You have heard of a woman marrying a spirit and a man who is deeply in love with his car and even copulate with it (how? Don’t ask…), and now you can add marrying a hologram to the weird matrimony list. Yes. It is happening. We somewhat foresaw this when Gatebox debuted several years ago. It has only been months since Gatebox Virtual Home Robot has been available, but already a man, Akihiko Kondo, in Japan has developed such a deep feeling for the anime character that he decided that it is time to tie the knot with this non-existent person.

Japanese Man Marries Hologram Lover

It’s like Her being played out in real life. The only difference is, that Kondo’s virtual reality bride Hatsune Miku will not be showing her care and concern for thousands of people simultaneously. Or is it? Anywho, Kondo is a happy man now and he even has a “certificate of marriage” issued by Gatebox as a prove of this unusual matrimony. Speaking of which… apparently, Kondo’s marriage with a digital person isn’t the first; Gatebox has since issued over 3,700 such “cross-dimension” marriage certificates, which means, over three thousand folks have chosen to live life with a digital partner.

Japanese Man Marries Hologram Lover

Wait, what??? They can’t be serious, right? I am guessing this going to be a norm in Japan moving forward? Perhaps this is the relationship apocalypse we have talked about? But hey, Kondo, whatever floats your boat… Now, if you are thinking the marriage was just a matter of words, well, you are so very wrong cos it even had a formal ceremony to tie the knot. Kondo had dropped two million yen to hold a physical wedding ceremony where a doll version of Miku attended the wedding.

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Japanese Man Marries Hologram Lover

Kondo even went as far as bringing this Miku doll to the jewelry shop to acquire the ring that she now wears on her left wrist. Well, I can only imagine the amused look (and giggles) of the jewelry salesperson (and every inside the store) when a grown-ass man came trotting in with a doll… to buy a ring… for the doll. As you can imagine, this unorthodox marriage was shunned by his mother who refused to attend the wedding. While even his relatives shied away from this ceremony, around 40 guests did turn up to witness the ceremony (probably out of curiosity than anything else).

Notwithstanding the fact that this marriage has no legal standing whatsoever, Kondo appeared truly happy now. You know what am I thinking now? His emotions may have been filled, but what about his physiological needs? Like, you know, the sex part? Will Kondo and the some three thousand folks use a sex surrogate like Theodore did? I wonder…

P.S.: Apparently, Akihiko Kondo was married since last year November. I am not sure if I understand this as Gatebox, as we have learned, wasn’t available until August 2018. I could be wrong. Anyways, the gist is, a man married a hologram, and that’s freaking weird!

Images: AFP/Behrouz MEHRI.

Source: CNA.

Published by Mike

Avid tech enthusiast, gadget lover, marketing critic and most importantly, love to reason and talk.