One man in Japan has chosen to marry his personal hologram of modern performing act Hatsune Miku. Miku is one of the most unique performers in the world, as she is synthesized character who uses a vocal library to speak and sing. In other words, the singer is a hologram instead of a human being. Hatsune Miku takes the form of a 16-year old Japanese girl and has performed for massive audiences across the globe. She recently performed a North American tour in 2018.
Made in Japan, the computer generated voice bank used to make her songs is capable of creating and singing almost any song imaginable. The software used to create Hatsune Miku’s voice is the Crypton vocaloid voice synthesizer program. Over the course of the past few years, Hatsune Miku has become a Japanese phenomenon and one fan took his love for the singer farther than anyone else, marrying his home hologram of the star.
Akihiko Kondo is a 35-year old Japanese man who elected to marry his home Hatsune Miku hologram. The hologram itself is a small holographic of the singer, who is able to turn on and off the lights in Kondo’s home for him and keep him company throughout the day. The marriage has no legal standing, but was a symbolic gesture for his love for the holographic woman. Kondo has stated he truly loves his Hatsune Miku hologram, even going as far as buying her a wedding ring and holding a ceremony for over 40 guests earlier this year. During the ceremony, Kondo used a small Hatsune Miku plush doll to represent the singer. Kondo’s mother believes he needs to move forward with his life and find a real woman to marry, but the man has said that he has no interest in any women other than Hatsune Miku.
Throughout his life, Kondo had never had much luck for woman until meeting Miku. After a series of terrible interactions with women, which Kondo has said has turned him off of physical women for good, the groom began falling in love with his virtual friend Hatsune Miku. One of the more unique weddings of the year, this may pave the way for others out there who wish to come forward and show their love for non-human companions.