Okinawa's Moriyasu Zakimi has ridden highs and lows -- and plenty of different women -- to become Japan's most prolific papa, with at least 25 children, according to Shukan Shincho (4/3).

"I first married at 19 and six years later, I had two boys, three girls and needed to run a ferro-concreting business to feed my family of seven. At 27, I left my family in Okinawa and headed to Tokyo, where a pal had set up a few jobs for me. I worked my butt off, employing three people and sending back to Okinawa every yen I possibly could. I didn't have time to play around at all then," the now 50-year-old fertile father tells Shukan Shincho, adding that it was around this time that he began to rapidly expand his contribution to the gene pool.

"At around 30, I moved to Nagoya and business boomed. I had about 80 workers and was getting well off, which allowed me to get a bit of a taste for places with neon lights. I lived with about four or five of the hostesses I met around that time. I had a lot of kids in the five years I lived in Nagoya, and all of them are aged between 15 and 20 now. If they're my kids, I have no problems recognizing my paternity, but not all of the women wanted that. I met the kids when they were little, but I often wonder now how they're doing."

Zakimi returned to live in Okinawa at age 35, just as Japan's economic bubble was bursting and work was becoming harder to find. The bubble wasn't the only thing to burst, either.

"My wife was really sick of me going around having babies with one mistress after another, so she divorced me, he says in a matter-of-fact tone.

But a failed marriage did not stop Zakimi from going forth and multiplying.

"When I was 37, I shacked up with a 22-year-old woman, who gave me two more sons. Then I had relationships with another six local women, living with three of them, who had my kids in secret while I was away on a business trip," he tells Shukan Shincho. "Those six gave me another 11 kids altogether."

But the profligate playboy slowed down a little 11 years ago, when he once more decided to tie the knot.

"I have two girls, aged 11 and 6, with my current wife," he says. "She's a bit of a terror, but I'm still up for more breeding, so I honestly have to say I don't know when the urge is going to come upon me again. I guess looking back I haven't led the best sort of life, but it's not like you can go back in time and fix things up."

Indeed, Zakimi has no regrets about his lifestyle.

"The words 'get rid of the baby' simply don't exist in my vocabulary. My family has continued for 27 generations. The more kids you have, the more glory it brings and kids are also tied to good fortune," the father of 25 tells Shukan Shincho. "Just recently, I went drinking with my eldest daughter, who told me off for having played around so much, but the reality is that our kids get along well together. My youngest daughter and her eldest daughter, that is my granddaughter, go to the same kindergarten. The teachers were really surprised. But the kids have a great time playing together." (By Ryann Connell)