, I’m sure women would have stopped coming to Universe altogether. After all, telling people that ¥30,000 is enough while personally offering women more makes me wonder whether they were just trying to make their own allowances look higher by comparison. Pretty underhanded. (笑) Truly attractive women can receive offers of ¥100,000 or more, and men will agree to them—and often continue seeing them afterward. So in the end, I think it all comes down to the woman’s appeal. That part is ultimately between the two people involved.

I’m Taro, a male member. Nice to meet you, Konbini-san, a much more experienced member. The gender ratio among members should be increasingly female-heavy. The number of female members is about the same as it was three years ago, but the number of male members has grown by 1.5 times. In other words, if people still can’t feel any difference despite the supply-demand balance being this distorted, I think that means market principles aren’t working—there’s no real going rate. It’s been nothing but questions on this topic since yesterday. I’ve said what I wanted to say, so I’m basically done with it. There are a lot of questions, but I’m also starting to wonder whether they’re actually all from the same person—or even fake members（笑）. If things keep getting heated, I think I’ll just watch from a distance with a grin. Unrelated, but when I read the last sentence of Mac’s answer, I thought it said, “If there’s a hole, I want to put it in,” but it actually said, “I want to go in.” My apologies.

I’m Flagmaker, a column writer. Honestly, I think we male members shouldn’t underestimate women. Men can live in a dream world, but women are much cleverer, calmer, and more realistic. Men tend to judge things based on their past experiences and what they’ve been through. That’s actually where the blind spot lies. Please keep that in mind. (Sorry—I’m saying this to myself too, haha.)

Good evening, Konbini-san. I’m Kazu, a male member who joined about six months ago. Since there’s no fixed going rate for an allowance, I didn’t think people were actually arguing over the amount. I figured some people simply wouldn’t understand. I think dating clubs attract men and women with all kinds of expectations. Some want a relationship that could be called being a mistress, while others want something resembling pseudo-romance, or a relationship that cuts out any personal involvement and is purely physical. Everyone wants something different. Come to think of it, there are also men who don’t want an adult relationship (intimate) at all. I’m not going to deny that women want to receive a lot of money. But some will do anything if they’re paid enough, while others want a moderate amount for a moderate level of effort, or simply whatever they can get without trying too hard. There’s a wide range there too. Of course, there are probably also women who think, “I’m occasionally opening my legs for some old guy, so he should be grateful, stop complaining, and hand over every last cent he has.” If men keep meeting only women like that, their hearts are bound to grow twisted. Though I also think repeatedly meeting that type reflects a problem with the kind of offers those men make. Naturally, there are also some anthropoids among men who aren’t gradually becoming twisted—they just want to sleep with someone for as little as a thousand yen from the very beginning. As for my reaction to that post, I wasn’t offended. I simply thought, “So, at last, an underinformed referral account has migrated from Twitter to the anonymous Q&A box.” Male members who have made a fair number of offers have probably noticed that something feels off about those questions beyond just the allowances being discussed, right? I love Universe Club for publishing things like that（笑）. Clubs in Ginza or Aoyama probably wouldn’t do it. Most members will just snicker at it, while those who don’t understand may be able to learn the true bulk of the market（笑） by reading the answers. So I think it’s fine to leave it up as is. Besides, I went to the trouble of writing a fairly substantial answer, so I’d like people to read it. And above all, the anonymous Q&A box is entertainment—Kida-san said so himself. Incidentally, apparently the café near my company’s office is a meeting spot for some shady people who do social-media manipulation. I often overhear conversations between young men who look completely unsuited to making money but have impressive levels of gambling spirit, and lightheaded advisers posing as consultants. They report things like, “I made this post on Twitter and gained ○○ followers,” or “It got ○○ retweets,” and then the self-styled consultant makes some solemn-sounding comment about the content. It’s a laughable morning show of a spectacle. When I imagine that the same thing might be getting reported at that café, I can’t help finding it hilarious.