<figure id="attachment_451510" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-451510" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="2c37a7d6"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/12/1cebbdb04ec334c6803cfebe922f1243.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-451510" class="wp-caption-text">The number of fatherhood activities by women and single mothers in their 40s is on the rise (images are for reference only)</figcaption></figure>
<h3><span class="strongInContent"> Not a &#8220;romantic relationship&#8221; but a &#8220;relationship for life</span></h3>
<p> Papa-katsu activities, once considered a privilege for young women, have undergone a drastic change, as women in their mid-30s to 40s, and even single mothers, have begun to enter the market, which was once dominated by single women in their 20s. In addition, as more and more women enter the market, the number of middle-class men is increasing in the &#8220;activity&#8221; that used to be dominated by the affluent class.</p>
<p> This is a different picture of the human condition from that of the &#8220;aid dating&#8221; of the past. Let us report on the changing situation in the area from the episodes of two women we actually met.</p>
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<p> The reason why many women in their 40s and single mothers start a daddy&#8217;s life is clear. In their late 30s and 40s, women are going through life transitions such as marriage, divorce, child rearing, and career changes. Women looking for work after child rearing is over, married women who have difficulty making ends meet on their husbands&#8217; earnings alone, and single mothers who have just divorced &#8211; the common denominator for many of them is &#8220;economic insecurity.</p>
<p> Many single mothers, in particular, choose papa-katsu as a means of achieving &#8220;short hours and high income&#8221; while balancing work and childcare.</p>
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<p> We interviewed a 35-year-old woman who had registered with a certain &#8220;papa-katsu app. When we actually met her, we found that she was quite different from the &#8220;fair-skinned, innocent-looking&#8221; woman in her profile photo. When we talked to her, she was surprisingly informative.</p>
<p> She is half-Japanese, works as an interpreter, and lived abroad during her childhood. She and her husband have been separated for six months due to moral harassment, and they only meet in court. She first met her husband through a matching app, and it was a marriage that ended badly. She currently has a child in kindergarten, but does not receive child support from her husband. After she and her husband fell out of love, she started playing with younger boys again on the app.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" She left her child in extended care..."></div>
<h3><span class="strongInContent">Married women in their 40s also receive &#8220;allowance&#8221; of 30,000 yen.</span></h3>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I found out about daddy dating through social networking sites. My child is in kindergarten, so I have to be home by 2:00 p.m., so I can only work in the morning. I can only meet him for short periods of time, so I don&#8217;t think my salary expectations are that high.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I have received 30,000 yen per meeting from the people I have met so far. If I went out with them for dinner afterwards, it would be 40,000 yen. In such cases, I leave my child in extended care. But it was hard to deal with him because he always complained about his wife.</span></p>
<p> Although the use of the extended daycare fee may seem odd, it may be unavoidable considering the background of her life, as she has not been paid child support since her divorce and cannot make ends meet on child-support payments alone. Even if she were to find a new job, her take-home pay would be minimal with her short working hours. As a result, it is hard to deny that the daddy business has become a safety net in lieu of welfare.</p>
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<p> The second was a woman in her early 40s, married, and without children. She met her partner through the &#8220;Papa Katsudo&#8221; application. She is of average height and has a short-cut haircut. Her skin is slightly dark, as if she had been tanned by the sun, and she is very healthy. She was not glamorous, but she had a clean atmosphere, which was understandable after hearing that she worked as a receptionist at a gym. Normally, she works mainly at the front desk of the gym, working different shifts. Some days she finishes work in the early afternoon, and she says her hours are flexible.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He says, &#8220;It&#8217;s unnatural if I&#8217;m not home at night, so someone I can see during the day would be more helpful.</span></p>
<p> Her tone of voice is calm and relaxed, and she does not seem to be &#8220;greedy for money,&#8221; as is often the case in the papa-activist business. She is married and her marriage is not in bad shape, but they have not had any conjugal relations for a long time.</p>
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<p> When we asked her what kind of relationships she has with her &#8220;papa-katsu&#8221; partners, she <span class="strongInContent">replied, &#8220;If the feeling is right, we sometimes have an &#8216;adult relationship. The person I used to meet with used to pay me 30,000 yen,&#8221;</span> she replied.</p>
<p> What caught my attention here was the amount of &#8220;allowance&#8221; she said she received. According to my experience so far, the &#8220;adult&#8221; allowance for many of the girls I have interviewed who are in their 20s is about 30,000 yen. The 35-year-old woman mentioned above was also paid 30,000 yen, which seems &#8220;high&#8221; according to our previous experience. For women in their 40s, ¥15,000 to ¥20,000 was the norm. At first glance, this may seem like an unreasonably aggressive request, but to her, it is probably &#8220;the same as before&#8221; and she feels no discomfort. These days, it seems that the market price is not uniformly determined by age, as in the case of &#8220;aid dating.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Different &quot;allowances&quot; depending on the place of activity"></div>
<h3><span class="strongInContent">Diversified &#8220;market</span></h3>
<p> This is a new feature of the papa-katsu world. Currently, the &#8220;market price&#8221; of &#8220;allowance&#8221; tends to be higher depending on the place of activity, in the order of &#8220;matching apps,&#8221; &#8220;papa-katsu apps,&#8221; and then &#8220;dating clubs. The reason for this is that the cost for men to engage in activities becomes more expensive in this order, and thus there is a certain degree of segregation. The majority of men in &#8220;dating clubs&#8221; are much wealthier than those in &#8220;matching apps.</p>
<p> However, as the age range of women who engage in papa activities has broadened, it is not necessarily true that women in &#8220;dating clubs&#8221; are all in their 20s, so the level of &#8220;allowance&#8221; has changed dramatically. This means that the &#8220;market&#8221; is becoming more diverse. This change is also seen on the side of men who are active in the papa business.</p>
<p> Papa-katsu, long regarded as a leisure activity for the wealthy, is now attracting an increasing number of middle-class men. Men with monthly incomes in the 400,000 to 600,000 yen range, such as company employees, civil servants, and the self-employed, are entering the dating scene in search of a relationship that is &#8220;more realistic than the sex industry and more casual than romance.</p>
<p> Among these men, there is an emerging segment that builds relationships not only with money, but also with a &#8220;life-size sense of romance. They are not necessarily looking for value in youth alone, and as a result, the market for daddy dating is becoming more diverse.</p>
<p> Now that women in their 40s, single mothers, and middle-class men have become a part of the market, papa katsu activities can no longer be described as a mere extension of &#8220;assistance dating.</p>
<p> As women&#8217;s poverty becomes more visible and the middle class in society becomes more exhausted, the papa katsu activity is functioning as a &#8220;modern version of a mutual support system&#8221; in some aspects. Of course, there are many risks and gray areas, but there is room to consider whether this phenomenon is simply an example of prostitution and moral decay.</p>

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 I can't wait to tell you about a certain kind of papa activity, Mr. Director-General.

 Recently, the number of "daddy daddies" has been increasing among women in their 40s and single mothers. The "allowance" market has also been changing as more people of all ages participate in the activity. What is happening in the papa-katsu world today?

Relationships for a living&#8221; also&#8230; &#8220;The number of women in their 20s and single mothers has increased&#8221;: A new trend in the papa activity area.

Relationships for a living” also… “The number of women in their 20s and single mothers has increased”: A new trend in the papa activity area.

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