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The story
On the October 19 broadcast of ‘TOKYO SPEAKEASY’ (TOKYO FM), freelance announcer Mina Tanaka shared her take on the ongoing “who pays” debate between men and women. Tanaka argued it’s balanced if the man pays for dinner while the woman covers the second bar, and explained that when a woman cooks for a man at her own home, she’s also footing the ingredient costs — pointing out that “men often don’t realize how much ingredients actually cost.” Her remarks sparked discussion on 5ch, with reactions ranging from pushback on her premise (“isn’t it usually the man who treats at the second place too?”, “relationships rarely even get to the home-cooked-meal stage”) to sympathy (“I get wanting him to at least cover the ingredient costs”), leaving opinion split.
Freelance announcer and actress Mina Tanaka appeared alongside Yuhi Komiyama of the music duo Hoffdylan on the October 19 broadcast of ‘TOKYO SPEAKEASY’ (TOKYO FM). Tanaka shared her take on something she says men surprisingly tend to overlook.
Disputes over splitting the bill often come up in relationships. Tanaka argued, “Personally, I think it’s balanced if the man pays for dinner, and then when you go for drinks or hit a second bar afterward, the woman covers that.”
She then brought up cases where a woman cooks for a man at home, bluntly pointing out: “When I’m the one cooking, obviously I’m covering all the ingredient costs, right?” and “But guys often have no idea just how much the ingredients actually cost.”
Source: sirabee.com / Read the original article here
What people said
Home cooking
Eating out
I think it varies a lot depending on whether you're officially dating or not, but
as a ratio it's probably more like
Home cooking: 1
Eating out (incl. takeout): 9
right?
what are you even talking about
In reality it's probably more like: the guy pays both times, she rarely cooks, and when she does they shop together and the guy pays for the ingredients anyway
Do what you can do yourself instead of relying on others.
That's the upbringing I had, so I think everyone should just pay their own way
She's popular with women though, isn't she?
and cold rice.
Don't need any greasy home-cooked meal
That's a stretch even as a hypothesis, and even if it happens it'd be a pretty rare case
She's mixing up the "will this turn into a relationship" stage with the situation after you're already together
Probably on purpose
The clearest example is Valentine's chocolate —
like getting a 1,000-yen box of chocolates and giving back a 3,000-yen return gift
Fine if the guy actually gives something back,
but some guys take the chocolate and never return the favor.
Plenty of guys don't even return "friend chocolate" (platonic giri-choco given to pals)
Also: gas money
Also: highway tolls
Also: parking fees
Also: ticket costs
Sure, part of it's probably just the character she plays on TV, but it's just painful to watch (´･ω･`)
This one's honestly true…
I guess this woman runs in upper-class circles, but
I've dated plenty of women and not one of them ever cooked for me,
and none of them ever treated me at the second bar either
Tanaka actually does cook — she goes all out taking care of the female friends and boyfriends she lets into her inner circle
Background and key points of this debate
The “who pays” debate is a recurring romance topic that keeps resurfacing on TV and social media, and where people draw the line varies a lot by generation and how far along the relationship is. Tanaka’s comments rest on a specific scenario — the man pays for dinner, while the woman covers the second bar or the ingredients when she cooks at home — and on 5ch, many commenters flagged a mismatch in that premise, with remarks like “relationships rarely even reach the home-cooked-meal stage” and “in reality isn’t it usually the man who treats at the second place too?” At the same time, some replies showed sympathy for the underlying point — that it’s fair to want a partner to at least cover ingredient costs — so opinion remains divided. The thread was full of specific cost comparisons and personal dating anecdotes, but no objective data was offered to settle which pattern is actually “standard” — readers should keep in mind this remains a case of dueling personal experiences rather than hard evidence.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Mina Tanaka Points Out the Blind Spot in the Men-vs-Women “Who Pays” Debate: “Men Really Don’t Realize” / “I Don’t Want Him Thinking I’m the Only One Always Treating”“.
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