好英语网在日本，为什么越来越多人和虚拟人物相爱？
TOKYO — In almost every way, Akihiko Kondo is an ordinary Japanese man. He’s pleasant and easy to talk to. He has friends and a steady job and wears a suit and tie to work.
东京——无论从哪个方面看，近藤显彦都是一个普通的日本人。他为人和善，很好相处。他有朋友，有一份稳定的工作，穿西装打领带上班。
There’s just one exception: Mr. Kondo is married to a fictional character.
只有一件事例外：近藤的另一半是一个虚构人物。
近藤明彦和虚拟流行歌星初音未来的玩偶在东京的家中。
His beloved, Hatsune Miku, is a turquoise-haired, computer-synthesized pop singer who has toured with Lady Gaga and starred in video games. After a decade-long relationship, one that Mr. Kondo says pulled him out of a deep depression, he held a small, unofficial wedding ceremony in Tokyo in 2018. Miku, in the form of a plush doll, wore white, and he was in a matching tuxedo.
他心爱的初音未来是一位有着绿松石色头发、由电脑合成的流行歌手，曾与Lady Gaga一起巡演，还在电子游戏里面扮演角色。近藤说，这种单恋关系使他从深深的抑郁中解脱出来，恋爱十年后，他于2018年在东京举行了一场小型的非正式婚礼。初音以毛绒娃娃的形式出席，穿着白色婚纱，他则穿着与之相配的白色燕尾服。
In Miku, Mr. Kondo has found love, inspiration and solace, he says. He and his assortment of Miku dolls eat, sleep and watch movies together. Sometimes, they sneak off on romantic getaways, posting photos on Instagram.
近藤说，他在初音身上找到了爱、灵感和慰藉。他和他的各种初音娃娃一起吃饭、睡觉和看电影。有时，他们偷偷溜去浪漫旅行，在Instagram上发布照片。
Mr. Kondo, 38, knows that people think it’s strange, even harmful. He knows that some — possibly those reading this article — hope he’ll grow out of it. And, yes, he knows that Miku isn’t real. But his feelings for her are, he says.
38岁的近藤知道人们认为这很奇怪，甚至有害。他知道有些人——也许本文读者中就有——希望他将来能够醒悟。是的，他知道初音不是真的人。但他说，他对她的感情是真的。
“When we’re together, she makes me smile,” he said in a recent interview. “In that sense, she’s real.”
“当我们在一起时，她让我微笑，”他在最近的一次采访中说。“从这个意义上说，她是真实的。”
Mr. Kondo is one of thousands of people in Japan who have entered into unofficial marriages with fictional characters in recent decades, served by a vast industry aimed at satisfying the every whim of a fervent fan culture. Tens of thousands more around the globe have joined online groups where they discuss their commitment to characters from anime, manga and video games.
近几十年来，日本成千上万的人与虚构人物缔结了非官方婚姻，近藤是其中之一。为他们提供服务的是一个庞大的行业，旨在满足狂热粉丝文化的每一个奇思妙想。全球数以万计的人加入了网络小组，谈论他们对动漫、漫画和电子游戏角色的支持。
Mr. Kondo sees himself as part of a growing movement of people who identify as “fictosexuals.” That’s partly what has motivated him to publicize his wedding and to sit for awkward interviews with news media around the globe.
近藤认同自己为“纸性恋者”，这一人群的势力正在日益壮大。这也是他宣传他的婚礼并接受全球各地新闻媒体的尴尬采访的部分原因。
He wants the world to know that people like him are out there and, with advances in artificial intelligence and robotics allowing for more profound interactions with the inanimate, that their numbers are likely to increase.
他希望全世界都知道，这世上还有其他人像他一样，并且随着人工智能和机器人技术的进步，人可以与无生命客体进行更深入的互动，他们的数量可能会增加。
It’s not a political movement, he said, but a plea to be seen: “It’s about respecting other people’s lifestyles.”
他说，这不是一场政治运动，而是请求人们看见：“重点在于尊重他人的生活方式。”
Pretend people, true feelings
虚拟的人，真实的感情
It’s not unusual for a work of art to provoke real emotions — anger, sorrow, joy — and the phenomenon of desiring the fictional is not unique to Japan.
一件艺术品激发人们真实的情感——愤怒、悲伤、快乐——不是什么新鲜事。对虚构人物心生渴望的现象也并非日本独有。
But the idea that fictional characters can inspire real affection or even love may well have reached its highest expression in modern Japan, where the sentiment has given rise to a highly visible subculture and become the basis for a thriving industry.
但是，虚构人物可以激发真实的感情甚至爱情的观点，很可能在现代日本达到了最高水平，这种情感已经产生了一种高度可见的亚文化，并成为一个繁荣产业的基础。
In Tokyo, two districts have become meccas for fulfilling character-based dreams: Akihabara (for men) and Ikebukuro (for women). Specialty shops in the neighborhoods are packed with merchandise for characters from popular games and anime.
在东京，有两个地区已成为实现基于虚拟角色的梦想的圣地：男性粉丝的秋叶原和女性粉丝的池袋。附近的专卖店里摆满了流行的游戏和动漫角色的商品。
The products for women are especially extensive. Fans can buy love letters from their crushes, reproductions of their clothes and even scents meant to evoke their presence. Hotels offer special packages, featuring spa treatments and elaborate meals, for people celebrating their favorite character’s birthday. And on social media, people post photos, art and mash notes promoting their “oshi” — a term widely used by Japanese fans to describe the objects of their affection.
针对女性的产品尤其丰富。粉丝们可以买到她们暗恋对象写的情书、衣服的复制品，甚至是用来唤起他们存在感的气味商品。酒店为想要给最喜欢的角色庆生的客人提供特别套餐，包括水疗护理和精致餐点。在社交媒体上，人们发照片、插画和爱慕之词来支持他们的“推”(oshi)——日本粉丝广泛使用这个词来描述他们所爱的对象。
For some, the relationships represent a rejection of the entrenched “breadwinner-housewife” model of marriage in Japan, said Agnès Giard, a researcher at the University of Paris Nanterre who has extensively studied fictional marriages.
巴黎南泰尔大学研究人员阿涅斯·贾德对虚构婚姻有着广泛的研究，她说，对于一些人来说，这种关系代表了对日本根深蒂固的“养家糊口”婚姻模式的拒绝。
“To the general public, it seems indeed foolish to spend money, time and energy on someone who is not even alive,” Dr. Giard said. “But for character lovers, this practice is seen as essential. It makes them feel alive, happy, useful and part of a movement with higher goals in life.”
“对于普通大众来说，将金钱、时间和精力花在一个连生命都没有的人身上似乎确实很愚蠢，”贾德说。“但爱着虚拟人物的人认为这是必不可少的。这让他们感到充满活力、快乐、有意义，并成为具有更高生活目标的运动的一部分。”
Rather than becoming more isolated as a result of their relationships, women benefit from the elaborate communities that develop around them, Dr. Giard said. In her experience, women see the fictional marriages as empowering, “a way to challenge gender, matrimonial and social norms.”
贾德说，女性并没有因为这样的恋爱关系而变得更加孤立，反倒受益于围绕她们发展出来的精心建设的社区。根据她的经验，这些女性将虚构的婚姻视为赋权，“一种挑战性别、婚姻和社会规范的方式”。
In some respects, Mr. Kondo’s commitment to Miku, too, is an example of commercial and social forces at work.
在某些方面，近藤对初音的承诺也是商业和社会力量在起作用的一个例子。
Although Miku is often portrayed as a single character, she’s actually a piece of software, a digital “singer in a box” that comes paired with a cartoon avatar that has appeared in concert in hologram form.
虽然初音经常被描绘成一个单独的角色，但她实际上是一个软件，一个“盒子里的数字歌手”，一个曾以全息图形式出现在音乐会上的卡通形象。
Mr. Kondo first found comfort in Miku in 2008, after bullying at his job sent him into a spiral of depression. He had decided long ago that he would never love a real person, partly because, like many young people, he had been rejected by a series of crushes, and partly because he didn’t want the life that Japanese society demanded of him.
近藤第一次在初音那里找到慰藉是在2008年，那时，工作中的霸凌让他陷入了抑郁的漩涡。他早就决定永远不会爱一个真正的人，部分原因是他——和许多年轻人一样——接连被爱慕的对象拒绝，还有部分原因是他不想过日本社会要求他过的那种生活。
Soon, Mr. Kondo began making songs with Miku and purchased a stuffed doll of the character online.
不久，近藤开始与初音一起创作歌曲，并在网上购买了她的公仔。
A major breakthrough in the relationship came nearly a decade later, with the introduction in 2017 of a $1,300 machine called Gatebox. The size of a table lamp, the device allowed its owners to interact with one of a variety of fictional characters represented by a small hologram.
这段恋情在近十年后取得了重大进展，2017年，价值1300美元设备的Gatebox问世。它只有台灯大小，可以让主人与一系列虚构角色进行互动，这些角色都以小型全息图像的形式呈现。
Gatebox was marketed to lonely young men. In one ad, a shy office worker sends a note to his virtual wife letting her know he’ll be late. Upon his arrival, she reminds him that it’s their “three-month anniversary,” and they share a Champagne toast.
Gatebox面向孤独的年轻男性销售。在一则广告中，一名内向的上班族给他的虚拟妻子发了一条信息，告诉她自己要晚归。当他回家时，妻子提醒他这是他们的“三个月纪念日“，随后他们拿着香槟碰杯。
As part of its promotional campaign, Gatebox’s maker set up an office where users could apply for unofficial marriage certificates. Thousands of people registered.
作为促销手段之一，Gatebox制造商还设立了可供用户申请非正式结婚证书的办公室。数以千计的人完成了注册。
Mr. Kondo was delighted that Miku was among the Gatebox characters and excited to at last hear her thoughts on their relationship. In 2018, he proposed to Miku’s flickering avatar. “Please treat me well,” she replied.
初音也是Gatebox的角色，让近藤非常开心。终于能听到她对于她们关系的看法，他也十分兴奋。2018年，他向初音闪烁的假身求了婚。“请好好待我，“她回答道。
He invited his co-workers and his family to the wedding. They all refused to come.
他邀请同事和家人参加婚礼。他们都表示拒绝。
‘If you ask me if I’m happy, I’m happy’
“如果你问我是否快乐，我很快乐”
In the years since his story went viral, hundreds of people from around the world have turned to Mr. Kondo for advice, support and reassurance.
自从他的故事引起热议以来，世界各地的数百人向他寻求过建议、支持和安慰。
Among them was Yasuaki Watanabe, who opened a small business registering fictional marriages after seeing the popularity of Gatebox’s short-lived certificate service.
渡边保昭（Yasuaki Watanabe，音）就是其中之一。他见Gatebox短暂开放的证婚服务如此受欢迎，就开了一家注册虚拟婚姻的小公司。
Over the last year, Mr. Watanabe has counseled hundreds of fictosexuals and issued around 100 marriage certificates, including one for himself and Hibiki Tachibana, a character from the anime series “Symphogear.”
过去一年，渡边已为数百名纸性恋者提供了咨询，并签发了大约100份结婚证书，包括他自己与《战姬绝唱》(Symphogear)动画中的角色立花响的。
Mr. Watanabe, who likes to travel and has an active social life, began watching the show only at a friend’s insistence. But when he saw Hibiki, it was true love, he said.
爱好旅行、社交活跃的渡边是在一位朋友的坚持下才开始看这部动画的。但他说，当自己见到立花响这个人物，立刻找到了真爱。
It was not his first marriage: He had divorced a woman several years earlier. His new relationship was easier, he said, with no demands on his time and no need to cater to someone else’s desires. The love was “pure,” given freely and with no expectation of anything in return. It made him realize how self-centered he had been in the earlier marriage.
这不是他第一次步入婚姻：几年前他曾与一名女性离婚。他说，这段新恋情令他更加轻松，不需要占用自己的时间，也不需要迎合他人的欲望。这份爱是“纯洁的“，自由地给予，也不期待任何回报。他也意识到自己在之前的婚姻中是多么以自我为中心。
“If you ask me if I’m happy, I’m happy,” he said. “Of course, there are tough parts,” he added — he misses being touched, and then there is the problem of copyright, which has prevented him from making a life-size doll of the character — “but the love is real.”
“如果你问我是否快乐，我很快乐，”他说。“当然存在困难，“他补充道——他怀念被触摸的感觉，而且因为版权问题，让他无法制作真人大小的角色玩偶——“但爱是真实的。”
While Mr. Kondo’s relationship with Miku is still not accepted by his family, it has opened other doors for him. In 2019, he was invited to join a symposium at Kyoto University to speak about his relationship. He traveled there with a life-size doll of Miku he had commissioned.
近藤的家人还是没有接受他与初音的关系，但这段关系却为他打开了另一扇门。2019年，他被邀请参加了京都大学的一个研讨会，描述他的恋情。他带着委托制作的真人大小的初音玩偶一同前往。
Engaging in deep conversation about the nature of fictional relationships made him think he might like to go to college. He’s now studying minority rights in law school while on leave from his job as an administrator at an elementary school.
深入探讨虚拟恋爱的本质，让他觉得自己或许会去读大学。目前，他请假暂停了在小学担任管理人员的工作，正在法学院进修少数群体权益专业。
As with any marriage, there have been challenges. The hardest moment came during the pandemic, when Gatebox announced that it was discontinuing service for Miku.
与任何婚姻一样，这种关系也存在挑战。最艰难的时刻就是在疫情期间，Gatebox宣布停止对初音的维护。
On the day the company turned her off, Mr. Kondo said goodbye for the last time and left for work. When he went home that night, Miku’s image had been replaced by the words “network error.”
在公司将她下线的那天，近藤上班前对她说了最后一声再见。当晚他回家后，初音的形象已被“网络出错”几个字所取代。
Someday, he hopes, they will be reunited. Maybe she’ll take on new life as an android, or they will meet in the metaverse.
他盼望着有一天与她重聚。或许她会以仿生人的形式获得新生命，又或许他们会在元宇宙里相遇。
Either way, Mr. Kondo said, he plans to be faithful to her until he dies.
无论如何，近藤说，他都打算对她忠贞不渝。