{"id":19713,"date":"2026-05-09T21:04:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T21:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/19713\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T21:04:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T21:04:34","slug":"rental-family-spotlights-real-life-japanese-businesses-that-offer-fill-in-relatives-and-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/19713\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Rental Family’ spotlights real-life Japanese businesses that offer fill-in relatives and friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOKYO (AP) \u2014 Ryuichi Ichinokawa\u2019s life could be right out of the movie \u201cRental Family\u201d as the founder nearly two decades ago of the Heart Project business in Japan, which he bills as a surrogate attendance service complete with furnishing of extras and family members. <\/p>\n

He has hired dozens of people to act like reporters with cameras and voice recorders, taking notes and milling with real journalists to fill up an otherwise rather vacant event. He has posed as the boyfriend of a woman who needs to discuss legal paperwork with her former spouse. And he has gone to a hospital as a stand-in husband for a woman getting fertility treatments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am being of service to people. I hope they will be happy,\u201d said Ichinokawa, a dapper elderly man who asked The Associated Press to not be photographed lest his identity become public. <\/p>\n

\u201cRental Family,\u201d a moving drama from Searchlight Pictures starring Brendan Fraser<\/a>, is sure to spark interest in Japan\u2019s real-life industry. The film, which opens in theaters Friday, centers on Phillip, an American actor who is recruited by a Tokyo \u201crental family\u201d agency in need of a \u201ctoken white guy.\u201d His recurring jobs range from playing video games with a loner to portraying a little girl\u2019s long absentee father. It isn\u2019t long before Phillip starts to become emotionally invested in what were supposed to be superficial relationships. The film\u2019s Japanese supporting cast also bring to life the intense highs and lows of assuming a role in a stranger\u2019s life. <\/p>\n

In reality, these niche businesses highlight how deeply people in Japan experience loneliness or worry about keeping up appearances. Outsiders may cringe at the idea of paying amateur actors to be fake family members or friends. But users say they find these services comforting and even healing. <\/p>\n

Rental roles can vary and be stressful<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s director, Mitsuyo Miyazaki whose professional name is Hikari, was born in Japan yet knew little about the concept. Once she learned about it, she couldn\u2019t stop thinking about what a unique story it could inspire. So Hikari started researching and found hundreds of companies in Japan that offer rental families or similar services. She spoke with several people in that world. <\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of started tackling those questions, and interviewed them on what are the necessities of the business that needs to happen in Japan. And then that\u2019s how I kind of built stories,\u201d Hikari said. <\/p>\n

Even at a time when people seek company through Artificial Intelligence, she thinks hiring of actors to fill emotional voids will always be in demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think they will disappear, honestly, it might just probably expand,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

In Ichinokawa\u2019s experience, most people who ask for the service have a certain social status to protect. He has organized visits to a bar for a hostess who wants to impress her employer with lots of clientele. Similar to the movie, Ichinokawa has gone to school events with a single mother and her child, acting as a friendly uncle. <\/p>\n

Sometimes Ichinokawa takes extra steps to ensure the facade. If required, he will print fake business cards \u2014 which are routinely exchanged at Japanese gatherings. <\/p>\n

Some parts are easy, like being a wedding guest who just sits and eats. But it\u2019s often stressful work. You\u2019re coached to avoid uttering the wrong name or background information. You might have to be prepared to talk about childhood memories you have no clue about. Ichinokawa used to scribble names on his hand. He also pores over notes in advance. If he\u2019s really desperate, he excuses himself to the restroom.<\/p>\n

Payment for getting rented out varies. For Heart Project, the relatively easy roles can make 9,800 yen ($63) for a couple of hours. For the more elaborate parts, the client dishes out 20,000 yen ($130) to 30,000 yen ($190) per person.<\/p>\n

Ichinokawa\u2019s rule is that you only play a role once. To do it more than once is setting yourself up for failure. And he has never failed in his mission, he added proudly. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel I am acting. I really get angry if that\u2019s what the situation requires,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s loneliness epidemic<\/p>\n

Japan has long grappled with loneliness, high suicide rates and a stigma surrounding mental illness. After a 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the country examined how the 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. <\/p>\n

Today, there are more mental health providers and an understanding of the need for counseling in Japan. During the pandemic, volunteers focused on teen depression started an online Japanese-language chat service<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Japanese people isolated physically are prone to feeling it internally, said Chikako Ozawa-de Silva, author of \u201cThe Anatomy of Loneliness: Suicide, Social Connection and the Search for Relational Meaning in Contemporary Japan.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people feel they\u2019re not loved, they are not accepted, they\u2019re not seen, they\u2019re not heard. The sense of \u2018I don\u2019t matter\u2019 is a form of loneliness,\u201d said Ozawa-de Silva, who is also a professor at Emory University. <\/p>\n

This can lead to \u201chikikomori,\u201d where people withdraw socially and become shut-ins for months or even years.<\/p>\n

Japanese culture\u2019s collectivist nature also contributes to hiding mental health challenges. Children are taught the principle of \u201cminna no tame ni\u201d or for the sake of everybody, Yasui said. As adults, there is pressure to maintain harmony and make sure the needs of others \u2014 work or family \u2014 are met.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin Asian cultures, there\u2019s a concept of loss of face,\u201d Yasui said. \u201cIf you lose that, that actually has significant implications.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Ozawa-de Silva\u2019s opinion, renting actors for surface-level intimacy is putting a \u201cBand-Aid\u201d on a deeper problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not against that,\u201d Ozawa-de Silva said. \u201cIf people can buy time by renting a family, while pursuing much better long-term solutions, I think the rental family could be a very, very beneficial thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rental families and real connections<\/p>\n

While someone with a Western mindset might find renting actors bizarre, many Japanese people find it reassuring. Much of the written feedback Ichinokawa gets expresses relief or appreciation: \u201cThank you for today. You really interacted with us like a real mother. My boyfriend kept saying, \u2018What a great mom.\u2019\u201d From a male client: \u201cPlease relay my regards to the person who played the role of my wife and tell her she was a superb wife.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film, which will be released in February in Japan, uses the rental family concept to remind people that human nature\u2019s need for connection is not something you can suppress.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you help somebody and if they feel like you\u2019re being supportive, that makes you feel good,\u201d Hikari said. \u201cAnd a family member doesn\u2019t have to be alway blood-related.\u201d<\/p>\n

___ Tang reported from Phoenix. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOKYO (AP) \u2014 Ryuichi Ichinokawa\u2019s life could be right out of the movie \u201cRental Family\u201d as the founder…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[373,15668,217,215,15671,935,1186,3007,15669,8,214,216,5059,3000,15670,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-19713","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-asia-pacific","9":"tag-brendan-fraser","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-business-of-japan","12":"tag-chikako-ozawa-de-silva","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-hikari","17":"tag-japan","18":"tag-japans-business","19":"tag-japanese-business","20":"tag-jwd-evergreen","21":"tag-movies","22":"tag-race-and-ethnicity","23":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}