Japan friend-for-rent for any occasion
Updated
In Japan, you can buy almost anything - including a friend, a wife, even a best man for your wedding.
There has been a boom in so-called 'rent-a-friend' agencies, as people strive to save face in sometimes awkward social situations. One professional 'rent-a-friend' says that his service is about helping people, not deceiving them.
Presenter: Mark Willacy, North Asia Correspondent
Speakers: Ryuichi Ichinokawa, rent-a-friend
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MARKI WILLACY: Ryuichi Ichinokawa is many things to many people - kind uncle, loyal friend, supportive work colleague, eloquent best man.
But in fact he's none of those people - he a professional rent-a-friend who runs the Hagemashi Tai agency - which translates as "I want to cheer you up".
RYUICHI ICHINOKAWA (translated): We get requests from the groom at a wedding to be the best man, the bride and her parents are not aware we are stand-ins. So I'll meet the groom for the first time on the day of the wedding and I'll read a speech about the groom that he's written. I'll tell stories about his time as a student, his current job, or his nickname in the old days, that sort of thing.
MARKI WILLACY: For this grand deception Ryuichi Ichinokawa charges $300 dollars.
He's rolled up to weddings, grieved at funerals, boogied at staff parties and mingled at social functions. He's pretended to be the father of a boy in trouble at school and the parent of a woman attending a formal match-making party.
RYUICHI ICHINOKAWA (translated): My next job is a request from a woman who told a man over the phone she was tall, thin, and younger than her actual age. She also lied about her looks and now that she has to meet the man she's asked me to find a woman in my agency who actually fits the description she gave to the man.
MARKI WILLACY: Another job Ryuichi Ichinokawa has been asked to perform is to stand in as a bogus boss for a man who was too scared to tell his wife he'd lost his job.
He learns everything he can about his clients - their work history, their phone numbers, the names of their kids. One of his next assignments is to revive a waning love affair by bumping into a woman - his client - and pretending to be an old boyfriend, thereby making her current beau jealous.
But isn't this all just deception and downright lies?
RYUICHI ICHINOKAWA (translated): I have some feelings that I'm telling a complete lie and acting a lie. But I have a stronger feeling to help the client to get over their problem or difficulty that they have. So that's how I justify it.
MARKI WILLACY: And Ryuichi Ichinokawa isn't the only one justifying his clandestine characterisations. There are now 10 rent-a-friend agencies in Japan - one has 1000 people on its books.
With friends like these, the Japanese have someone for every occasion - as long as you're prepared to dig deep into your wallet, and your conscience.
