Japanese man no longer able to communicate with hologram he married

Jon Brown
Thu, April 28, 2022, 1:37 PM·2 min read
In this article:

• 
  

• 
  
  Mother's Day

A "fictosexual" Japanese man who married a hologram in 2018 recently told a Japanese newspaper that their relationship is struggling with communication.

Akihiko Kondo, 38, who works at a middle school in a Tokyo suburb, married Hatsune Miku, a hologram that was created by a computer as singing software, on Nov. 4, 2018, in a wedding that cost more than $17,000.

As one of the thousands of "fictosexuals," Kondo is attracted to fictional characters.
Japanese man Akihiko Kondo poses with a doll of Japanese virtual reality singer Hatsune Miku, as he shows their marriage certificate, at his apartment in Tokyo, on Nov. 10, 2018, a week after marrying her. BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP via Getty ImagesKondo first interacted with Miku using Gatebox, a $1,300 device that projected fictional characters into a cylinder and allowed users to communicate via artificial intelligence and marry them unofficially.

When he proposed to her in the cylinder, Miku reportedly replied, "I hope you'll cherish me."

MAN, 35, REPORTEDLY MARRIES COMPUTER HOLOGRAM

Since their marriage in 2018, Gatebox technology no longer exists, which Kondo said has complicated their relationship, but not lessened his feelings.

"My love for Miku hasn’t changed," he told Japanese paper Mainichi, which recounted how he walks around with a life-size version of the doll. "I held the wedding ceremony because I thought I could be with her forever."
Japanese man Akihiko Kondo poses next to a hologram of Japanese virtual reality singer Hatsune Miku at his apartment in Tokyo, on Nov. 10, 2018, a week after marrying her. BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP via Getty ImagesRemembering what caused him to withdraw into a world where he would marry a fictitious character, Kondo told Newshub, "It's not that people can't live in society because they're engrossed in a two-dimensional world, but rather, there are cases where people become captivated as they search for a place for themselves in video games and anime because reality is too painful for them."

"I was one of those people. People who don't understand the background probably think, 'Games are disrupting their lives,' but that's not the case," he added.

Kondo was reportedly bullied at work and fell into a depression in 2008 when he first stumbled upon Miku and realized human relationships weren't for him. He credits the Vocaloid software voicebank with pulling him out of his depression.

"I stayed in my room for 24 hours a day, and watched videos of Miku the whole time," he recalled to Mainichi.