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TOKYO – High school dating? No big deal in many parts of the world – but in Japan, it means something quite different.

Here, “high school dating” matches girls in uniforms with men in their 40s and 50s and beyond. And it means money changing hands.

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Sometimes this involves a walk around the block or a drink in a bar. More often, it involves sex – child prostitution by another name.

“It’s easy to talk to these girls,” said one man in his 30s who was sitting at a wooden school desk in AKB High School, a cafe in Akihabara, a part of Tokyo known for its subcultures. A 17-year-old girl in a school uniform brought the man and his colleague, both of whom declined to give their names, beers and chitchat.

“We actually find regular bars uninteresting these days,” he said. “I got tired of regular bars with old women.”

If there are two 16-year-old girls, and one’s at school and one’s not, customers will always choose the one who’s at school

They admitted that the uniforms are a big part of the attraction. “They look so cute,” said his friend, in his 40s. “The uniforms make them look one and a half times cuter than they actually are.”