'Fictosexual' man marries hologram, says he can't talk to her anymore

A "fictosexual" man in Japan married a hologram of the pop singer of his dreams four years ago now, but he's no longer happy with her... as he can't communicate with his wife.

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Japanese newspaper The Mainichi talked with Akihiko Kondo, who said he had reached a technical roadblock with Hatsune Miku after the company that made, and provides the AI and hologram to communicate with her was no longer providing him with the service.

Kondo said: "It's not that people can't live in society because they're engrossed in a two-dimensional world, but rather, there are cases where people become captivated as they search for a place for themselves in video games and anime, because reality is too painful for them. I was one of those people".

How did all of this happen? Back in 2017, a machine called Gatebox was released and let Kondo interact with a holographic version of Miku. In an elaborate marketing campaign, Gatebox opened an office where people could apply for an "unofficial marriage certificate" with characters like Miku. The next year, Kondo proposed to Miku and then invited his family and co-workers to their wedding.

The problem: no one turned up.

Kondo married Miku in front of 39 strangers and online friends, with more people viewing it post-wedding.

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Kondo spoke with the BBC in 2019, where he said: "There are two reasons why I had a wedding publicly. The first one is to prove my love to Miku. The second one is there are many young otaku people like me falling in love with anime characters. I want to show the world that I support them".