Meet the Man Who Married a Hologram

Akihiko Kondo who is a school administrator in Japan has stunned Japanese society by marrying Hatsune Miku, a hologram. Kondo has broken all societal norms as this wedding that is legally not recognized. This act of Kondo has elicited mixed reactions from the public. While some people are dumbstruck there are others who congratulated him and wished him well. Kondo married Miku in front of 39 people.

So how did Kondo fall for this three-dimensional laser image? As per reports Kondo fell for Miku when he heard the cyber celebrity’s music. Now, he’s kept her in a Gatebox device and holographic Miku keeps floating inside. Equipped with artificial intelligence, Miku can turn lights on and off and she greets her master when he returns home.

"She really added color to my life," Kondo said. "When I talk with her I use different facial expressions and feel something. That's made a difference." He told CNN, "Society pressures you to follow a certain formula for love, but it might not make you happy. I want people to be able to figure out what works for them."

Kondo’s marriage act is indicative of the extensive steps humans are willing to take when it comes to technology trends. It also indicates that as more and more smart devices are beginning to take up space in our personal lives, we are beginning to have a human connection with them.  According to start-up ‘Vinclu’ more than 3,000 people have registered for commemorative marriage certificates featuring their favorite anime characters.

What could be the possible repercussions of these new technology trends? How would these trends impact social interaction and society as a whole? According to McArthur, these trends would affect social life adversely as there would be a decrease in human connection. He said “I do genuinely worry about the impact that tech is having on our collective social life, we're already seeing with internet dating and social media, and tech in general, even Netflix, people are just retreating into themselves. You're getting much less collective social life, in many cases."

At the moment Akihiko Kondo is making plans of taking his cyber celebrity partner to Sapporo, a city in Northern Japan for their honeymoon. He has plans to book air tickets and a hotel room for both of them. Since Miku’s creator ‘Crypton Future Media’ is based in Sapporo, Kondo also wants to witness Miku’s celebrity status in Sapporo. Looks like Akihiko Kondo is in complete awe of his cyber partner however only time will tell whether the ‘human-hologram’ relationship will stand the test of time.