Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry
newyorker.com
Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry
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Re: Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry
#2There is a Greek movie based on the exact same idea. Its the "Alps" by George Lanthimos (later known from "Dogtooth" movie).
I don't about Japan, but that movie had a quite depressing ending (not to mention that the whole thing was kinda creepy and unsettling).
Re: Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry
#3There is a Greek movie based on the exact same idea. Its the "Alps" by George Lanthimos (later known from "Dogtooth" movie). I don't about Japan, but that movie had a quite depressing ending (not to mention that the whole thing was kinda creepy and unsettling).
There is also, unsurprisingly, a Japanese movie based on that exact same idea. More than one, in fact.
It plays a part in Noriko's Dinner Table.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noriko%27s_Dinner_Table
This is referenced in the plot summary: [...] As it turns out, however, Kumiko has no real family, and the people she introduced Noriko to are paid actors working for Kumiko's organisation, I.C. Corp. The organisation offers paid roleplay services to interested clients, allowing them to fulfill their fantasies of a happy family life.
Re: Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry
#4Here's an interview with the founder of the rent-a-family agency mentioned in the article: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2017/11/paying-fo...
Re: Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry
#5Here's an interview with the founder of the rent-a-family agency mentioned in the article: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2017/11/paying-fo...
This reads like an amazing work of fiction.
Re: Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry
#6Here's an interview with the founder of the rent-a-family agency mentioned in the article: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2017/11/paying-fo...
Link to previous HN discussion on this article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15651510
Re: Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry
#7> “She was acting as a rental daughter, but at the same time she was telling me how she felt as a real daughter,” he said. “And yet, if it was a real father-daughter relationship, maybe she wouldn’t have spoken this honestly.” ... Yūichi Ishii, the founder of Family Romance, told me that he and his “cast” actively strategize in order to engineer outcomes like Nishida’s, in which the rental family makes itself redundant in the client’s life.
> I thought about my missed shrink appointment, and about a psychology professor I met, Kenji Kameguchi, who has been trying for the past thirty years to popularize family therapy in conflict-averse, stoical Japan, where psychotherapy is still stigmatized. He said that he thought rental relatives were, in an unschooled way, fulfilling some of the functions of group-therapy techniques such as psychodrama, in which patients act out and improvise one another’s past situations or mental processes.
From this reading, it seems to me that Japan's fake relatives are the equivalent of counselors and psychiatrists in other countries.
Re: Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry
#8This sounds pretty wacky at first blush...then I remember a time post-college, post-divorce where I would go to hibachi restaurants because they would seat me with other people.
It wasn't a long period of time, but loneliness can be a real and powerful thing. Everyone is happy to offer solutions, but few actually acknowledge how it feels while you're trying to get a solution to work.
Re: Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry
#9If I pay extra, will they make awkward politically-charged comments in front of my friends, just like the real thing?
Re: Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry
#10What a sad world we live in where there are people who need this sort of thing. The worst part is, I get it.