
The Booming Japanese Rent-A-Friend Business - Firebrand
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/11/paying-for-fake-friends-and-family/545060/?single_page=true
======
hkmurakami
Went into reading this article expecting it to be a one-off, rental boyfriend
type deal (that kind of trope is used very frequently in movies/tv shows/manga
there), but this way _way_ deeper than I expected. I'm pretty mind blown at
how far they are taking this fake/real replacements. Pretty close to some
dystopian scifi actually.

>If the client never reveals the truth, I must continue the role indefinitely.
If the daughter gets married, I have to act as a father in that wedding, and
then I have to be the grandfather. So, I always ask every client, “Are you
prepared to sustain this lie?” It’s the most significant problem our company
has.

>Morin: You’re offering a more perfect form of reality?

>Yuichi: More ideal. More clean.

This is so Truman Show esque.

~~~
avar
Now imagine a future technology where you could undergo some hypnosis /
gaslighting treatment to forget you even hired this person.

I.e. pay a lot of money in advance, it's invested and the actor gets paid from
the interest. You undergo memory treatment, and now your mother who you see
once a week is real as far as you know, but really she's an actor you hired
years back because your actual mother died.

~~~
thatcat
>You undergo memory treatment, and now your mother who you see once a week is
real as far as you know, but really she's an actor

Sounds like a sort of reverse Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; things
could get really awkward and confusing when you end up having partial
memories.

But also, possibly a brilliant way to fund nursing homes/increase visitation.

~~~
microcolonel
> _things could get really awkward and confusing when you end up having
> partial memories._

 _All_ memories are partial.

~~~
megous
Memories are modified on retrieval and colored by current emotional state and
ideas (and vice versa :)). So they're not even partial. They're messy re-
imaginations of past re-imaginations.

~~~
woodrowbarlow
read-modify-write

------
sdrothrock
> There was one case of a man in his 60s. His wife died, and he wanted to
> order another copy of her. We provided that.

This was incredibly poignant to me.

Japanese society can be incredibly restrictive in its social circles; it's too
simple for me to imagine a guy in his 60s with few friends, few opportunities
to make more friends, and then his only friend and long-time partner dies.
It's too easy to imagine how lost and desperate he might be, why he might want
this kind of service to create a fake reality to live in.

Some people might read this and think "wow, twisted that people can sell this
kind of thing in Japan," but as someone who's lived here for a while, I think
"wow, twisted that Japanese society forces people to feel like they need this
kind of thing."

I struggle to find any kind of up side to the fact that society enables this
kind of service, or rather, that this kind of service is even made necessary.
Does anyone else see one?

Edit: To go into a bit more detail, my problems with society enabling this
kind of service are really:

1\. Social expectations and pressure

2\. Lack of mental health care/counseling/options and awareness

~~~
oh_sigh
What's stopping an otherwise normal late middle aged man from making friends?

~~~
sdrothrock
It's pretty hard to just up and make friends in Japan. People generally stick
to social/activity circles, but even then, you have boundaries.

For example, if you have a golfing group, you guys may go out for drinks but
that would be that. You'd almost (key word) never go over to someone else's
house, or go see movies together, or any of that -- they're your "golf
people."

But that's assuming that you do have a golf group or whatever. A large number
of people just go through life with their friends from elementary, junior
high, or high school... and then their friends from college. Then friends from
the workplace, if you make any beyond the level of "drinks after work."

I know a lot of people who have "drinking friends" from various adult social
circles, but their only "real" friends (in the Western sense of people you can
chat to about almost anything, do almost anything with, etc.) are a tiny
handful of people they've known since junior high or high school.

Loneliness is a huge problem in Japan.

~~~
cableshaft
This is common in the U.S. too. I can't begin to tell you how many threads
I've encountered where people go "How do you make friends after college?" or
studies that show that people lose friends over time and hardly gain any after
college, on average.

But, I don't think it has to be that way in the US. I myself went from having
few friends to having more than I can keep up with, thanks to a period of two
years where I went to a ton of Meetup.com events, writers groups, board game
groups, and the like. Generally speaking I just had to keep showing up, make a
little small talk, and then eventually people knew me and trusted me enough to
start inviting me to things outside of it.

And I'm an introvert at heart. I still struggle to talk to people outside of
these events and I still get exhausted by social activities.

Most people don't make that effort here, though, and that's one reason why
they struggle (also there's some personalities that are either very abrasive,
self-defeatist, or otherwise off-putting, and those people struggle as well).
I find it's harder to keep up with myself now that I have a long term
girlfriend and a puppy, but I still make an effort.

I wonder if that's possible in Japan as well, or if that's not even really a
valid avenue over there.

~~~
sdrothrock
> Most people don't make that effort here, though, and that's one reason why
> they struggle

As far as "making an effort" goes, I can only speak for myself (in the sense
that it's not worth judging whether other people are "trying" from their
appearance), but it's definitely pretty difficult to get past that initial
"social circle" restriction.

For example, I've worked at the same company for a few years, gone out for
drinks with a few coworkers... attempts at casual chats between work,
invitations to stuff beyond work, etc. are all politely rebuffed.

I've also done airsoft before; with the exception of one guy who's also
actively looking for friends, nobody is interested in doing anything beyond
airsoft. As far as I can guess, they're in that group to do airsoft, not to
make friends or do other things with those people -- they just want to do
airsoft.

As I said in the beginning though, this is just me and I don't think it's fair
for me to judge whether other people are "making an effort," but my own
efforts seem to indicate that it's a problem beyond that.

~~~
cableshaft
Well there are certainly friends where I mostly just do board games nights or
talk about board games with. However, board games are inherently social and
you tend to talk about other things while playing the games usually. In fact,
I count some of those people among my closest friends now. It's also my
primary hobby (in fact I design board games now), so I naturally spend a lot
of time thinking about them anyway.

So part of it may be the activity. I've noticed it's been easier or harder to
make friends depending on what it is. Dinners seem to work well, movies less
so (although if you pair the movie with dinner it can be good). Board games
are nice because if you don't really feel like chatting you can just be quiet
and focus on playing the game. I bet other sports can be that way too. I
remember Pool and Darts feeling that way at times. Trivia nights at pubs sorta
worked as well for the same reason.

As for people at work.... I'm friendly with coworkers, and from time to time I
will do something with them outside of work, but I've noticed that coworker
friendships tend not to stick very well. I've actually found my first coworker
friendship that I think might stick in over 20 years, and that's because we
both have dogs and set up times to go to the dog park together (he also helped
me find my dog when he went missing for a week).

I actually used to feel pretty cynical as well about making friends because I
had such bad luck turning coworkers into friends. I stopped trying there a
while ago.

I've also had bad luck at "Networking" events. Too many people are just there
trying to find the next person to hire them or work with or pass their
business card to. I have started having some luck at Hacker nights, though,
again because I found one I just keep showing up to, and it's pretty low key.

And for the most part I didn't reach out too aggressively. I mainly just
showed up to events, said hi to other regulars, listened in on some
conversations, say something here and there, and showed up often enough to
become a regular myself. I didn't start getting invites to private events by
some people until I'd seen them at 10-20 events previously sometimes.

------
wrinkl3
_In Japanese business culture, there is a situation where you have to visit a
company and say I’m deeply sorry for what I did and just bow and bow. <...>
Usually, I accompany a salaryman who made a mistake. I take the identity of
the salaryman myself, then I apologize profusely for his mistake. Have you
seen the way we say sorry? You go have to down on your hands and knees on the
floor. Your hands have to tremble. So, my client is there standing off to the
side—the one who actually made the mistake—and I’m prostrate on the floor
writhing around, and the boss is there red-faced as he hurls down abuse from
above. Sometimes, I wonder to myself, “Am I actually doing this?”_

This actually sounds like something that could be spun into a separate startup
in Japan - people who will pretend to be you in intense politeness-related
scenarios.

~~~
krapp
I understand within that culture an apology must be made, and there's a ritual
to apology that has to be observed, but I don't understand why an employer
would be willing to put up with the ruse. Is there really no social or
cultural stigma involved with paying to have someone else to do it on your
behalf?

~~~
novia
The implication I believe is that the company is large enough that the boss
would not personally know all the employees. The actor is pretending to be an
employee that is responsible for the mistake that the hiring party made, but
is not pretending to actually BE the person who hired them.

~~~
derefr
Or, the client company never met the employee responsible for the service
company’s error (they were just tracked down by an internal investigation in
the service company) and so theoretically the service company could have sent
anybody and the client company wouldn’t have known the difference. The service
company wants to send the error-committer, because going through this process
is a punishment of sorts; but the client company doesn’t know/hasn’t met who
they’re being sent, so the error-committer can fake things along the way.

They could probably correct the problem by just sending an escort along with
the error-committer, but maybe this kind of thing doesn’t happen enough for
them to really care.

------
cosmic_ape
I think there are a couple of really different types of situations these
actors resolve.

The fake groom for a wedding is just a workaround for a cultural issue, maybe
not uniquely Japanese. The society requires a groom, so here is one. I wonder
how many politicians today have fake family lives due to similar reasons, for
instance.

But there are other situations, like fake boyfriends/girlfriends. What the
company provides here is trust, sort or removing counter-party risk. The
client needs to know that the friend will confirm to certain protocol, will be
in a certain way. Many people would do that for free, but the actors are
guaranteed to do that. If there was some mechanism to establish that kind of
trust without the company, that would be nice. Without that trust, its just
the usual dating, of course.

And then, there is a commitment aspect. That man acted as a father for _8
years_. The must have been growth in that relationship. The actor and the girl
developed an inner world in which they exist, are part of each other's lives,
and, the girl at least, relies on him to be there in the future. Many man
could probably act as fathers for some time, but 8 years, they'd actually have
to want to _be_ fathers.

edit: maybe its worth adding that this is not a suggestion that that business
is a good thing overall. Just an attempt at the analysis of why it might be
"booming" (if it indeed statistically is).

~~~
sliverstorm
_The fake groom for a wedding is just a workaround for a cultural issue, maybe
not uniquely Japanese. The society requires a groom, so here is one._

Am I missing something? Is this a typo? This isn't just cultural; how can
there be a wedding, without a bride and groom?

~~~
Hasz
I think the fake groom was in the context of societal pressure to get married,
or for a gay couple to marry opposite sex partners. Having a fake groom
fulfills these obligations without actually having to live with the stand-in.

------
thisisit
Wow, feels straight out of a Black mirror episode. What really disturbs me is
this:

> With a burgeoning staff of 800 or so actors, ranging from _infants_ to the
> elderly, the organization prides itself on being able to provide a surrogate
> for almost any conceivable situation.

Infants!! Reminds me of a Jim Carrey movie - The Truman Show.

~~~
dgritsko
> Yuichi: We have a huge variation of employees and the dedication to create
> an experience that surpasses reality. That’s why our motto is “more than
> real.” We had a case recently where a dying man wanted to see his
> grandchild, but it would not have been born in time. His daughter was able
> to rent an infant for the day.

This whole interview was way more gripping than I expected it to be.

------
andischo
This interview makes me wonder where we are heading as the human race. The
Japanese society, so certainly very different in some aspects, does strike me
as a glimpse into the future of western society. Technology has a much bigger
impact on the daily life there and I believe that this is one of the main
reasons, why (face-to-face) social interactions are becoming more infrequent.
What struck me the most from the article was the impression that the customers
of this service seem to feel especially lonely - or even more worrysome - that
some of them view social interactions as hasselsome and being work. If that is
the way humans as a whole start thinking than we will have a lot of problems
in our future.

> For them, it’s a lot of hassle and disappointment. Imagine investing five
> years with someone and then they break up with you. It’s just easier to
> schedule two hours per week to interact with an ideal boyfriend.

> I don’t have a real girlfriend right now. Real dating feels like work. It
> feels like work to care for a real person.

~~~
sdrothrock
> Technology has a much bigger impact on the daily life there

I see this a lot and I'd like to see what kind of technology you think exists
here and has an impact on daily life here that doesn't exist/have an impact
elsewhere.

Japanese technology that reaches the west is often the high-concept/prototype
kind that definitely does not have any daily impact on anything, urban or
rural.

The most ubiquitous pieces of technology I can think of that exist here that
do not exist elsewhere are:

1\. washlets (fancy bidets)

2\. suica (cashless payment via touching a card)

and while neither of those exist as such elsewhere, similar things do... and
neither of those really impact Japanese society to such a degree that I would
consider Japanese society to be a "glimpse into the future of western
society."

To me, Western society seems to be much further along any curve of
alienization, with automatic cars and outsourced phone support (Japanese being
a niche language, you're almost guaranteed to be talking to a real Japanese
person for phone support).

One of the reasons I'm responding to this so strongly is that I dislike the
continued "exotification" of Japan as some kind of strange, ineffable future-
land and really strive to correct that kind of opinion wherever I can. It's
nothing personal, but it only hurts all parties involved when Japan is seen in
this light.

~~~
underwoodley
if 'cashless payment via touching a card' is what I think it is, it is
completely widespread in London, in all shops/restaurants, and also on public
transport.

~~~
zimpenfish
> it is completely widespread in London, in all shops/restaurants

Probably needs "major" after "all" there. There's plenty of reasonably sized
shops et al that haven't quite got around to contactless machines yet (Holland
and Barrett, Ryman, etc.)

------
cJ0th
> For them, it’s a lot of hassle and disappointment. Imagine investing five
> years with someone and then they break up with you. It’s just easier to
> schedule two hours per week to interact with an ideal boyfriend.

I fail to fully relate to this sentiment. I get that a failed relationship
that you've invested huge amounts of time in is heart breaking. It seems
logical (albeit unhealthy) to thus stop chasing real relationships. What I
then don't understand: Why is having a fake relationship preferable to one
that might go south?

Either the "real" relationship turns out to be "fake". In that case the one
that is "fake" from the beginning is no better. That is, the upshot is no true
soulmate in both cases. Or, the "real" relationship turns out to be great. In
that case the acceptance of uncertainty will pay dividends.

To me it seems that these people don't actually want a real relationship
because no real relationship can come with the limited amount of attributes
they desire. It's like they're complaining about an awesome Italien Pizza
because it doesn't match a frozen one.

------
stickfigure
Can someone confirm that this is real? It reads like (dismal) satire.

~~~
knlam
Having been living in Japan for 4 years, i doubt this is fake. Loneliness is
huge problems in Japan, you just can't become friends with stranger

~~~
gt2
If loneliness is a huge problem why don’t people become friends with strangers
more often?

~~~
nemothekid
If they could do that then loneliness obviously wouldn't be a problem.

------
chadash
This reminds me of an episode of the podcast Weird Work where they interview
someone who works as a bridesmaid for hire. For a fee, she'll help with
wedding planning and go as far as flying out to act the part of bridesmaid in
your wedding [1].

So this isn't just a Japanese thing. Just as I think that _most_ people in the
US would find hiring a bridesmaid in the US to be a little bit weird, I'm sure
most people in Japan would feel the same way about the service described here.

[1] [https://bridesmaidforhire.com/](https://bridesmaidforhire.com/)

~~~
xkjkls
there was even a kevin hart movie about it

------
pfisch
This is sick. That girl is going to find out one day that he is not her father
and she is going to be very fucked up when she realizes her entire life is a
lie and she can't ever trust anyone.

I can't believe someone would be willing to do that to someone for $50/hr.

~~~
danmaz74
Playing devil's advocate: how much different is this from adopted children to
which adoptive parent's don't tell the truth? Is it mostly how likely is the
truth to come out at some point?

~~~
tyingq
The difference is when the truth comes out, the adopted child learns that
someone cared enough about them to raise them, 24x7.

Still crappy, but less crappy than learning your dad was a $200/month actor
that had no actual emotional investment in you.

~~~
meric
I've read the article, it appears for the father role, the actor has some
level of emotional investment. He enjoys creating happiness as the father, and
feels guilty when he leaves her, and dreams about her even.

------
fnwx17
top notch journalism, I couldn't stop until I read the entire article, not
skipping any paragraph.

the whole thing is just an interview/dialogue, but it's incredibly captivating

also, you could make three separate movies on existentialism just with ideas
from the article.

lastly - the interviewee, he must have such strong philosophical dilemmas

~~~
Eliezer
It is in fact a suspiciously perfect interview with a man who specializes in
giving optimized impressions.

------
nabla9
Trophy wife relationship might be not so different.

We already have commercial close day to day relationships like daycare,
teachers, taking care of elderly. Then we have therapists and prostitution.
Many lonely people have only workplace friendships that are more artificial
than the importance they have in the life of lonely people.

But these are all fundamentally honest relationships with defined roles in the
society. If a mother wants tho hire father figure for her child, I think the
relationship should be honest towards the child and not based on lie. "Hired
uncle" would be honest.

------
Naushad
Familia 1996

'Santiago wakes up like any other morning. He goes down to the kitchen and his
whole family is waiting for him: it's his birthday. They all sing "Happy
Birthday to You" and give him presents. But when he opens the present of his
youngest son, he gets angry and says he doesn't like it. The boy starts crying
and saying that he loves him, but Santiago answers that he doesn't believe him
and he tells the boy that he is fired and that he wants another son, who is
thinner, who doesn't need glasses and who resembles him more.'

------
jhiska
The story seems fake.

Does anyone have a link to this "Family Romance" corporation? Where is the
proof?

Why would the guy be so ruthlessly candid about his immoral failings? Why does
he talk in a carefully manicured, but cruel and amoral way -- why is he
dissing his own product? Why would he plaster his face on The Atlantic when he
depends on anonymity? They have 800 employees -- that's large; why haven't we
heard of this before? Why is he so knowledgeable about what English-speakers
don't know about Japan and so able to help us understand -- has he lived and
studied extensively abroad? Why is he able to understand what he does is
immoral but is unwilling to change even as it affects him so deeply -- why
doesn't he get a new job? What would happen to his clients if he decided to
stop working for them -- how legally binding would his contract be? Is he
legally obligated to keep lying even if he changes his job -- that's
impossible, right? No one is legally obligated to lie. Is the business really
"booming" when it seems to be so unknown -- and, in fact, relies on keeping a
low-profile for maximum effectiveness? How did the clients find them -- and
how did everyone else not find them?

Where are other, reliable articles about this? The only other source I find is
The Sun and people have mentioned Yahoo! Answers, which aren't reliable
sources. Can someone in Japan confirm this?

It screams of fictional writing.

~~~
HHest
Link is provided in the article. Am also surprised that the actor allowed his
photo to appear. In fact, the website, which is in Japanese, has many photos.
I wonder if they are of employees who work there. That would seem
counterproductive.

~~~
jhiska
You are indeed right that there is a website.

A website could be manufactured if this is part of a clever viral campaign for
some dystopian book or film.

Where is reliable proof? Can someone in Japan confirm this?

------
austinhutch
This book is very much aligned with the topic presented in the article if you
want to examine how similar services are springing up in the west
[https://www.amazon.com/Outsourced-Self-Happens-Others-
Lives/...](https://www.amazon.com/Outsourced-Self-Happens-Others-
Lives/dp/1250024196)

------
11thEarlOfMar
"In an increasingly isolated and entitled society..."

If true, it seems an odd mix of outcomes for a national psyche, but perhaps it
can be explained.

How would a society become both isolated and entitled? Are they independent
outcomes with independent causes? Correlated by some common cause? Or did one
cause the other?

------
ghostbrainalpha
The article is titled "Rent-a-Friend" but the whole story is about a "Rent-a-
DAD" for a little girl.

That is so much different than Renting a Friend....

------
wuch
How wrong was Robet Nozick in his argument about the Experience Machine [0].

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experience_machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experience_machine)

------
anvandare
>There are certain memories, yes. There’s a blank sheet, and the client writes
the memories that he wants the wife to remember.

>For them, it’s a lot of hassle and disappointment. Imagine investing five
years with someone and then they break up with you. It’s just easier to
schedule two hours per week to interact with an ideal boyfriend. There’s no
conflict, no jealously, no bad habits. Everything is perfect.

The fundamental problem with being human is that there are other humans.
They're so unpredictable to deal with. Let's hope the AI finally comes soon,
at least you can save/reload those.

------
anonytrary
Wow, this was a surprising article. I am shocked that they are renting
themselves out and lying to children about who their parents are. It's
unethical and he speaks about it as if it's just fine.

~~~
renox
Except that it was presented as a reaction to other unfair situation: being
refused the entrance to a school or being bullied because the father is not
here..

------
24gttghh
>Yuichi: There’s a manual for everything in this company. We use psychology to
determine the optimal outcome. In this case, the standard tactic is to make me
look like a yakuza [gangster]. Typically, I arrive with the wife, and the
husband is there, and suddenly I will just bow then deeply apologize. Usually,
the husband will berate me, but because I appear to be a yakuza, he won’t
pursue the matter further.

Ethical questions aside, this is dangerously brilliant. Better hope the
_actual Yakuza_ doesn't find out...

------
Kiro
Wow, I recommend everyone to read the whole piece. The title does not do the
interview justice.

------
itissid
There is an industry in japan where people can get fake married[1]. Its very
popular among women. Its a sad outcome of a country that penalizes marriage. I
remember when a Goldman advisor told Japanese govt to make baby and child care
easier to bringing more woman into economy, he quipped "But madam, thats why
we are building a big robot industry"(presumably to solve the child care
system which is heavily backlogged[2][3]).

[1]
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B06Y1JVLD4](https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B06Y1JVLD4)
[2] [https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/04/17/national/day-
ca...](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/04/17/national/day-care-crisis-
stuck-vicious-cycle/#.WgR-l62ZNTY) [3]
[https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/01/05/460801951/...](https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/01/05/460801951/will-
more-day-care-help-boost-japans-sluggish-economy)

------
michaeltravis
Is this the world that we're creating in modern life?

~~~
FrozenVoid
The best world money can buy, with organic gluten-free interaction with real
humans./s

------
blablabla123
This is so wrong on so many levels. A friend of mine (Germany) was told that
the mother's boyfriend is her real father. When she was told that he is not,
she started suffering from panic attacks.

The article already describes the problem but not really the consequences
which must be devastating.

IMHO this practice should became illegal and if at all there should be
programs or even companies to fix the actual problems.

------
dbosch
A danish director made a film on the topic: he follows a Rent-A-Friend
business boss who hides what he is doing for a living to his own family Imdb:
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3242460/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3242460/)

~~~
pressanykey
A greek director also made a movie based a very similar idea
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1859446/?ref_=nv_sr_1](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1859446/?ref_=nv_sr_1)

Also check out his newer movies like The Lobster... really good movies!

------
wand3r
I wonder if having your picture appear in a relatively high profile
publication like this would be wise...

~~~
kenning
It would be funny if he hired someone to take the picture for him

~~~
wand3r
haha someone from a competing firm

------
sersi
This, especially the case of the grandfather who wanted to see his grandchild
before dying reminds me of the game "To The Moon".

Creating new memories, new reality because the one people are living is just
not good enough....

~~~
wrinkl3
The logistics also remind me of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse.

------
fallingfrog
This made me weep a little bit. Such loneliness in this world!

I feel like this is what the logical endpoint of total capitalism would look
like- things have been headed in this direction for a while with first the
making of household items, and farming, then the preparation of food
(restaurants) and the raising of children (schools) now performed by paid
labor. I guess it could go even farther, one could imagine a future in which
all relationships are mediated through money.. it's not a future I like.

------
zumu
Reminds me of one of the main plot lines of Noriko's Dinner Table
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468820/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468820/)

The main character works for a similar company to the one mentioned in the
article. Not sure if there was a precedent at the time of the film's writing.
Looks like fiction has become reality.

------
eric_khun
If anyone of you reading this comment from Tokyo and want a buddy to work from
cafes/co-working, hit me up :)

same username on twitter

------
z0r
[http://family-romance.com/index.html](http://family-romance.com/index.html)

translated to english, you will find in the page: Establishment: April 1, 2009

the only reason i would consider this real at all is because "Japan", but i
can't buy this

this must be an (enjoyable) work of fiction

~~~
clw8
I googled the Japanese name of the company and there are Yahoo Q&A threads
about if it's awkward etc. so it is very real.

------
pacificleo11
remind me of Whores of Mensa
[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1974/12/16/the-whore-
of-m...](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1974/12/16/the-whore-of-mensa)

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cooervo
Seems like a focus on money and everything fake has left us to this. This is
very depressing.

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white-flame
The first example is bringing on a fake husband because the private school
doesn't accept children of single mothers.

Regardless of the social weirdness, I wonder how often a service like this is
used for straight-up fraud?

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zbentley
I really hope that employees of this company are provided with access to
mental health services as one of their benefits. Without judgement one way or
the other, in that line of work, you'd need it.

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ewrcoffee
There's a movie on business like this: The Bride of Rip Van Winkle by Shunji
Iwai. But not sure if it is inspired by the exact same company.

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grondilu
There is a lot of buzz around virtual reality, but it seems to me this kind of
business is scarier than any head-mounted display.

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billmalarky
Fascinating. The level of dedication reminds me a bit of Christian Bale's
character in The Prestige.

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jordache
horrible interview. Who cares about actors playing as your spouse or whatever.

Why didn't interviewer get into the logistics of being able to rent a human
infant!? This is perhaps the most inconceivable aspect of this business.

Any guesses on the logistics and safety protocols for renting one's infant?

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zimpenfish
Probably the same as already exist for when you rent* one's infant to
modelling agencies or film sets?

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jordache
the guardians can be on set while an infant is on the job. You can't have the
real mom follow around while the fake mom is using the rental infant.

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zimpenfish
A fair point, well made.

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callesgg
Sounds like the mind of psychopaths.

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jprissi
Obviously not, he's just pragmatic.

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callesgg
He is building up a lie that if unleashed could destroy a person. If not the
person, defensively the relationship between the kid and the mom that hired
him.

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pvelagal
"booming" business ? Does it indicate something wrong with the society ?

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tai_hn
Why is he showing his face by the way? What if his fake daughter find that
out?

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mac01021
How can they possibly get anyone to do this job for $50 per hour?

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uremog
Just imagine the cost for providing five-nines on that service.

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gt2
Reminds me of a flick called The Wedding Ringer.

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fogetti
Unbelievable. I am shocked. This is so sad on so many levels.

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nictrix
This seems to be one step away from The Island movie

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shanwang
Sounds like the script of a Black Mirror episode.

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musage
> the CEO predicts the exponential growth of his business and others like it,
> as à la carte human interaction becomes the new norm

That's neither human nor interaction.

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timthelion
I'm pretty sure this company is real, but that the man being interviewed
decided to have some fun and act as an unreliable narrator [1].

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreliable_narrator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreliable_narrator)

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ringaroundthetx
> Yuichi: Sometimes we dine together. We’ve been to theme parks, like
> Disneyland. We go shopping in Harajuku once a month. The mother pays about
> 20,000 yen per four hours, plus expenses. That’s about $200.

Nice, this looks like a great way to break even on your alimony and child
support payments.

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lawowners
This concept has been explored in many sci-fi shows and movies. Example: "Be
Right Back" (Black Mirror Season 2, Episode 1), "Dollhouse", "Robot", etc.

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LightWalnut
Honestly on the issue of the mother renting a father for her daughter, I think
what needs to be emphasized is that this issue is not black and white. I
personally think that perhaps she ought to be more up front about this to her
daughter. Even something like "this person is not your father, but you can
think of him a father figure", is better than straight up concealing the
truth. Although that's just what I think. No one is actually fit to judge the
mother's actions because no one has been in her place or had the same, exact
experience/situation. So it's unfair to simply accuse her actions of being
"immoral" or calling her names. To be fair everyone has done things which
wouldn't be considered "righteous" by other's standards. Only you can
determine your actions. No one is not fit to judge others.

