Cynics might say nothing makes a man attractive like a wallet full of cash, but this guy stumbled upon what he thinks is a cheaper aphrodisiac.

In Japan, a popular way of looking for romance is to attend what’s called a gokon, in which an equal number of unattached men and women get together, usually for dinner and drinks. The participants are usually friends and acquaintances of whoever’s organizing the gokon, but for most of the members it’s their first time to ever meet each other, and so there’s no real guarantee of romantic chemistry.

That was how things were going for Japanese Twitter user @_DNxKY_, who was recently at a four-man, four-woman gokon where none of the ladies in attendance were showing any interest in him whatsoever. Eventually, the group decided to head to a different place for some after-dinner drinks, but once they got to the new venue @_DNxKY_ suddenly found himself to be the center of the women’s attention, as they pulled him into conversations and continually flattered him.

https://twitter.com/_DNxKY_/status/1023889691475496960

Trying to figure out the reason for his newfound popularity, @_DNxKY_ though back to when they’d been settling the bill before leaving the first restaurant. His theory is that when he opened up his wallet to get out some cash and pay his share, the women may have gotten a peek inside and been impressed by what they perceived as a thick stack of 10,000-yen (US$91) bills.

▼ The 10,000-yen bill

However, while @_DNxKY_ does indeed have many pieces of paper with pictures of 19th century author Fukuzawa Yukichi on the stuffed in his wallet, they’re not legal tender. Instead, they’re novelty aburagami, or face oil blotting papers, like the one seen below sold by toymaker Bandai through Amazon.

Up close, they’re obviously different, but if you were taking a quick glance, perhaps from across the table in a restaurant with dim mood lighting, and all you could see was the top edge of the papers sticking out from an interior wallet slot, you might mistake the oil blotters for actual money, and @_DNxKY_ thinks that maybe his assumed wealth is what caused his stock to rise so dramatically between the first and second part of the gokon.

Online comments included:

“Genius.”
“Gonna have to try this tactic for myself.”
“I’m off to go buy some aburatorigami right now.”
“Guys like boobs, and girls like cash.”
“Maybe the women all jut have oily skin, and they really wanted those aburatorigami!”

One commenter went so far as to sternly declare “Those women aren’t worth your time!” @_DNxKY_, on the other hand, was more lenient, saying “They were cute, so it’s all right,” as the danger of judging someone based solely on what the eyes perceive was apparently ironically lost on him.

Source: Twitter/ @_DNxKY_ via Jin
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Wikipedia/Magnus Manske, Amazon Japan/バンダイ(BANDAI)

Follow Casey on Twitter, where there’s no money of any kind in his wallet.