Over four years ago, the media in Japan and globally went bananas about a Japanese man who "married" a virtual character.
These stories are catnip to editors who love "sexless Japan" and "wacky Japan" content. The tale of Akihiko Kondo and his love for popular Vocaloid idol Hatsune Miku was too much to resist, and the world lapped it up.
For little discernible reason, Kondo (who is now 40) is back in the news.
The Mainichi Shimbun sat down for a fresh interview with him and find out how his "marriage" is going. (The newspaper also published a follow-up story in January 2022.) Apparently, ...
Private detectives are something of a cottage industry in Japan: they derive much of their clientele from men or women (but especially women) who suspect their spouses of adultery. Catching them in the act or at least gathering concrete evidence of adultery will lead to a better payout in a divorce. Many such services specialize in discreet teams of female agents with hidden cameras.
One recent story seems to start off in the usual manner.
A wife suspected her husband (not pictured) of adultery and hired an agency to snoop around. The warning signs were there.
Her husband would disappear ...
Every now and then, Japan's character artists create something truly awesome and original, and which captures the imagination of people around the world.
Take Calne Ca by Deino, an idol with a mechanized calcium skeleton (hence the "Ca" in the name). The character -- a favorite of ambitious cosplayers -- is derived from the Vocaloid idol Hatsune Miku. Her name is pronounced Karune Shii-e.
According to the Vocaloid Wikia:
Her name comes from kara (骸) and ne (音), as well as CA (シーエ), the chemical symbol of calcium. This is due to Calne Ca being a mechanized skeleton ...
Remember the Zettai Ryouiki Flashing Skirt?
We blogged about it late last year as a cool gadget-cum-cosplay item that really draws attention to that sexy area of the upper thigh, known as zettai ryouki ("the absolute zone").
In this skirt, developed by Kiyoyuki Amano of Kayac Inc, multi-colored flashing lights have been added to a Hatsune Miku miniskirt.
It looked awesome before but now the creators have set up a proper Tumblr account with lots of great images of the flashing skirt in action.
So next time you see a girl in Akihabara with what looks ...
If you're a fan of the zettai ryouiki, the tantalizing area of the upper thigh that is such a preoccupation of moe culture, then you might want to check out this new clothing that particularly highlights the flesh in the "absolute zone".
Developed by Kiyoyuki Amano of Kayac Inc, the "flashing skirt" takes a Hatsune Miku miniskirt and adds flashing mysterious lights to draw attention to the zettai ryouiki.
Well, we guess this is what happens when you take an otaku staple and add some engineering cleverness and cosplay fashion.
Amano has called it the "Komorehi-ryouiki" ...
A researcher from University of Tsukuba has spent many valuable hours developing a way to make otaku dreams come true.
This system has been developed officially for "hospital patients" and it basically allows you to "sleep next to" a virtual character.
Scientists being the geeks they are, the explanatory images for the system naturally use Hatsune Miku as an example, as images doing the rounds on Japanese Twitter show.
This actually the same as the Hatsune Miku app/eye-pad device we wrote about at the end of last year.
Using the Oculus Rift headset for the head-mounted ...
Otaku of the world, rejoice. Your dreams have come true at last.
Virtual idol Hatsune Miku is now "fully" interactive.
We already can see and hear her, but now an app allows you to touch and smell her -- and, best of all, to sleep with her.
The Sleep With Her app started when an engineer thought that visiting a place like the Soine-ya bed-sharing "snuggle" cafe was too expensive. He developed this way to sleep beside Hatsune Miku as an alternative.
You wear it like a big eye pad and it allows you to see your sweet partner dozing beside you.
And with some "extras" ...
To celebrate the upcoming Tokyo performances of the Hatsune Miku opera "The End" we wanted to show a side to the virtual idol that likely won't be put on a stage soon... but deserves to ...
Little BSD, a cosplay izakaya in Akihabara, has been offering blue-colored yaki soba at Moe1 Grand Prix, a moe character regional development event.
Although they are careful not to use the name, it's fairly obvious from the coloring (and the cosplay costume of the staff!) that this is an attempt to be an unofficial Hatsune Miku-themed food.
Miku is the famous artificial character created for the Vocaloid singing synthesizer by Yamaha and now with a whole life of its (her?) own.
The noodles are only available in limited numbers, no doubt as the dye needed is a rare ...
