Japanese studio apartments may seem tiny by Western standards, but the truth is you really don’t need all that much space as a single person. You can fit places to sleep, hang your clothes, shower, and cook for-one-size meals into a surprisingly compact floor plan, and so really most Japanese people don’t even start thinking about buying a house until they’ve got a spouse, and often a kid too.
But one Japanese house builder is now willing to supply the family for you, at least on a temporary basis. The company, called Regard, makes custom homes (large-scale tract housing isn’t common in Japan) and is displaying a model home this month in Tokyo to give prospective clients an idea of what sort of services it can provide. In addition to being outfitted with fixtures and furniture, the house also includes a model family for you to try out, consisting of a wife and seven year-old daughter.
The visitor slides into the role of the family’s husband/father. Your wife, whom you’ve been married to for eight years, is described as having an active and warm personality, and a talented swimmer who loves cooking and her family. Meanwhile, your daughter is “a bit of a crybaby,” but has a strong sense of curiosity, and she also loves you very much.
▼ The family
The experience takes you through the joys of family life, as well as the rooms of the model home, starting with a cheerful “Welcome home!” when you step into the entryway. After that, you’ll move to the kitchen for some family cooking, followed by lounging around the living room and playing with your daughter, or doing some arts and crafts projects together in the doma, an earthen-floor workspace area.
There’s even a little time for just the grown-ups, as you and your wife enjoy a relaxing drink on the semi-open-air wood deck, with your choice of alcoholic beverage or soft drink. Speaking of the love of your simulated life, she’s none other than Japanese actress Saori Koide (known professionally as simply (“Saori”), who’s prepared to skilfully ad-lib in your conversations to really make it feel like you’ve been married and raising a child together for years.
Regard says the project’s aim is to broaden the perspective of young people who envision family life as a purely unpleasant bundle of responsibilities and personal constrictions, showing instead some of “the happy scenes that can be experienced in a house” that you share with others.
The model home will be shown in Tokyo’s Kokubunji district, with the model family residing there on November 19 and waiting for five husbands, to be chosen randomly from online applications that can be made here with Rigard.
Source: PR Times
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23 Comments
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Alex Einz
I like the 8 years married point so they obviously have no sex life at this point ....
Dango bong
this is another one of those "only in Japan" moments...
bicultural
Creepy
kohakuebisu
This may work with some people, but presumably most potential home buyers grew up in a real home with real parents. When I got married and started a family, I was motivated by my own experiences of family life, not some advert.
From the description, perhaps they'd be better off selling the model wife.
mikmic
gee , I wonder what type of people that will attract . certainly nothing will go wrong here?
Vince Black
Sick.
Reckless
So how does the real wife feel about this or is there a simulation for her with a 45 yo sarariman who is obviously not at home and a 16 yo son boarded up in his room?
BigYen
Perhaps the builders are taking the idea of presenting an ideal family life in one of their homes a bit further than others might, but isn't this really intended to give prospective buyers an idea of what kind of family life is possible in one of their houses, rather than offering some kind of creepy fictional family as a substitute for real relationships?
Interesting to read this article in conjunction with the one beneath it in today's Features section: Living alone becoming a way of life for many, but that's not necessarily for worse.
Alex Einz
the real wife dont need simulation because husband is not home and the lover usually at love hotel...maybe some wine or chuhi is enough
WilliB
Maybe just me, but I find this kind of creepy....
Kumagaijin
I'd love to see some comedian like Borat putting the moves on Saori, trying to lure her into sex. "lets hava sexy tima, you're my wifa"
savethegaijin
What kind of uselessly rich weirdo buys a brand new family sized house in Japan for a family they don’t have yet? No one I want to be neighbors with.
CrashTestDummy
Quite creepy and humorous at the same time. Lol. Some people must be seriously impressionable if a virtual reality sales pitch like that works on them.
Mark_McCracken
Selling point: Regardless of your height, you can cut your head open on one of the six 90 angles built into our steel staircase.
Luddite
Not only is this creepy, it's also pandering to damaging sex and gender stereotypes.
I can quite imagine the minds of the men who created this rubbish, and the minds of the men who would choose to use it.
marcelito
Regard says the project’s aim is to broaden the perspective of young people who envision family life as a purely unpleasant bundle of responsibilities and personal constrictions
Cool.... thats what its all about then....and here silly me was just thinking the whole aim of this was to increase the company sales.... J-companies are just so nice and thoughtful . Super....
Thomas Robert Mountcastle
What is the cost of this "dream" house?
mike1492
Whoa. I'm onboard for this.
Alex Einz
haha yea the architect of this should be made to run under the staircase with no helmet on... i would be surprised if that child survives it without a scar
Alex Einz
they should make wifes catalog to more complete simulation