Interest

BBC Reports About Otaku Marrying Anime Characters

The BBC website has published a news report on the phenomenon of Japanese otaku "marrying" anime characters.

The lengthy story, written by Stephanie Hegarty, is based around two interviews. One is with a Japanese man called Akihiko Kondo, who "married" the virtual idol Hatsune Miku (pictured). The wedding ceremony involved 39 people - a joke on the name "Miku" which can be read "39" - though Kondo's mother and sister refused to attend. Miku was represented by a cuddly toy in a wedding veil; her bouquet, naturally, was made of leeks. After the vows, the Miku toy "sat" at a table propped up in a vase.

Kondo says he "married" Miku both to prove his love for her, and to show his support for other otaku people who fall in love with anime characters.

He says he is not attracted to real women because he is not popular with them. After being picked on in school, he was bullied mercilessly by two women in his workplace, and ended up shutting himself in his room for two years, becoming a "hikkikomori".

Kondo says he was healed by seeing Hatsune Miku videos on YouTube and Niconico. "Listening to her songs sometimes makes me very emotional. How she dances, moves and talks makes me feel. My heart starts moving again."

He became able to go back to work - he now works in a secondary school where, according to the article, the students tend to be accepting of his "relationship." Kondo is socialising again, and has a suburban apartment with his name written with Miku's above his doorbell. He is happy.

Stephanie Hegarty also interviews Professor Masahiro Yamada, a sociologist who has an agony aunt column in the Japanese Yomiuri newspaper. Yamada claims the number of "pesudo-relationships" in Japan is growing.

He claims this is linked with economic factors in Japan; for example, a high proportion of Japanese women between 20 and 29 believe husbands should work and wives should do housework. The article suggests this may reflect the fact that women bear the burden of childcare in Japan, and life is hard for working mothers in the Japanese system.

This results, Yamada claims, in "an increasing number of young women who choose not to date and an increasing number of young men who know enough not to bother trying."

The article also mentions that the company Gatebox has been issuing unofficial Hatsune Miku marriage certificates since 2018, with around 3,700 sold.