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Japanese Man “Marries” Hologram; Has “Cross-Dimension” Marriage
November 16, 2018
The Jakarta Post is reporting that Akihiko Kondo, a 35-year-old Tokyo man, has “married” a hologram – a computer-generated projection – of his “bride.” The marriage is described as “cross-dimension,” the report says.
The digitally-generated “bride” is “virtual reality singer” and alleged pop-star known as “Hatsune Miku.” Miku is also a synthetic, computer-generated entertainment construct, a product of what’s called “anime.”
The Jakarta Post (JP) reports about 40 guests attended Kondo’s wedding ceremony, which cost the “groom” some 2 million yen, or $17,600. The JP reports that Kondo’s mother refused an invitation to the event.
Of the “newlyweds,” the JP writes that Kondo’s “holographic wife wakes him up each morning and sends him off to his job as an administrator at school.”
Since he can’t sleep in bed with the hologram, Kondo holds a doll version of the image as he sleeps, the JP reports.
The JP further writes that Kondo “considers himself an ordinary man”:
“[Kondo] wants to be recognized as a ‘sexual minority’ who can’t imagine dating a flesh-and-blood woman.
‘It’s simply not right, it’s as if you were trying to talk a gay man into dating a woman, or a lesbian into a relationship with a man.’
‘Diversity in society has been long called for,’ he added.
‘It won’t necessarily make you happy to be bound to the “template” of happiness in which a man and woman marry and bear children.’
‘I believe we must consider all kinds of love and all kinds of happiness.’ he said.”
The JP reports that “Gatebox, the company that produces the hologram device featuring Miku, has issued a ‘marriage certificate’, which certifies that a human and a virtual character have wed ‘beyond dimensions.'”
The article adds that the marriage “might not have any legal standing.”
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