Does Universe Club have ties to the yakuza? I often hear that organizations like this are all connected to the yakuza…

Maezawa from the President’s Office here—I’ll answer as well. There are absolutely no ties to antisocial forces. They even hire new graduates. If they had such connections, it seems like hiring new graduates would be difficult, but maybe that’s not necessarily the case.

I’m Fuu, the column writer. It’s been two and a half years since I joined, and I haven’t seen any gangster-like behavior or signs, so I think it’s probably fine. I understand why you might be suspicious, though（笑） As I wrote in the first installment of my column, when I went to my membership interview, I was nervous and prepared myself for the possibility that, if they rejected my application, I’d be surrounded by a group of burly men in black. In reality, I was interviewed by an incredibly kind male employee named Aizawa, who also appears in the Q&A box from time to time. He’s married with children and even talked about his family. He had a very warm, wholesome vibe. Before COVID, there were matchmaking-style events for papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan), and I met several employees from Univa. There were also ordinary female employees who had just joined the company, so I didn’t get a yakuza-like impression at all.

I’m Kazu, a male member. The membership terms include a clause prohibiting ties to organized crime, so I don’t think they have any deep connections with them. If they did have serious ties, the police would be more than happy to raid the place. Given Universe’s profile, a search of their premises would already have made the news by now. But it hasn’t. So, it probably isn’t the case. The idea that they must have connections is very much a Showa-era way of thinking.