Edward Tay

2187 days ago

Japan never ceases to fascinate me.

"Like many aspects of Japanese society, rental relatives are often explained with reference to the binary of honne and tatemae, or genuine individual feelings and societal expectations. Authenticity and consistency aren’t necessarily valued for their own sake, and the concealment of authentic honne behind conventional tatemae is often construed as an act of unselfishness and sociability, rather than of deception or hypocrisy."

Japan’s Rent-a-Family Industry

newyorker.com

Editors’ Note: In 2019, the Japanese press uncovered evidence that an employee of Family Romance, a Japanese rental-family agency described in this piece, had falsely posed as a client of the company in a TV documentary.