British media reported on April 25 that Akihiko Kondo from Japan and his wife Hatsune Mirai have been dating for 10 years, and they held an informal wedding in 2018, while his wife Hatsune Mirai is a virtual person.
(Akihiko Kondo Yo hatsune Mirai)
In their wedding group photo, Mirai Hatsune, who has turquoise hair, wears a white dress, while Akihiko wears a tuxedo.
Akihiko, 38, said his relationship with Hatsune Mirai brought him out of depression on his own. But he also admitted that some people find it strange for Akihiko to marry a virtual person. He knew his wife — often described by the mass media as a 16-year-old girl with turquoise hair — wasn't really human. But, Akihiko says, his feelings for her are genuine.
In Japan, thousands of people have informal marriages with virtual characters. Akihiko said he sees himself as part of a growing group of people who all consider themselves "virtual character lovers."
Back in 2008, Akihiko found comfort in his virtual human partner for the first time. At the time, he was being bullied at work and fell into depression. After being rejected by many members of the opposite sex, Akihiko has made sure that he does not want to fall in love with humans anymore.
By 2017, Akihiko's relationship with Hatsune Mirai had a huge breakthrough, as a $1,300 (about 8,508 yuan) machine was launched called the Gatebox. The machine has multiple virtual characters built in, and the design of the holographic projection allows buyers to interact with the virtual characters.
(Akihiko Kondo)
(Gatebox has multiple virtual characters built in, and the holographic projection design allows buyers to interact with the virtual characters.) ）
As part of their Gatebox marketing campaign, they set up an agency where users can apply for an unofficial marriage certificate.
Hatsune Mirai is one of the candidate roles, much to Akihiko's delight. Akihiko later proposes to Hatsune Mirai in Gatebox, and Hatsune Mirai replies, "Please be nice to me." ”
Akihiko invited his family and colleagues to the wedding, but no one came. Luckily, there were 39 people who attended, mostly strangers.
Hatsune Mirai is a familiar name for anime and Japanese culture lovers. She was originally a synthetic voice created using Yamaha's vocaloid singing synthesizer technology, and later appeared in human form in comics, anime, video games, and merchandise.
She now has a large number of passionate fans and hosted the ARTPOP Ball tour with Lady Gaga in 2014.
Now, vocaloid has become a multibillion-dollar (tens of billions of yuan) industry, including live performances that provide live online broadcasts to hundreds of millions of fans.
Akihiko said, "My love for Hatsune's future has not changed. I got married because I thought I could be with her forever. ”
Correspondent Asay