You're never too old to fall in love.

That's what Japanese citizen Yoji Kawamura figured after retiring at the age of 62. He realised that part-time work and his new hobbies of photography and computers weren't enough to fill his days.

Like a small but growing number of older Japanese singles, Kawamura has turned to an online matchmaking service in search of someone to share his "second life".

"When you reach my age, the scope of your activities shrinks and you can only meet people within a narrow circle,"said Kawamura, sipping coffee in a cafe in Tokyo.

"If you want to go outside that circle, you don't know how."

A former taxi driver, who divorced 26 years ago and is now 65, Kawamura signed up with US-based online dating service Match.com, part of Internet conglomerate IAC / InterActiveCorp last July.

"My horizons have widened and my life is richer because I can make friends," said the goateed Kawamura.  

He is now dating three women, two of them nine years his junior and one who is 62.