Japanese men have a new perspective on romantic relationships: they fall in love, go to the movies, and have sex with rayon pillows featuring anime girls. Lisa Katayama explored the nature of these unusual feelings.
Niisan, 37 years old
Niisan never expected to fall in love with Nemu-chan. They first met at a comic book convention in Tokyo. Niisan wandered the halls and suddenly found himself staring at blue-eyed Nemu-chan for an hour. At first, they were just friends. A few months later, when Niisan got his driver's license, he invited her for a drive around the city in his beat-up car. They went to a beach on the outskirts of Tokyo, not far from where Niisan lives with his parents. Over time, they took more and more romantic trips, mostly to the west—to Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara. There, to save money, they slept in the car or with friends. They took photos under the cherry blossoms, frolicked like children, rode the carousel, and ate noodles at street stalls. Three years have passed since their fateful meeting, but they are still inseparable.
“She changed my dull life,” says Niisan, gently stroking Nemu-chan's leg. True, Nemu-chan is missing a leg, and she herself is a print on a pillow… Nemu-chan is the main character of the video game Da Capo, an interactive novel about high school love.
Nemu-chan is a teenager, wearing a blue bikini and shiny ribbons in her hair. Niisan isn't completely stupid and understands that she's not alive, but he loves her no less for it. “Of course she's my girlfriend,” he says without a hint of irony, surprised that I could ask such a tactless question. “And my feelings for her are real!”
Five years ago, Niisan had a real girlfriend, but she left him for someone else. Now he has Nemu-chan, whom he drags around with him everywhere. “Many people think God knows what of us,” he worries. Indeed, it's nothing short of astonishing – Niisan entertains Nemu-chan as if she were alive. On weekends, they go to karaoke, dance, and take souvenir photos (probably to show the grandchildren). The entire day we spent together, he never took his eyes off her – he'd move her to a more comfortable position, he'd smooth out the folds of her dress… In the car, he sat her in the backseat and checked to make sure the seatbelt wasn't pinching her private parts.
Niisan doesn't employ her, but he keeps a spare Nemu-chan in the closet at the office where he does tech support—in case he has to work late. “It's so sweet to take a nap with her cuddled in a chair.” Niisan has a Nemu-chan for every occasion—seven in total. He buys them online, avoids counterfeits, and chooses only high-quality products—$75 apiece. When a girl loses color and shape from frequent use, he orders a younger one. “When I die, I want us to be buried together, with her lying in my arms.”
Niisan isn't alone in Japan. It's an entire subculture—adult men and women fall head over heels in love with virtual characters and start married lives with them. “2D lovers” are a side effect of otaku culture (manga, anime, and video games). Like otaku, 2D lovers go to work, pay taxes, drink with friends, and some are even married. Unlike otaku, however, otaku don't sleep with their toys. Some have huge collections of anime toys at home, pretending to be dating them, but they keep their relationships under wraps and never take them out of their apartments. But true 2D enthusiasts, like Niisan, sincerely believe that the glittery drawings on their acetate pillows represent their girlfriends.
In March 2008, UNICEF Japan petitioned the government to “prohibit sexual scenes and the exploitation of children in animation, video games, and comics.” Last year, at the World Congress on the Protection of Children and Adolescents from Sexual Exploitation, Japan was criticized for its weak policy on child pornography. However, many argue there is no connection between pedophilia and pillows. Japanese men simply don't want to burden themselves with romantic relationships, which they consider nothing but a headache.
For Niisan, his love is true, and he wants no other. For others, it's the opportunity to have multiple girlfriends at once. The frenzied demand for anime has spawned an entire industry for those who don't want or can't love properly. Moe shops offer everything from regular girls to busty, life-size dolls with all the necessary orifices, and moe cafes bustle with waitresses dressed like the dolls.
Ken, 38 years old
Ken Okayama, a tall and rather handsome 38-year-old textile company employee who lives in the countryside, flies to Tokyo two or three times a year to expand his already impressive anime collection. “You can't find anything this beautiful in our city,” Okayama says as we stroll through the Gee store. It's adorned with posters and pillows, featuring wide-eyed, blond-haired dolls in barely-there bikinis—it's truly a sight to behold!
Okayama is a longtime anime fan. 20 years ago, anime saved him from suicide. He got a job, but things didn't work out with the team (Japanese people don't leave one job for another; the country practices lifetime employment). “I was in despair and was ready to commit suicide,” Okayama admits. But then he met Sasami, the blue-eyed blonde from the anime Tenchi Muyo! And it didn't matter that she was only eight years old—the main thing was that life immediately became joyful. He didn't give up because he wanted a new doll and found a job after being fired in 2003. A pillow became his only consolation when his real-life girlfriend dumped him. “I didn't want to get married,” Okayama admits frankly. “And that's all girls dream about. They're difficult—no matter what you say, no matter what you do, and your room always has to be tidy, otherwise it's a scandal. Is that really life?!” And in Japan, it's not customary to be with one person and love another. But with anime, I can love one one day and another the next.”
Momo, 36 years old
At a mostly male anime fan convention, I met Momo, who sells pillow girls at his men's club, Youkouro, which translates as “The Fire of Children's Love.” In the store, he showed me his catalog, which contains over a hundred images of girls with giant eyes and in suggestive poses. Just then, a five-year-old girl and her father passed by. It was awkward, but Momo seemed unfazed. “I sell four pillows a day,” he said, very pleased with himself.
Momo, whose real name is Toru Taima, has 150 anime pillows at home. His current favorite is Karada-chan, a red-haired, D-cup bra from the anime A Direction of the Day After Tomorrow. In the anime, she's fully clothed, but in Momo's mind, and consequently on the pillow, she's naked, with a bashful blush on her cheeks, erect nipples, white panties pulled down, and a deliberately large, shaved vagina.
Last March, the Japanese National Institute of High Technology created a robotic girl “for entertainment purposes” with a girl's face, human proportions, a height of 158 cm, and a weight of 43 kg. The robot can walk, blink its eyelashes, and speak a little Japanese. Momo is waiting for the technology to be patented and commercially available. “I don't care what people think. I just want to be left alone. I'm perfectly happy in 2D, and I don't want to return to reality.” Niisan is less categorical: “Of course I want to get married. But who needs me? There are such devils living in my head that sometimes I can't control them.” He hopes that when he meets his girlfriend, she will accept and love his pillow. “Nemu-chan is the meaning of my life, and if she is taken away from me, I won't survive.”
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