As Zoey from Left 4 Dead would say to this, probably.



I think this has been mentioned around here before in the past, but it's pretty new to me. I just didn't expect this extreme.

Now, of course, I should say right off the media tends to sensationalize things, and the conversation the journalist here was having with the Japanese women at the dinner table could have easily been rehearsed before the cameras started rolling, but still, the two guys she was interviewing at around 15:00. They just sounded like, love with a real human just wasn't worth the try, you know?

Now, I'll stand up and be the first to say that I have indulged in my share of imaginations and romantic dreams about these perfect virtual girls, but nevertheless, there's just no full substitution for the real thing. I see where the two guys would see the girls they were "dating" as presenting no possibility of heartbreak or other potential problems, but, come on, the things these girls speak to you are the same words they are to a hundred other guys seeing them on the Nintendo DS or whatever at the moment. Her returning love is ultimately fake. Are Japanese girls really so undesirable?

I don't know. I see where Asian dudes like these two are coming from. I get it. But it seems quite sad to me. One of them spoke of being enthusiastic about love like I am back when he was in high school, and, well, you know? He became disillusioned somewhere, apparently. But for me, I just don't want to give up like that. If it suits a single man, fine. Maybe it's possible to be fulfilled on other forms of love. And in anything maaaaaybe it ... promotes safe sex? In anything, though, I cannot condone someone even beginning to favor another - even a virtual girl - over their own wife. And acting like it's something he must hide. That's a different thing altogether from, like, when Lantis and I are hanging out playing Chrono Trigger, and he just goes, "Man, I'd totally do Ayla." Who cares about a comment like that even though he's married?

This does make me think back to Yumi from that manga, Chobits, though. It's almost just like this situation in Japan, and now I see why I was quite fascinated with the Chobits story at the time. Her plight was that she was only a human, and she fell apart believing she could never compete with the "perfect" female android that the man she loved used to be married to. I tell you what, though, if Yumi was an example of a "flawed" human being, I'll take her gladly. ^_^

... I think that would make me a pedarist, though, wouldn't it?

I watched the whole thing, and it's kinda sad to Japan in that state. To know the population is going to decrease that much if the birth rate remains the same is a bit staggering to me. And I don't understand this notion of "dating" a video game girl that can't actually truly fulfill any relationship needs they may want. And they don't seem to realize how their actions effects their society as a whole. It's hard to sustain a country if you can't fill the roles left open by the preceding generations. And the women want to date, marry, and have kids with these men, but the men don't want to engage them and work towards that. And then contemplating that your virtual relationship is as valuable, if not more valuable, than a real relationship helps stunt the growth and sustainability of their society. I wonder how this will pan out in the future. Maybe if Japan begins to see a bigger decline in their economy, they'll be more loose about their foreign workers policies, and maybe the women will get to marry and have kids with them.

I'm saddened by what the documentary shows.

First off, I know talking about this kind of subject here is like trying to bring religion into Youtube comments, but here me out.

These men are people who have a hole in their lives. And for all we know, they've tried to fill that the normal way with obviously very little success. Is it so bad to fill that need in some way? Firstly, population density isn't a factor in this. Like, at all. Japan has one of the densest populations in the world. And those that are greater actually have laws forbidding families to have more than a set amount of kids. To imply that filling a relational void in your life with a digital woman will somehow eventually leading to the fall of the land of the rising sun is ludacris.

Also, this is an entirely different country with an entirely different culture. Maybe this medium might not fill the void entirely as a real life girlfriend, but something is better than nothing, right? I think it's more sad to judge these people for trying to make themselves happy than what they are actually doing is.

I mean, I've lived my life a good bit. I've had a handful of girlfriends in my life, and majority of the time, it lead to a lot of heartbreak and a lot of time and money lost. And I really don't think anyone to TRULY know how bad it can feel unless they have been in a long term relationship and have eventually lost that person that they have loved.

So maybe these guys want to try and fill that void without taking this gamble with their feelings. Maybe they HAVE in the past. I don't think it's fair to point fingers at them and talk about how weird and sad it is when all they could be doing right now is simply coping.

And as far as society is concerned, the worst thing that could possibly come of this is that eventually women MAY have to start doing what men have been doing since the dawn of time. And go out and pursue the men. Vie for their attention. As it stands now, women set rules and conditions to who they will even glance at. Have to be a certain height, weight, race, religion. There's a word for guys with the same standards: Single. And as nice as it would be to see this role reversed, I hardly thing digital dating is going to ever impact society to that degree. But even if it did, that's certainly not a bad thing.

Again, I believe these men are just trying to fill a hole in their lives that real women may have only made worse. I really don't think we should be judging them for doing what they believe they need to be happy... specially when it's hurting no one. But that's just MHO.

I absolutely agree. Another part of this is that Japanese women have watched what their mothers have endured, losing entire careers and snuffing them out as soon as marriage hits. And now, of course society is very much pressuring them to basically give up everything just to get married. It's really, really odd... and of course I side with not losing a passion just because.

I think the last part of your post resonates the most. The foreign policies... I mean, tons of foreign people do currently work in Japan, and I'm not talking about those from America. I'm talking people who basically take the poorest jobs and still suffer a huge amount of xenophobia from it.

Japan is not always the fairytale land of yore some people make it out to be like at times. Guess everywhere has their own set of problems.

On a personal level, you have to have guts to get by. My ex tore my heart out of my body, but I will never be vindictive against all women, or assume the worst from it. That is a dark, dark place to be. I do not consider my time with her lost, or the money we exchanged getting gifts gone forever being worth more than myself. We simply grew apart, as people tend to do as they age- it just happened too fast for myself- someone with a weak family support network as it was. Anyways, the good times are forever etched within me. The bad will fade away with time. And I've never been happier than in my current state. Let go, and happiness comes in. Fear is rewarded with hollow life experiences in general... not just relationships. Even potential friendships are lost without guts, and very gratifying life experiences. Family, friends, love... that's my value.