

Only in Japan, real men go to a hotel with virtual girlfriends - buzzblog
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575451414209658940.html?mod=WSJ_hps_editorsPicks_3

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philk
This 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.

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brianmwang
And we wonder why Japan is experiencing a population decline crisis.

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theprodigy
It 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.

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jedschmidt
Let us resist flashing the patio11 signal for this.

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wan23
Seems 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.

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brazzy
I 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".

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igrekel
"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?

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RK
Whenever 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".

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plnewman
My 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.

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lionhearted
My not particularly bold prediction: This is going to become more common
everywhere going forwards.

