After Matching on a Paid-Dating App… The “Surprisingly Shocking Remark” from a 25-Year-Old, demure-looking Woman That Stunned the Reporter

With popular female YouTubers even announcing their own registrations, “paid drinking dates” are gradually gaining public recognition. Behind this trend is the fact that apps have created an environment where these dates can be arranged easily and safely. However, incidents and online backlashes continue to occur, making it difficult to shake off the impression that these apps are shady.What kind of women are signing up for and using these paid-dating apps? In this [Part 2], we actually met up with users through apps from two major companies.

[Part 1] Even Popular Female YouTuber R-chan Has Signed Up… We Compared and Reviewed the Two Major “Paid-for-Drinks Apps” That Have Become Mainstream

A 25-Year-Old I Met Through an “App Where Anyone Can Be a Host”

“aima,” as the name suggests, is a more casual service built around the concept of “filling in spare moments.” There is no screening process for women during registration; anyone can start using it right away.The system is almost identical to “pato,” with fees based on a point system and payments handled entirely within the app. Rates are generally lower compared to “pato.” The minimum is around 2,500 yen for 30 minutes, and quite a few women actually set their rates even lower than that.

When I sent a message to a 25-year-old woman who wasn’t charging a particularly high rate, she replied quickly and politely. I decided to go with her.

She, too, arrived before our scheduled time. She’s tall and has a great figure. She doesn’t have that glamorous “Minato Ward girl” vibe; if anything, she’s the demure type. She told me she works as a flower arrangement instructor. Her rate is 4,500 yen for 30 minutes. We spent three hours together, and the total came to 27,000 yen.

She was quite talkative, too. As we chose drinks and dishes together, the atmosphere became more and more relaxed. However, as we were talking, she let slip a shocking remark…

“I’ve only ever seen the term ‘paid drinking date’ on TV. I don’t really know what it means.”

She registered with “aima” just recently. What prompted her was an invitation from a friend she’d become close with through a service called “Rental Friend” that she used to work for. It’s even more casual than being a “rental girlfriend”—essentially, she’s a jack-of-all-trades.

“Going to the aquarium together, accompanying people to events… I’ve even had requests like, ‘Please stand in line and buy merchandise for my favorite idol for me.’”

The hourly rate is around 2,000 yen. Apparently, some people even take on jobs for as little as 500 yen. For her, it’s less about making money and more about the interaction itself. It seemed like “aima” was just a natural extension of that for her.

“It’s fun to meet the kind of people I wouldn’t normally encounter in my day job,”

It’s such a wholesome answer. It feels a bit awkward for me to say this after choosing the interview subject myself, but I’d been convinced a much more flashy woman would show up, so I was completely taken aback.

Not for men with ulterior motives?

That said, I have definitely had some close calls.

“Once, I was suddenly invited to a private karaoke room on the spot, and he said, ‘I’ll give you a tip if you give me a hug.’ When I refused, he said, ‘You’re a weird one.’”

What I found particularly interesting was her take on meeting up directly, without going through the app.

“If it comes to that, I have to think about it a bit. Negotiating the amount is a hassle, too. Also, with the app, I don’t know how much the guy is paying, so when we meet in person, I worry that he might end up losing out.”

She’s concerned about whether the other person is getting a raw deal. She was a far cry from the stereotype associated with the term “gala-nomi girls.”

In the end, we drank for three hours, went to karaoke, and parted ways. It wasn’t a bad time at all. In fact, she was a really nice person. Still, I doubt men with ulterior motives would want to meet her again.

The basic premise of this kind of service is to enjoy a meal or drinks with a woman. However, there are surely quite a few men who use it while harboring even the faintest hope that “maybe something might happen.”

However, according to her, there are quite a few customers who use the service for just one or two hours, simply asking her to “join them for a light meal.” Apparently, some of them are men in their 20s. The idea that a paid arrangement is less stressful might actually be a common sentiment among today’s younger generation.

After trying out the two apps, I realized that the “paid drinking” system itself is surprisingly well-designed. Appointments are set quickly, and since money is involved, last-minute cancellations are rare. Since payments go through the app, disputes are also unlikely.

An older man and a young woman spend time together one-on-one, and compensation is exchanged. If you look at the structure alone, it’s no different from “sugar dating.” But when I actually met people through these apps, the reality turned out to be quite different.

Young women earn 1.5 million yen in two months—and willingly part with that money. Meanwhile, women who aren’t even in it to make money are having meals with strangers in their spare time.

When I heard the term “gala-nomi,” the image that came to mind was a world where wealthy men—whose occupations were unclear—and women from Minato Ward partied until dawn, sometimes even getting involved in shady incidents. But what’s actually happening is far more diverse than I imagined.

The influx of a “casual crowd”—women who aren’t willing to go to the same extremes as those who risk their bodies to earn the kind of money they can’t get from their day jobs—may continue to grow in the future.