Everyone loves stories about how weird Japan is (especially the Japanese), so these stories should be taken with a grain of salt.
That's really not what that article is claiming. It's claiming that a particular individual has lied about the industry and made it seem stranger than it actually is and the western media has sensationalized that even further.
There absolutely are rental services for boyfriends, girlfriends, mothers, fathers, etc. in Japan, they're just not as bizarre as some of these articles would lead you to believe.
Bars where one buys a good conversation along with the meal, cafés where the waiters roleplay as one's doting sibling, renting a parent, used underwear from vending machines, maid cafés, maid cafés where the maids are all cross-dressing males, cafés where the attractive male waiters make out with each other for the viewing pleasure of the customer base, cafés where the attractive female waiters wear no underwear, short skirts, and the floors are mirrored — well, that's the joie de vivre that has a big “only in Japan” sticker on it.
The second place with distance is the U.S.A. that at least has cafés where the attractive female waiters wear skimpy outfits, cheerleaders, and bikini car wash — but the rest of the world that has nothing that comes close to this well-inspired madness.
Just one example: All the different "café con piernas" cafes in Chile, which are very similar to Japanese maid cafes.
You seem to have reduced my rather wild and spectacular examples to something so mundane as: “Cafes that cater to lonely straight men or misogynistic businessmen exist”, especially when most of my examples have nothing to do with “straight men” or “misogynistic businessmen”.
I have knowledge of the existence of multiple in almost all of what I listed.
https://livejapan.com/en/in-tokyo/in-pref-tokyo/in-ikebukuro...
This article reviews three different boy's love cafés, in close proximity to one another.
I'm not sure how derive the conclusion that there is only one used underwear vending machine; a simple image search reveals many different models:
https://www.techinasia.com/japan-used-panty-vending-machines...
This article concludes that the most extreme stories about one at every corner are an exaggeration, but one can definitely find them.
As for the cafés without underwear: there is definitely more than one, though they've been on a decline.
Of the 3, only the first one is overtly Yaoi. I don't know the second one, but it doesn't seem like one, and the Butler cafe is definitely not Yaoi.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-pan_kissa
After the boom in the 80s (30+ years ago), are there really any left, with the glass floor and everything?
And akiba is short for akihabara.
The underwear vending machine are out, and hidden now, mostly Akiba from what I hear on whispers, not in public. Maybe even one in Nakano broaddway...
And Kissa's in general are in decline, not just no pantsu kissas.
I raise you the slightly hidden world of "tits on toast" from Australia. In regional cities/towns, you can go to certain local pubs early in the day (10AM - 12PM) and get a cheap breakfast served by topless waitresses.
If the waitresses get enough tips, they allegedly remove everything.
The breakfast is usually terrible (cold canned beans on toast with an egg).
[1] https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/11/27/Topless-doughnut-sho...
Spends considerable time in a topless pancake restaurant if I remember correctly.
In certain areas yeah, but painting all the regions with that brush is strange. Most of the country couldn't handle anything of the sort and the place would be raided by the police in a day. Despite how many pretend play it up to be, Australia is an incredibly conservative country.
The stuff you'll find in mining towns is far worse and basically the wild west. Barstaff will pour you out a beer using their bare asscheeks for a tip. Always wondered what the health authorities think of that.
It was said that their mothers do everything for them and for a much longer time than other countries. Is this true?
The classic book on the subject is "The Anatomy of Dependence" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anatomy_of_Dependence
The gist of this is that the parent-child relationship is the ideal one and that extends into the relationships in a collectivist society including that of a manager to an employee.
And so the doting mother to her child... extends a bit longer. The doting mother part isn't new - but rather that that relationship is seen as the ideal one... gets into cultural comparisons.
... but that's the word that can set you on the search for understanding of that phenomena.
Some of my female coworkers have confirmed this to be true. They say younger guys have problems finding a girlfriend, because they expect her to take care of him the same way his mother did, and younger Japanese women don't want to put up with that kind of attitude anymore.
Regarding social development, my feeling is that Japan is one or two generations behind Western countries.
This is rampantly common in (esp. Southern) Europe as well. The stereotype of the Italian or Greek "mama's boy" who can't do anything around the house and expects their SO to be their surrogate mother is very real.
I really don't think you should be using this as evidence to paint Japan as developmentally retarded as compared to "Western" countries. Respectfully, it comes off as parochial if I'm being charitable, or as working backwards from a desired conclusion if I'm not.
Moreover, this is a trend that crops up all around the world, not just in Japan or Europe. There are plenty of people like this in the US as well. I've met several grown men with well paying jobs who eat out for every meal and have their mothers do their laundry every weekend.
When I say Japan looks to me to be one or two generations behind, is because some of the things I see or hear here are the kind of situations my parents or grandparents got to experience when they were young. Not only what we already discussed, look also at the situation of women in the workplace, or LGBT rights.
There are a great many “western” countries where this is even worse than Japan including the one so often named the primordial “western” country.
I have no idea idea why so often when Japanese culture specifically is discussed the idea is sooner or later proffered that there is some homogeneous “western” culture with common elements that supposedly exists. It certainly doesn't seem to rise when, say, Russian, or Indian culture is discussed.
Turns out a lot of "exotic" problems in this country are all too familiar.
The tidyness, amazingly punctual trains, mountains and general conservatism make both those countries stand out.
I wonder how much it's the fault of the ridiculous Japanese trash collection system. Sorting the trash in 20 different bags that you can only dispose of once a month... No wonder at some point people just get fed up and throw it away in a somewhat hidden place.
That being said I can see an illegal trash site from my window, so I guess my reference point may be pretty far away from both the Swiss and Japanese standard.
There are actually remarkable similarities in culture which are possibly influenced due to both being iland states.
https://bccjacumen.com/uk%E2%80%93japan-closer-than-you-thin...
These do not dive all that much into sexual media however. The Anglo-Saxon is infamously sexually traditional and repressed, and the Englishman second only to the Australiaman. Australia recently actually banned the import of Japanese pornography.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDmbo5dxgQg
He's wrong, however — Eromanga Sensei is far from the worst. I would love for him to take a stab at Night Shift Nurses or Aki-Sora — the latter so amazing that even Tokyo itself made laws to contain it's carnal sins against mankind.
The other article spoke in vague words of quantity, which is quite common in news articles, that a certain quantity is suggested, but actual numbers are never shown.
They are then not technically wrong but know full well most readers would infer a more spectacular claim than what they know the truth is.
I'd argue that when numbers actually be spectacular, news articles invariably cite them, and when they not be, cover them up in vague words — in this case however the number is 1, as it's about a single man only.
When you see these articles about folks in the U.S., it's framed at "this guy is weird." When you see these articles about folks in Japan, it's frequently framed as "Japan is weird, and anti-social, and they don't have enough sex, and if we're not careful this could be us one day!"
The Japanese stereotype is that they are lonely, and it is true that in Japan various things that cater to that, such as Host Clubs, are more common place.
There was also an article about how the Netherlands supposedly pays for prostitutes for the disabled, diving into the stereotype how the Netherlands tends to sit at the vanguard of encouraging sexual nontraditionality — the reality was less interesting and could be summed up as: A) disabled persons obtain financial support from the state; B) prostitution is legal.
I also read articles about the Norwegian military having unisex showers and dorms, which also ties into stereotypical expectations, notwithstanding their existence in other places, I'm sure.
Like countries where you can rent young girls to help launch your latest computer game? There are people in LA that can provide babies for TV/film appearances, preferably twins, with only a few hours notice. That's how the Olsen twins got started. The entire entertainment industry, from strip clubs to hollywood, is premised on renting people to pretend to be something they aren't, to provide personal appearances in places they would otherwise not. It only become weird when you describe it in non-industry terms.
It's kind of sad people have to hire people to do friendly things, but this is a pandemic. And you would "rent-a-person" to move probably in most places (unless you had great friends haha).
Also this makes sense "I'm not a friend or an acquaintance. I'm free of the bothersome things that accompany relationships, but can ease people's sense of loneliness"
So you want a throwaway friend. Or a casual therapist that does things with you. Rent them. Ok I guess not as weird as first glance. We have something similar in the US - life coaches which seemingly everyone on LinkedIn is nowadays.
You can certainly trash 99% of the "weird Japan" stories you see in western medias.
Most of what you hear is from foreign people that did not even remotely try to learn the language or understand the culture. They make a fuss from minor cultural differences. It only gets worse when they experience Japan exclusively through the resonance chambers of the online expat communities.
It is very real:
ファミリーロマンス社【家族レンタル】家族代行・代理ならファミリーレンタル専門 https://family-romance.com/family.html
「他人になりきる」代行サービスが人気博す「叱ってほしい」という依頼も https://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/19410877/
How to Rent Friends in Japan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jag6iyrSjsI
Rental families to heal lonely souls in Japan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OURBpPLewoU
We Rented A Girlfriend In Japan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLBNO33bMX0
Behind Japan's Fake-Family Industry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEhYMirs7fk
Rent-a-friend/family in Japan seems like a real thing.
https://twitter.com/morimotoshoji
Obviously the existence of the Twitter handle is just the first step in some kind of real verification. But it does confirm that, if it's a con, it's a long lived, dedicated one.
"I'm starting a service called 'rental person who does nothing'. [For example] for stores where entering alone is difficult[0], for matching the number of players in a game, to hold a hanami[1] spot. Please only use it for cases where one person is needed. I charge 10,000 yen, plus transportation fare from Kokubunji station, and food and drink (if applicable). I won't do anything other than very simple responses."
So it's not strictly a listening service per se.
[0] in Japan, there are food stores that are geared towards couples
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanami (the context here is holding a picnic spot)
> "People rent him for various reasons. At times he will participate in a gaming session to make up numbers, turn up to send off people who are moving away, accompany those filing for divorce, or listen to health care workers who have become mentally unwell due to their exhausting work."
Yeah, I agree, but it seems like people are drawing parallels to emotional support things like that rent-a-family thing. While they are both extremely unusual gigs, it seems like this guy's interactions would at best be just nodding along, rather than reciprocating (even if in a fake way).
I also should say that this work is very different from "rent a girl" work.
There are good side effects though. I have been to so many museums with Japanese art exhibitions showcasing varieties of works since it draws much interest in western population. The latest (pre pandemic) being the "inspiration from Japan" in Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which is eye-opening (I never realised the Japanese art that have connections with European art).
In conclusion, Japan portrayed in the west for me is more about obsession of elegance, extreme aesthetics, and bizarrity. These are merely my terrible personal generalisation / opinions.
If anyone finds it, please share.
It reminds me of HN. If you read HN too much, you might think that you can only write applications in Rust and Go using K8s, no JavaScript but Typescript only, but in reality the vast majority of apps being written are using boring technologies to implement CRUD around a relational database.
The only place I ever see "weird Japan" content regularly is Reddit and western vloggers living in Japan posting the most sensationalist stuff possible.
It even made the news in Japan.
Firstly, love hotels are a sign of not being lonely. They do not offer a prostitute; those batteries are not included
Secondly, I do not gain the impression from that that all do it, merely that they note that the very existence thereof is exceptional. In particular, of the used underwear vending machines, when the story broke many would not believe it and thought it was a hoax, but it actually exists.
No one thinks that every U.S.A.-man bought an assault rifle at a gas station or got one as a gift for opening up a bank account, but that the practice even exists, that the number of occurrence isn't zero — that is something remarkable in and of itself.
> The media loves to spin up an image of Japan to naive westerners by exaggerating its quirks.
What I must ask is why the term “western” invariably always drops whenever Japan is discussed.
Experience taught me that more often than not “the west” in that context simply means “The U.S.A.”.
There is no “west” relevant to what you claim. All that matters is “Japan” vs. “everything else” or at least anyone not particularly experienced with Japan which applies as easily to, say, India, Russia, Uganda, or Indonesia.
> It reminds me of HN. If you read HN too much, you might think that you can only write applications in Rust and Go using K8s, no JavaScript but Typescript only, but in reality the vast majority of apps being written are using boring technologies to implement CRUD around a relational database.
I find that every time an article about a, shall we call it “exciting language” is posted most of the comments, though impressed with the theoretical innovations thereof, doubt it's real world applicability.
My observation from travel is that love hotels are a sign of multigenerational housing. Young adults need somewhere to go without their parents watching.
They're actually cheaper and nicer than hotels, so if you're not icky, it's a cheap way to stay in the country ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Do you speak Pashto enough to know that Afghanistan does not take the crown in this, for instance? Do you speak Danish enough to know that Denmark also participates?
For him to confirm his claim that it is a specifically “western” thing to treat Japan so in news sources, he has to speak a variety of both “western" and “non western" languages to truly ascertain that trend.
He must both confirm that it happens in “western” news sources of many different countries, as well as that it doesn't happen in ”non western” news sources.
One would have to speak a considerable number of languages to claim sufficient expertise in world news reporting to make this claim.
I'm not sure as to how I'm supposed to challenge the challenge to my challenge without being “confrontational” as you call it and point out the faults with the argument.
Only if one makes a claim about what is generally written in such books.
This is a hard problem, and a difficult lesson to learn. I know it took me a while, and I'm still bad at it.
I find it helps to make your points, while trying to maintain a pleasant tone (Easier said than done, and I'm not a good person to teach this). I also find it helps to add questions asking for either other peoples opinions or clarifications on their position, as that helps show that you're not just talking, but also listening.
Edit: Also, the largest part for me at least is to remember that an attack on your argument is not a personal attack against you. I've had issues with doing this my whole life, and am still working on it.
I did not.
Look up "delivery health". The batteries may not be included at the love hotel itself (although I've heard of places that do come with a menu), but it's also a common use of love hotels.
Pff. Everyone knows Haskell, Idris and Elixir are acceptable, too.
source: there are several people in my weekly support group for exactly this reason, it gets out of control
It's like when a Kpop/Kdrama fan approaches me expecting me to know all of the pop culture when in my experience most Koreans simply consider BTS to be like Justin Bieber.
Imagine if people from Japan starts asking you if you watch Justin Bieber sing and then getting offended when you speak the truth. This is exactly what people in Korea and Japan are going through but you will almost never see them express it but its getting extreme in some situations like below:
https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/gxa6qr/this_girl_mak...
Here you can see her physically harassing Korean men by hugging them or trying to kiss them. It's getting to the point where Western women are fetishizing Korean men similar to how Asian women are often fetishized by foreigners (not through popular culture but mainly through pornography).
“ Something I've also noticed in Western media is that when covering issues about other cultures (ie India, Middle East, etc), the bar for evidence is pitifully low, especially if the story matches existing confirmation bias.”