6 ms·
Only in Japan, real men go to a hotel with virtual girlfriends
- jedschmidt 16y agoLet us resist flashing the patio11 signal for this.
- wan23 16y agoSeems like you're not doing a good job of resisting! That said, it would be interesting to hear from Japanese or Japan-resident HNers about this.
- philk 16y agoThis is both hilarious and incredibly sad. If they stopped playing these things they might have more luck getting a partner for real. Also I can't help wondering if they get jealous when they notice the guy two tables over has the exact same imaginary girlfriend.
- igrekel 16y ago"Some devoted fans will go so far as to pay twice the rate" Wow! I would hav enever tought it would go this far. I have a hard time not seeing this as living in denial... Does that mean I am getting old?
- lionhearted 16y agoMy not particularly bold prediction: This is going to become more common everywhere going forwards.
- brianmwang 16y agoAnd we wonder why Japan is experiencing a population decline crisis.
- RK 16y agoWhenever I see these "Japanese people do the weirdest things" stories, I always wonder if the Japanese read stories that are along the lines of "Americans/Europeans do the weirdest things".
- plnewman 16y agoMy experience has been that there's some of that. 'Engrish' is usually good for a cheap laugh among native English speakers, but Asians will laugh at the random Chinese/Japanese characters Americans tattoo on themselves. That said, there are plenty of Japanese people who will find this virtual dating behaviour weird.
- theprodigy 16y agoIt is pretty sad that this exists and there is demand for it. Anyways if it shows great numbers I am pretty sure there will be similar businesses all throughout Asia. I can't help but think of the potential in China with their lack of porn access and a huge mismatch between the number of women and men.
- brazzy 16y agoI suspect that the article portrays the handpicked most bizarre 1% of the visitors, while to the other 99%, it's no different than people booking a trip to Paris because they've watched "The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain".