lonely men and Love in 2-D

[ccharles000]

By LISA KATAYAMA

Nisan didn’t mean to fall in love with Nemutan. Their first encounter — at a comic-book convention that Nisan’s gaming friends dragged him to in Tokyo — was serendipitous. Nisan was wandering aimlessly around the crowded exhibition hall when he suddenly found himself staring into Nemutan’s bright blue eyes. In the beginning, they were just friends. Then, when Nisan got his driver’s license a few months later, he invited Nemutan for a ride around town in his beat-up Toyota. They went to a beach, not far from the home he shares with his parents in a suburb of Tokyo. It was the first of many road trips they would take together. As they got to know each other, they traveled hundreds of miles west — to Kyoto, Osaka and Nara, sleeping in his car or crashing on friends’ couches to save money. They took touristy pictures under cherry trees, frolicked like children on merry-go-rounds and slurped noodles on street corners. Now, after three years together, they are virtually inseparable. “I’ve experienced so many amazing things because of her,” Nisan told me, rubbing Nemutan’s leg warmly. “She has really changed my life.”

Nemutan doesn’t really have a leg. She’s a stuffed pillowcase — a 2-D depiction of a character, Nemu, from an X-rated version of a PC video game called Da Capo, printed on synthetic fabric. In the game, which is less a game than an interactive visual novel about a schoolyard romance, Nemu is the loudmouthed little sister of the main character, whom she calls nisan, or “big brother,” a nickname Nisan adopted as his own when he met Nemu. When I joined the couple for lunch at their favorite all-you-can-eat salad bar in the Tokyo suburb of Hachioji, he insisted on being called only by this new nickname, addressing his body-pillow girlfriend using the suffix “tan” to show how much he adored her. Nemutan is 10, maybe 12 years old and wears a little blue bikini and gold ribbons in her hair. Nisan knows she’s not real, but that hasn’t stopped him from loving her just the same. “Of course she’s my girlfriend,” he said, widening his eyes as if shocked by the question. “I have real feelings for her.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/magazine/26FOB-2DLove-t.html

[anonymous171]

1. 3D IS PIG DISGUSTING!

[MindPilot]

11. Come on, the guy's got some serious issues and you're going to bag on his looks?

No, what's disgusting is that if the article is any indication this is being seen as some pop culture fad instead of the serious mental health issue it really appears to be.

[ContinentalOp]

20. Exactly. I love how some crazy guy always gets turned into "those wacky Japanese fads!" nt

[davepc]

2. He loves a pillow because he hates women?

[ccharles000]

8. I changed the title to be more fitting.

[ZombieHorde]

13. I did not read anything in the article which would suggest he hates women. nt

[Arkana]

3. The creepy is emanating in waves from that picture.

[cherokeeprogressive]

4. I think I rear ended that guy on the freeway a long time ago... he called me a pussy.

I called him a dick, and he tried to hug me.

[Naturyl]

5. Um... I rarely denigrate people for unconventional lifestyles

But wow, WTF?

This dude needs some kind of help. "10, maybe 12 years old?" Creep alert.

[pkdu]

6. Nisan is a"Freeper" with a Sarah Palin doll n/t

[imdjh]

7. there is something disturbing about anime porn

[MindPilot]

9. That is just really, really sad.

Poor guy; I can't even imagine the torture his mind inflicts on itself.

[MilesColtrane]

10. I say lock him away in a cel.

He'd enjoy that.

[iris27]

25. HAHAHAHA...."cel"...

:)

[noamnety]

12. The comments on the article were interesting. (nt)

[Speck Tater]

16. Comment number 25 has a link to pretty much the same thing but in America. nt/

[JHB]

30. That story is from the UK, actually. n/t

[proteus_lives]

Is he a pedo or just a sad man with issues?

There are also Japanese cultural issues at work.

[ccharles000]

21. a sad man with issues I think

[Speck Tater]

14. This makes me profoundly sad. I feel very sorry for those poor men.

They really need some help finding their way back to reality.

[ZombieHorde]

15. Great article, K&R&nt.

[lumberjack_jeff]

17. In his defense...

He's minding his own business.

[ccharles000]

18. but it is creepy

[Joe the Liberal]

19. So long as he's not hurting anyone or molesting little real life children then have at it....

Better that he does not keep those desires repressed.

[Odin2005]

22. This is sadly typical of lonely, sex-starved geeks.

I post at a message board for fellow people with Asperger's Syndrome and I was a bit unnerved by how many posters had Magna fetishes. Thank God I've got a normal sex life.

[Gman2]

23. Screw all of you. Any volunteers to make a life with him?

I'm sure he made a rational decision between all his options. A rhesus monkey will clutch at a wireframe mom, if that is all it is offered. The gauntlet that is known as romance, is violent and evil. No wonder some choose to folow a less stigmatizing path. Try to imagine a woman soft enough not to destroy him. Is there anything left for the less than beachmasters?

[seabeyond]

24. screw all of you

i appreciate what you are saying

but then in further thought, i see from different angles, so think i should not even voice an opinion.

bottom line, i feel for the man and hear what you are saying

[JHB]

29. I also have to wonder how accurate the story really is...

...because god knows how many stories I've seen over the years about Trekkies or D&D players or anime fans or some other "nerdy fan-+thing" that didn't boil down to "Look at the freaks! Look at the freaks!" And more often than not engaging in some sort of fraud to jazz up the story: misleading editing, skewed selection of interviewees, outright misrepresentation of their intents, etc. Because "Wow, what a bunch of weirdos" stories are cheaper and easier than real news. Or maybe because they get higher ratings, because it seems there's never any shortage of people willing (or even eager) to sneer at someone lower on the social totem pole.

The final arbiter has to be how you actually treat real people. Not "2-D" fictional people, but real ones. If he gets along with people, then anything else is the concern of his friends, family, and people who actually know him, not that of people who've only read a short web article in the MSM.

[Eryemil]

27. Fucking right. I was hoping somehow would speak from this perspective as to affirm---

---what little faith I have in the human race.

Seriously people, is being "creepy" reason enough for the degree of contempt some of you are showing here? Statistics point to the possibility that around 90% percent of human females reproduce and only 80% percent of males do and there are reasons for that.

For all that heterosexual males have tried, over the course of human history, to repress and subjugate females is there really any doubt of who ultimately holds all the cards? Heterosexual men are dependent on women in ways that females aren't dependent on them in turn. Obviously, this does not excuse the horrible treatment of women in our past but it does go a long way to explain why so many men have seen it necessary to make females just as defendant on them. Sometimes it seems like we don't really understand just how big a part sex (and the pursuit of it) plays in the lives of men. We talk about it, we denigrate and mock it but don't really understand it at all.

Anyway, is it really that hard to believe that men that do not see themselves as fit mates would seek alternatives? It's not even about whether any women would actually accept them, at least not completely. Self-perception plays a more important role in my opinion.

[noamnety]

32. I doubt anyone wants to volunteer to screw the pedophile wannabe.

His "rational decision" includes getting off on rutting against imaginary children and financially supporting an industry designed to promote the sexualization of underage girls. I'm not gonna feel guilty about being repulsed by that or by him.

Deal with it.

[supernova]

26. It seems to me a variant of men who like silicone dolls

That's odd too.

This substitutes for real humans are very sad and I wish all of them well.

[gleaner]

28. He probably is very loney....

my nephew kept his security blanket until he was six years old. He gave it up when he began making friends.

Hopefully this guy can find something that will love him back instead of a pillow. Even if it is just a pet for starters. In the meantime, I hope all he does is cry in his pillow.:crazy:

[chollybocker]

31. The truth is stranger than fiction.

Lars and the Real Girl

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805564/

[The2ndWheel]

33. Almost 7 billion people on the planet

With access to enough time and energy which makes such specialization possible. Sub-cultures within sub-cultures within sub-cultures, etc, etc. The individual can become quite particular with their life these days.