How many papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan) arrangements do you estimate take place in Japan each day? Including apps, dating agencies, and other channels, what would the average be? I’d appreciate input from those of you who are good at math.

I’m Maezawa from the president’s office, and I’ll answer this as well. First, ask each app company how many matches they had over the past year and post the figures here. Then we’ll be able to discuss what the average looks like.

I’m Paper Airplane, a male member. I think I’m losing to the amount of salmon roe you can eat in a day.

I’m Taro, a male member. There’s no way anyone could know that. This is way too speculative. And what exactly are you planning to do with that information anyway?? First, here are my assumptions: 1) Let’s assume Universe Club arranges 2,000 dates each month. 2) Of every 10 new arrangements, 3 couples meet a second time, and 1 makes it to a third meeting. Once they get past the third meeting, the arrangement is relatively likely to continue. (This is based on assumptions from answers in the old Q&A.) 3) That doesn’t mean they continue forever—they’ll eventually part ways for one reason or another. Some last much longer, of course, but I’d guess the average is about a year. 4) Let’s assume they meet an average of twice a month, since that seems to be common among the people posting in the Q&A. 5) Universe Club is probably the largest service, so let’s assume it has about a 10% share, including apps. Based on those assumptions, the number of papa-katsu (compensated dating in Japan) encounters in a given month, counting only Universe Club, would be: (A) Arrangements made this month: 2,000 (B) Couples from the previous month’s arrangements who have continued through their third meeting: 2,000 × (30% for a second meeting + 10% for a third meeting) = 800 (C) Couples who were matched within the past year and are still continuing: 2,000 × 12 months × 10% × 2 meetings per month = 4,800 That gives us a total of 7,600 encounters. Working backward from Universe’s market share, the nationwide total would be: 7,600 ÷ 10% = 76,000 encounters Assuming a month has 30 days: 76,000 ÷ 30 days = 2,533 per day So, in very rough terms, that means around 2,500 papa-katsu couples nationwide are doing the whole “ahh, ooh”♡ thing every day. For reference, Universe Club’s membership is roughly distributed as follows: 50% in Tokyo and the three surrounding prefectures, 25% in the Kansai region, 10% in Nagoya, and 15% elsewhere. So you can even estimate the papa-katsu population in your own area. If any of these assumptions seem off, just plug in your own numbers and recalculate.

I’m Kazu, a male member. I think it might be better to hire a research firm. If you put together a solid report, you might be able to sell it to various dating clubs for around ¥1 million per copy. That could help recoup the research costs.