How many would regard this fellow as sane?

I doubt this is a practical joke. Japanese people can really go extremes. Have you ever watched one of their game shows?

I think he is for real, Sounds like a real Otaku. I don’t know what it is about Japanese culture that makes these people so self repressed and anti-social, but it’s probably correlated to their high suicide rates as well. Since it seems like a pretty deliberate choice that he wants to seclude himself from real women, I’d say he is sane, but has some serious issues to work out.

On the bright side there are 1000 more Japanese women who are competing with 2d women, so I am booking a plane ticket to help even those odds.

Nut case. Although it might be easier to get along with a 2 dimensional person who only says what I write in the bubble above their head. We would have such agreeable and intelligent conversations!

You’ve asked two different questions. Between serious and joking I would have to choose serious.

That’s not the same as the question of sane versus insane. There, I’d have to say I don’t know. I believe there is a cultural component to notions of sanity and you can’t really judge the soundness of a person’s mind in isolation from his environment; in other words, I see sanity as relative. And I don’t know the Japanese culture well enough to judge whether you can be sane and do this, but I suspect you can.

Sane is such a relative term…

Funnily enough he only made it to 7th place on this list of unusual marriages.

yes

the definition of abnormality is possessing a condition or attribute that is not commonly accepted by general society. a little weird? sure, insane? probably not.

So much for the arguement that same sex marriage would not be a ‘gateway drug’ to even more variations on marriage.

@Noel_S_Leitmotiv A JAPANESE man has enlisted hundreds of people… So you’re saying same sex marriages are legal in Japan? It’s even mentioned in the article.

No sillier than, say, falling in love with a little fluther avatar.

@markyy: No, I’m not saying it’s legal in Japan, but the marriage definition Pandora’s box is opening now.

I’m suggesting the possibility that those that argue that broadening the definition of marriage might result in cases such as this one might just be on to something.

it might seem like a non-issue today, but once we have developed AI with an anime style interface and behavioural patterns, it becomes an issue.

@Noel_S_Leitmotiv I thought you were gay. Peculiar.

Anyway, as many have said, sane, morality, ethics, creed; all of those are relative to cultural environment. Of course we find is unusual.

We’d do well to remember that Japan is a very “locked” country in terms of outside influence, tradition and culture. Apartments are quite often very small and packed next to and on top of one another. Without getting too graphic, you have to be very quiet whilst having sex and, if what I hear is correct, it’s quite uncomfortable because of that. Combine this with Otaku culture and, well, of course people will look towards other objects to fulfill their emotional desire. Arm-chair psychoanalysis aside, I’m under the assumption that this is just an extension of that;

@Grisaille: I thought I was too. (I’m not) though I am a firm believer in the Kinsey scale.

Though I believe one can be for gay marriage yet be concerned about the risks involved with it’s legalization.

Hey, whatever tickles your pickle.

Giggle!

…...“I am no longer interested in three dimensions. I would even like to become a resident of the two-dimensional world,” he wrote.”

There is no such thing as ‘2D’ per se….. it is just projections from 3D,

He could create his AI-boosted 2D world by programming projections(shadows) of the ‘loveofhislife’ , computed, 3D anime onto surfaces of his surroundings….. floor, ceiling, wall, bed, ........... just call it ‘dances with shadows’ ......

I wonder it who it is that he wants to marry. Jessica Rabbit or Daisy Duck?

He’s serious. And it’s probably neither Ms. Duck or Ms. Rabbit, it’s probably a character from one of the many, many anime shows specifically targeted at awkward single middle aged men who just want women who are nice to them.

Japan is really, really strict about everyone keeping up appearances, so when people get home, many of them are into some very, very weird stuff.

I don’t think marrying a comic book character is that much different from marrying a real, live person. It is different to the extent that our relationships with real people are not relationships with our fantasies about that person. In marrying a fictional character, the idea of the person you are marrying is 100% in your head. In marrying a real person, the idea of the person is less than 100% in your head, I believe, but how much less, I could not say.

In any case, since a comic book character is not a legal person, marrying them doesn’t mean anything. As to how serious he is—I don’t know. He might just be a publicity hound or a character actor. I think this guy may be sane, but he’s way out there, either as a performer, or as a person who really doesn’t understand himself.

The biggest problem is the fact that ink is incompatible with spermicide.

bat-shit crazy here in the USA, just a little odd in Japan.

Quote: “I am no longer interested in three dimensions. I would even like to become a resident of the two-dimensional world,” he wrote.

I love it. :-) Hey, he’s not hurting anyone in your plane of existence!