Japanese book editor Miho Takeshita is having an affair. But the recently married 30-year-old is not worried about getting caught \u2014 her boyfriend only exists on a smartphone.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Takeshita is a fan of romance simulation games, a booming market in Japan that is winning the hearts of women looking for some unconventional loving.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very addictive,\u201d Takeshita said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though the game characters aren\u2019t real, you start to develop feelings towards them.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is the whole point, said Natsuko Asaki, a game producer at Cybird, which created the popular series Ikemen \u2014 a Japanese term for handsome guys.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe story is most important, as well as the characters, and the twists and turns,\u201d Asaki said.<\/p>\n
The Ikemen app has been downloaded some 15 million times since its launch about five years ago, and the firm has also released an English version.<\/p>\n
Mirroring the smartphone boom, female-targeted virtual romance games have ballooned into a market worth about 15 billion yen ($135 million) annually in Japan, according to the Tokyo-based Yano Research Institute.<\/p>\n
Some 80 percent of fans, including a growing number of married women, play just before bed, a Cybird survey found.<\/p>\n
The games do not rely on complicated algorithms, but instead offer multiple choice scenarios that let players escape into a world where they create their own love story with digital hunks.<\/p>\n
Takeshita does not see anything strange about flirting with her smartphone sweeties.<\/p>\n
In fact, she can engage with them whenever she likes \u2014 something real-life spouses do not always provide.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe games also have sexual overtones but they\u2019re expressed less crudely than in simulations made for boys,\u201d Cybird\u2019s Asaki said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an ideal love story \u2014 there are no female rivals and no sad endings.\u201d<\/p>\n
The success of these games may be partly linked to dating etiquette in Japan, where men are expected to take the lead when it comes to romance.<\/p>\n
\u201cA Japanese woman making the first move is not viewed favourably,\u201d said Ai Aizawa, a marital relations specialist at the All About website, which offers daily living advice.<\/p>\n
And even those women who have found a soulmate are often not satisfied romantically, she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey use these simulations as an outlet, a place where they are not betrayed, and where ideal love and the perfect lover feed the illusion,\u201d Aizawa said.<\/p>\n
Some smartphone applications such as Tokimeki kareshi (emotion buddy) or Sumakare (smartphone buddy) let users exchange texts with digital boyfriends, making the experience all the more real.<\/p>\n
But is there any risk with a bit of smartphone hanky panky?<\/p>\n
\u201cBecoming an addict,\u201d said one single female fan, who asked to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can even start to feel a little guilty if you do not play regularly \u2014 it\u2019s a bit dangerous for teenage girls who are still immature.\u201d<\/p>\n
Romance games are one of the culprits behind a trend that has seen some young Japanese lose interest in finding a real partner, according to a study last year by the Meiji Yasuda Life Foundation of Health and Welfare.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe relationship that does not happen in real life happens perfectly in the game \u2014 that can lead some people to give up looking for love, at least for a time,\u201d said marriage specialist Aizawa.<\/p>\n
While humans can easily love a virtual partner, it is still uncertain whether that feeling could ever be reciprocated, said Hiroshi Ishiguro, a robotics designer at Osaka University.<\/p>\n
\u201cA male or female body is no longer the thing that defines a human being,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s quite conceivable to really love robots or virtual characters \u2014 there\u2019s no doubt about that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question is more whether they will someday be able to love a human.\u201d\u2014AFP<\/p>\n
Image: AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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