Otaku Love

Akihiko Kondo, 35, marries a hologram of a virtual reality singer called Hatsune Miku. Although his mother was invited to the wedding, she nor any of his relatives came. The wedding was held in Tokyo by a company called Gatebox and it cost about 2 million yen. The article states that Gatebox, which creates the holograms, has issued more than 3700 wedding certificates for “cross-dimensional” relationships. Although Kondo cannot hold a conversation with Miku, she does wake him up and welcome him home. Kondo claims that there are many others in his position, and he hopes that his wedding will inspire others, who may be scared, to do the same.

Kondo’s situation called she some light onto possible reasons Japan’s “graying society” and mental health issues at the individual level. It amazes me that today, 1 in four men at age 50 have never been married, a decrease from 1 in 50 in 1980. From what I’ve learned while studying abroad, I believe that the high-stress, high-expectations, and extreme conformity of Japanese society creates severe trauma for those at the bottom. I can see a situation where a stressed out man who is failing school, getting rejected by girls, and unemployed would only be able to find acceptance in virtual characters. This relates to other forms of escapism in Japan like “Idol hand shaking events,” “calling an anime character a wifu” and “being a hikikomori.” Kondo explains that he has routinely shut down by girls in school and at work as a reason why he finds solace in Miku, who “can’t cheat, age, or die.” Some may argue that happiness is happiness, but I think this is completely avoiding the much larger problem which is a psychological disorder from loneliness. Although somewhat of a generalization, I feel that Japanese people can be too risk averse because society can put too much unnecessary pressure on people to succeed. Combined with poor economic conditions, more and more Japanese young men are “failing” are forced to deal with the consequences of shaming. The lack of mental health awareness in Japan makes the situation even worse.