Japanese man marries hologram, faces backlash from family

An artificial Intelligence project utilizing a humanoid robot from French company Aldebaran
Representational image of AI Reuters

A Japanese man named Akihiko Kondo has recently married a hologram of virtual reality singer Hatsune Miku. The 35-year-old man tied the knot with the hologram in a lavish ceremony which was blessed with the presence of 40 attendees.

However, Kondo's mother refused the invitation from her son, and she refrained herself from attending the wedding ceremony. Kondo's relatives too took the side of his mother, and they too did not attend the nuptial event.

As per a report published in Daily Star, Kondo apparently spent more than 2 million yen for the wedding event.

"I never cheated on her, I've always been in love with Miku-san. I've been thinking about her every day. I'm in love with the whole concept of Hatsune Miku but I got married to the Miku of my house" said Kondo about his virtual reality wife.

Interestingly, the physical doll version of Hatsune Miku also attended the wedding ceremony. Kondo revealed that his relationship with Miku is just like any other ordinary couples who are leading marital lives. As per Kondo, his holographic wife used to wake him up from bed every morning before sending him off to work. Kondo is currently working as a school administrator in Japan.

It should be also noted that Kondo used to sleep with the physical version of the doll during nights.

Even though the marriage between Kondo and Miku has no legal standing, the young man believes that society will recognize their relationship one day or the other. He also urged the authorities to recognize people who marry holograms as a sexual minority.

"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. I believe we must consider all kinds of love and all kinds of happiness," added Kondo.

The life of Kondo seems very familiar to the story of the 2013 American romantic movie 'Her' directed by Spike Jonze. The film showcases the story of a man who develops a romantic relationship with an intelligent computer operating system.

READ MORE