Japan’s “Rental Family” Businesses Address Loneliness epidemic

AP – “A family member does not always have to be blood,” says Hikari,who is about to release a film about the hundreds of businesses that exist in Japan where people hire themselves to play family roles or friends in real situations,something that could contribute to alleviating the loneliness crisis experienced in the country.

Ryuichi Ichinokawa is the founder, almost two decades ago, of one of these businesses in Japan, the Heart Project, which he describes as a substitute assistance service which includes the provision of extras and family members.

Ichinokawa has hired dozens of people to act as, say, reporters with cameras and voice recorders, taking notes and mingling with real journalists to fill an otherwise fairly empty event.

Ichinokawa himself has posed as a woman’s boyfriend that needed to discuss legal documents with her ex-spouse. And he has gone to a hospital as a surrogate husband for another woman receiving fertility treatments.

Ichinokawa, an elegant old man who asked The associated Press not to be photographed so that his identity does not become public, comments: “I am at the service of people. I hope they are happy.”

The loneliness epidemic in Japan

Japan has long struggled with loneliness, high suicide rates, and a stigma around mental illness.

After an earthquake and tsunami in 2011, the country examined how disasters were affecting mental health, said Miwa Yasui, a professor at the University of Chicago whose research includes the influence of culture on mental health. Nowadays, there are more mental health providers and an understanding of the need for counseling in Japan.

Physically isolated Japanese people are likely to feel it internally, said Chikako Ozawa-de Silva, author of “The Anatomy of Loneliness: Suicide, Social Connection and the Search for Relational Meaning in contemporary Japan.”

Some people “feel like they are not loved,they are not accepted,they are not seen,they are not heard. The feeling of ‘I don’t matter.’ It’s a form of loneliness,” said Ozawa-de Silva, who is also a professor at Emory university.

This can lead to hikikomori, as the attitude of people who withdraw socially and become recluses for months or even years.