Man, married to virtual pop star for 4 years, starts Association of Fictosexuality
By Carl Samson
A Japanese man who made headlines in 2018 after tying the knot with a famous virtual pop star has officially launched the Association of Fictosexuality.
Background: Akihiko Kondo, now 40, married virtual character Hatsune Miku on Nov. 4, 2018. They held a $15,000 wedding ceremony that involved 39 guests, including a Parliament member.
Kondo’s decision to marry Hatsune was reportedly rooted in trauma. Some 14 years ago, female superiors allegedly bullied him at work. He said the experience left him distrustful of women. Eventually, he found solace in Hatsune, a singing voice synthesizer that has now been featured in more than 100,000 songs worldwide.
“When we’re together, she makes me smile. In that sense, she’s real,” he said in an interview last year.
The latest: Since their highly publicized wedding, Kondo has encouraged others like himself who find romantic attraction in fictional characters. Last month, he and his peers launched the Association of Fictosexuality, a general incorporated association, according to the Mainichi Shimbun.
The term “fictosexual” refers to having romantic feelings for fictional characters. The association aims to raise public awareness, offer emotional support to fictosexuals, meet “concerned individuals” to exchange views and even provide a space for other fictosexual weddings.
Approaching five years into their marriage, Kondo said he still loves Hatsune. “Every day, I tell her things like ‘I’m off to work’ and ‘You look cute,’” he told the Asahi Shimbun.
The bigger picture: Fictosexuality, the subject of a 2020 study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, appears to be relatively common in Japan. In 2017, the Japanese Association for Sex Education surveyed 13,000 high school and college students and found that 15% of both male and female respondents were romantically attracted to anime and video game characters.
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