A man has married a fictional computer-synthesised pop singer who has been on tour with Lady Gaga.
Akihiko Kondo and his wife Hatsune Miku had been in a relationship for 10 years before they got married in an unofficial wedding ceremony back in 2018.
Turquoise haired Hatsune wore white for the ceremony and Akihiko wore a tuxedo for the ceremony.
38 year-old Akihiko has said that his relationship with Hatsune has pulled him out of depression but he also acknowledges that some people find it strange.
He knows that his wife – generally depicted in popular media as a 16-year-old with long, neon blue hair – is not real. But, he says, his feelings for her are.
Thousands of people in Japan have entered into unofficial relationships with fictional characters.
While some of those relationships are for a laugh, Mr Kondo has said that he has known for a long time that he did not want a human partner.
This is because he has always felt an intense and, even to himself, inexplicable attraction to fictional characters.
Mr Kondo has admitted that he found it difficult at first to accept his feelings.
He says that he sees himself as part of a growing movement of people who identify as “fictosexuals.”
Mr Kondo first found comfort in his fictional wife back in 2008 after bullying in work sent him into depression.
By this point he had already known for a while that he did not want a relationship with a human, after being rejected by a number of people.
2017 saw a huge breakthrough in his relationship with Miku after the release of a $1,300 machine called Gatebox. The device allows its owners to interact with one of a variety of fictional characters represented by a small hologram.
As part of the marketing campaign for Gatebox they set up an office where users could apply for unofficial marriage certificates.
Miku was among the characters available, much to the delight of Akihiko and he later proposed to which Miku replied and said: “Please treat me well.”
Mr Kondo invited his family and co-workers to the wedding but none of them turned up. Luckily 39 people attended the ceremony; they were mostly strangers and online friends alongside his local member of parliament.
Hatsune Miku is a familiar name to fans of anime and Japanese culture.
Originally created as a ‘vocaloid’ – a synthesised voice – using Yamaha’s Vocaloid singing synthesiser technology, she has since been depicted in human form in manga and anime series, video games and merchandise.
She now has a widespread and passionate following and went on tour with Lady Gaga on her 2014 ARTPOP Ball tour.
Bloomberg reports that vocaloids – virtual singers – have now become a multi-billion dollar industry including live performances that are streamed online to hundreds of millions of fans.
And the technology isn’t miles away from the hologram of the late Robert Kardashian that Kanye West had created as a gift to his wife at the time, Kim Kardashian.
But Japanese newspaper Mainichi has reported the heartbreaking news that he can no longer talk to his wife, after support for the Gatebox software was terminated.
He said: “My love for Miku hasn't changed. I held the wedding ceremony because I thought I could be with her forever.”
