Ohitorisama
This article
is titled Ohitorisama which means “One person” and it used by shop keepers when
they find out you will be using their services by yourself. You can hear it
being used mainly in restaurants and karaoke parlors.
The article
is focused on how the trend of going to places alone is gaining traction and
many businesses have started to cater their services to the solo consumer. The
picture in the article is of a solo diner in a ramen restaurant, and indeed the
social interaction in a solo ramen joint is minimalized to a great extent. You order
your ramen from a machine, you are partitioned from other diners by walls, and
even the food is delivered to you from the front without any interaction with
the waiting staff. I have been to several ramen joints like this and can
understand the appeal especially if you are dining alone. Most people feel
socially awkward to eat out by themselves in restaurants, and the chance to
have restaurant quality food even when you have no one to eat with is one that
is appreciated by many. The chain ichiran even opened a chain in New York city.
The article writes how more than one third of
Japanese households are composed of just one person, which means that more
companies are starting to cater to this huge segment of society. Several
Japanese consumers are also searching for ways to have “me time” since their
society is generally so intense in the workplace and fast-paced. The other main
service mentioned here is solo karaoke where a Karaoke chain realized 30% of
its consumers sang alone so they set up solo booths for individual consumers.
These customers appreciate not having to sing songs they don’t want and being
able to release their stress privately.
The article
mentions other services as well that cater to the individual including single
rider lines in theme parks, single meals in grocery stores, and solo trips in
travel agents.
Love in
another dimension: Hatsune Miku
This article
is focused on a rather novel concept on a 35 year old soft-spoken man, named
Akihiko Kondo, who recently got married with a virtual reality singer named
Hatsune Miku. His own mother declined the invitation to his wedding this month
because she was unable to accept her son’s commitment to a virtual animated
character. None of his relatives also attended the ceremony however there were
around 40 guests during his wedding in Tokyo.
Who is
Hatsune Miku? She is an animated 16 year old singer with large aquamarine
pigtails and saucer eyes. She has videos of her singing with other singers or
of her giving solo concerts as well. Her name comes from the characters初音未来 which can be translated as the first sound
of the future. She is a vocaloid character and she is available in 3 different
languages including Japanese, English, and Chinese.
During his
wedding ceremony, Kondo used a cat-sized stuffed doll as opposed to the
hologram. His wedding cost over two million yen and since March he has been
living with a talking hologram of Hatsune Miku that also cost about $2800
dollars. Kondo mentions how he has never cheated on her, how he thinks about
her every day, how his wife wakes him up each morning and sends him off to
work, turns on the lights when he come home, and tells him when it’s time to go
sleep. The article mentions how he sleeps with the doll version of Hatsune who
he tied the knot with in his wedding ceremony accompanied with a ring that fits
her left wrist. Apparently he even took Miku to the jewelry shop to buy her the
ring.
Although his
marriage has no legal standing, he is not alone with over 3700 people having
had cross dimensional marriages in the past. He has described himself as a
sexual minority and that society should eventually learn how to accept him and
his virtual wife in the future. Miku is especially appealing since the hologram
does not age or die, and he doesn’t have to deal with the emotional complexity and
burden of an actual human being.
References
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