In Japan, You Can Rent A Family

Japanese people with no relatives can hire a husband, a mother, or a grandson. Some widowers are trying to combat loneliness. Some single mothers fight discrimination this way.

Perhaps you empathize with them—with the single mum who wants to enrol her child in a good school where children from married couples receive preferential admission, or with the man who recently lost his wife and wants someone to talk to over dinner.

But lots of questions come to mind. What kind of relationship do they have with the 'rentals'? Isn't this some sort of human trafficking? Sure, the rental relatives forced into their role under threat, but what are their circumstances? Why would someone agree to become the fake-wife or fake-daughter of someone else if not out of need?

"In general, rental partners and spouses aren’t supposed to be alone with clients one on one, and physical contact beyond hand-holding is not allowed."

Journalist Elif Batuman says that, during the writing of this article, she realized that those relationships became more real than anyone would have anticipated.

That's human interaction, something that should occur without a transaction. Without calling your rental wife by the name of your late wife.

"One Hagemashi-tai client simply didn’t want to tell his fiancée that his parents were dead, so he rented replacements."

Of course, the theory inspiring the business has a name: "The Family Romance of Neurotics," by Freud. 

An excellent read on a very controversial topic. The ultimate proof that we humans are social creatures, and that we must be doing something very wrong if we feel the need to rent our friends, or parents, or children.