In Japan you can hire actors to pose as short/longterm spouses, children, friends, etc. A man was hired to pose as a girl’s missing father by her mother for over 8 years without his “daughter” knowing
37-year-old Ishii Yuichi is a father to over 25 families and a husband to over 600 women – but none of them are his real family members.
Together with the 1,200 actors he employs at his company Family Romance, he has played every part from stand-in father for a wedding, missing dad to long lost son and even make-believe groom in his job as a companion for hire.
For a fee starting from JPY 8000 ($72), customers can place an order at his Tokyo-based family rental service company for professional companions tailored to their specific requests (i.e. temperament, appearance, behaviour), whether they’re searching for a friend to pose with in happy Instagram photos, an infant to impersonate a grandson or a groom for a staged wedding.
I played a father for a 12-year-old with a single mother. The girl was bullied because she didn’t have a dad, so the mother rented me. I’ve acted as the girl’s father ever since. I am the only real father that she knows. If the client never reveals the truth, I must continue the role indefinitely. If the daughter gets married, I have to act as a father in that wedding, and then I have to be the grandfather. So, I always ask every client, “Are you prepared to sustain this lie?” It’s the most significant problem our company has.
Family Romance is just one of many companies in a new wave of family rental services gaining traction in Japan. A number of rental platforms have emerged in recent years, offering everything from family and friends to funeral guests and dinner dates, with strict protocol specifying the prohibition of intimate acts.
