Sakurai from the SALON staff team here.
Thank you very much for your interest in THE SALON.
Our meetings are usually held around Shinbashi, but we can also arrange them online.
In addition to consultations, we also offer online arrangements.
THE SALON does not have a members-only page, and we do not post photos. This creates an environment where women who are concerned about being recognized, as well as highly accomplished women, can feel comfortable joining and making the most of their membership.
Because of this, THE SALON tends to attract more high-caliber women than Universe Club, where member photos are posted.
As for appearance, the minimum standard is equivalent to the highest class at other dating clubs. You can think of it as roughly comparable to Universe Club’s Platinum or Black class.
Maezawa from the president’s office will answer this one as well.
Thank you for your question.
If I answer from my own experience, I feel like I’d end up writing only about the good points. So, if I were to mention a less positive aspect:
Suppose you take the bullet train all the way to a Ginza salon, only to meet a woman who turns out not to be your type at all.
Even if there’s no fee involved, when you consider the time you spent, you might think, “What’s the point of this system? Shouldn’t they at least arrange three women?”
That was my initial thought.
But apparently, that’s more of an ordinary person’s way of thinking. If you met three women at once, the other two might feel bad. And if the other two happened to be your type, turning them down would mean losing the chance to get to know them, which would be a shame.
So I’ve started to wonder whether, as a pastime for wealthy people, traveling by bullet train to meet a woman you’ve never met before might actually be enjoyable for someone with plenty of money to spare.
Wait—I was trying to write something negative.
This is harder than I thought.
Since you may be able to meet women who would register only if they didn’t have to show their faces, the chances of meeting someone you couldn’t meet through Universe are probably higher.
Still, even if she isn’t your type, you may need to have the leeway to think, “Well, that happens sometimes. It’s all part of the experience.”
Thank you for requesting me. I’m Kazu, a male member.
I had already made offers to pretty much every woman I was interested in on Universe, so I decided to join Salon.
Here are my general impressions of Salon as a member from outside Tokyo.
Not every woman introduced to me through Salon was equivalent to a Black-level woman on Universe. My impression is that they ranged from Platinum to Black. That said, I think this was because I told them I didn’t care about appearance when describing the kind of women I wanted to meet. During the interview, if you select several Universe members who match your preferred type and explain that you like women with those sorts of looks, I think you can communicate your preferences more accurately.
Once you tell the staff what kind of woman you’d like to meet through Salon, they look for someone who seems to fit your preferences and contact you. At this point, you receive virtually no specific profile information—just something along the lines of, “We’d like to introduce you to a woman who matches the qualities you mentioned.”
If you say you’d like to meet her, the next step is to schedule a matching session at the Salon: an in-house first meeting with 20 minutes of conversation.
I had my Salon membership interview online, so everything up to that point was done online.
On the day of the matching session, you assess the woman’s appearance, personality, and how easily the conversation flows. (Allowance negotiations are prohibited at this stage, so you also won’t know her relationship type in Universe terms.) Neither person comes empty-handed: you each have a profile card written by the other person, including your SALON name, occupation, hobbies, special skills, ideal date, personal motto, and self-introduction, so there are plenty of conversation starters. Drinks are also provided.
After the conversation, the woman leaves, and a staff member comes to ask what you’d like to do. You then say whether you’d like to go on a date with her.
If you want to go out with her—that is, if the match is “成立” in Salon terminology—you pay Salon a ¥100,000 introduction fee. This can be paid by card, but ¥20,000 of that amount is a tip for the woman, similar to the transportation allowance for a first date at Universe, so that portion needs to be paid in cash. I pay ¥80,000 by card and give her the ¥20,000 in an envelope—the same kind I use when giving an allowance through Universe.
If you don’t want to go out with her and the match doesn’t proceed, there’s no introduction fee and you don’t give the woman a tip either. Apparently, some men give her the tip anyway because they feel bad for her. So far, my matches have always proceeded, but apparently the overall success rate is around 60%.
Once the match is confirmed, you go on a date. Since you don’t know whether the match will proceed, I don’t make a restaurant reservation in advance. I used to live in Tokyo, so after the match is confirmed, I ask the woman where she’d like to go and choose one of the restaurants I used to visit. Then, while still at the Salon, I call and make a reservation—for example, saying that we’d like to arrive in ten minutes.
Restaurants in Ginza still aren’t too crowded at the moment, so I’ve never had trouble finding a place. Even if you’re unfamiliar with restaurants in Ginza, Salon has a guide listing nearby restaurants, so there’s no need to worry.
From the restaurant onward, things proceed much like a first date through Universe. However, because you don’t have any information about her relationship type, it’s slightly more difficult than Universe—you have to figure that out yourself. You discuss your preferred relationship and negotiate the allowance, and if you both agree to an adult relationship (intimate), you move to a hotel after dinner. If you’ve come from outside Tokyo, you may already have booked a hotel, so checking in before going to the Salon would make things go more smoothly.
Reading the Q&A site, Salon can give the impression that it’s full of jaded women looking for a high allowance. But among the women I’ve actually met, everyone has been pleasant and kind. It seems that one of the main reasons women choose Salon over Universe Club is that they don’t have to show their faces. I’ve also heard from women who used dating apps but didn’t post photos there either.
So I think Salon is particularly good for meeting women who don’t want to join Universe or appear publicly in photos.
The allowance women expect isn’t particularly different from Universe Club. So far, I’ve never been asked for an amount I hadn’t heard of through Universe. In my case, I’ve continued seeing Salon women for the same allowance I pay through Universe.
At Universe, the staff often tell me, “You have great luck with the women you meet,” and perhaps I’m just as lucky with Salon. Actually, on Universe, although I do receive recommendations from the staff, I make the offers myself. So maybe it’s simply that the women recommended by the Salon staff are a good fit for me.
As a member from outside Tokyo, it’s a little inconvenient having to travel to Tokyo for dates. However, some women will come to me if I cover their transportation costs. That’s the same as with Universe.
That’s about it. If there’s anything you’d like me to explain in more detail, feel free to ask follow-up questions. I hope this helps.
I’m a male member named Paper Airplane, and since I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some wonderful people, I’m thinking of taking a break from both Black and offers for a while.
Kazu, I’m also interested in the salon, so let me tag along a little.
To rewrite the question:
“It’s disappointing that there aren’t many wonderful men at the club. I’m curious about the salon. I don’t have any particular connection to Tokyo, but if he’s a great man, I’d be willing to take the bullet train for an interview and to meet him.”
So, if I understand correctly, the person asking the question would like to meet a woman who says something like that, right?
If I were to edit it:
“There are so many wonderful women at Universe Club that I’m impressed. I’m curious about the salon because I imagine there must be similarly wonderful women there. I don’t have any particular connection to Tokyo, but if she’s a woman recommended by the Universe staff, I’d be happy to take the bullet train for an interview and even travel for a date.”
Whether or not you join the salon, I think the most important thing is that both you and the woman you meet are satisfied. I imagine the staff would also want to introduce someone who receives lots of comments and thanks like, “I’m so happy I got to become friends with someone like you.”
