Over four years ago, the media in Japan and globally went bananas about a Japanese man who "married" a virtual character.
These stories are catnip to editors who love "sexless Japan" and "wacky Japan" content. The tale of Akihiko Kondo and his love for popular Vocaloid idol Hatsune Miku was too much to resist, and the world lapped it up.
For little discernible reason, Kondo (who is now 40) is back in the news.
The Mainichi Shimbun sat down for a fresh interview with him and find out how his "marriage" is going. (The newspaper also published a follow-up story in January 2022.) Apparently, ...
Evidence at last that the future is doomed. We are set to be surrounded by avatars, augmented reality companions, and "enhanced" partners. Nothing we will see or touch -- or even fuck -- will be what it actually is.
Are we exaggerating? Perhaps.
But then look at what FaceApp can do! The app was recently used to transform nine male Japanese reporters into cute Japanese women.
Before you start fapping at these cuties, be sure to check the originals!
Of course, FaceApp has been around for a few years and YouTube is full of deep fake videos. But this is some of the most compelling evidence we ...
Japan has a declining population. The government, in all its wisdom, has decided to do something about this.
Helping women maintain careers after giving birth? Fixing the toxic work culture that requires gruelingly long hours and male-dominated management?
That can wait. The government is hoping robots will fix things.
As recently reported in the mainstream media, the government plans to allocate a whopping ¥2 billion next year for giving out to local authorities that implement programs where residents find love -- assisted by artificial intelligence.
In fact, about half of the ...
A research team at Gifu University has developed the My Girlfriend in Walk (sic), a robotic hand that the user can hold to replicate the experience of a romantic walk with a partner.
The artificial hand apparently even imitates the way a human appendage sweats and smells as well as feeling soft and warm.
Grip the hand and its built-in sensors detect the pressure of your grasp and will squeeze your hand back in reply. The hand can also work in tandem with the user's smartphone to recognize whose hand it is holding.
Despite investing unknown amounts of time and yen in the development, the ...
In a bid to contain the second wave of the coronavirus around Japan, people are now being encouraged to have "online nomikai" (drinking parties) rather than meeting in person for food and booze at the usual izakaya or restaurant.
Thankfully, technology now makes this possible, though the idea has a fatal flaw. One of the major appeals of a nomikai is that it gives you the chance to hook up with that friend of a friend who tags along, or that cutie at the next table. Zoom is great but it removes that from the equation, hence dating will really suffer in these coronavirus times.
How can you ...
Oh, to be single again. But one expert has recently warned of the perils of dating and even kissing in the age of the coronavirus.
While a lot of the attention has focused somewhat disproportionately on hostess and hostess clubs, the coronavirus pandemic has also massively impacted nightclubs, bars, and live music venues. With the nightlife industry on the verge of collapse, this is not just a loss in terms of cool places to go and hang out -- it also affects how people date and woo a partner.
If you can't go to a karaoke booth with your date, where can you get some smooching done in ...
These news stories are coming thick and fast.
Just Monday we reported on the emergence of a service using Zoom to offer a virtual hostess club experience.
Now there is SmaCaba, another remote hostess club service.
With a typically Japanese mashup of "smartphone" and "kyabakura" (cabaret club, a euphemism for hostess club) for its name, SmaCaba links hostesses and customers through their handheld devices. The session that a customer enjoys with an available hostess is conducted via LINE, Zoom, or Skype. Sessions are available from 7pm every day except Sundays.
The customer/user pays with ...
We recently wrote about the various ways that the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the adult industry in Japan.
While certain prostitution services are attempting to exploit the crisis for its marketing potential, the plight of hostesses is gaining attention. Kabukicho, where many hostess clubs are located, has been identified as one of the probable causes of the spread of the virus in Tokyo due to the closely confined nature of the clubs. One-fourth of people in Shinjuku infected in March were working in role connected to nightlife services.
With nightlife in the capital essentially dead ...
It was only a matter of time before someone came up with a way of linking maid cafes and hostess bars with digital idols and adult virtual reality.
Behold the VR hostess cafe.
Yumenographia is not a physical space, but exists purely in a digital realm: it's waiting for your patronage whenever and wherever you put on a VR headset. It is staffed by hostesses/maids who are, of course, entirely "fake" -- in the sense that they are digital avatars. But, and this is a big "but," the hostesses are real in the sense that they are the avatars of genuine people, rather than characters. At some remote ...
Virtual dating games and services are very well-established in Japan, and YouTube is the next logical step in this evolution. One of the biggest virtual YouTuber idols at the moment is Shiro-chan, whose videos offer private dining experiences.
Now the Japanese virtual YouTuber Note Takehana has upped the stakes with a crowdfunding campaign to remake the titular VTuber with 3D computer graphics. To encourage fans to contribute, "she" is offering supporters a range of merchandise depending on how far their wallets stretch.
So what's the top perk? If you fork out ¥1 million ($9,000), you get ...
