Only in Japan, Real Men Go to a Hotel With Virtual Girlfriends
Dating-Simulation Game a Last Resort For Honeymoon Town and Its Lonely Guests
By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI
Atami一度是新婚夫妻度蜜月的圣地，如今又添加了一道浪漫或者说肉麻的色彩---宅男们与心爱的充气娃娃度过美好时光的圣地。
ATAMI, Japan—This resort town, once popular with honeymooners, is turning to a new breed of romance seekers—virtual sweethearts.
自从结婚率在日本节节下降，加上大多数新人们把首选投眼到夏威夷或者澳大利亚的黄金海岸，Atami这个曾经辉煌又浪漫的小镇必须另找出路了，它将目光投到单身宅男们的身上--还有他们的爱侣充气娃娃。
就在7月开始头一个月，小镇推出的优惠月计划里面，就有超过1500名可怜的宅男们蜂涌而来和他们的电子游戏女朋友们幽会。
In Love Plus, a Japanese dating simulation game, players experience young romance with a virtual girlfriend. Some have even taken their beloved avatars to an island resort -- a real island resort. WSJ's Akiko Fujita takes a tour of Atami.
Since the marriage rate among Japan's shrinking population is falling and with many of the country's remaining lovebirds heading for Hawaii or Australia's Gold Coast, Atami had to do something. It is trying to attract single men—and their handheld devices.
In the first month of the city's promotional campaign launched July 10, more than 1,500 male fans of the Japanese dating-simulation game LovePlus+ have flocked to Atami for a romantic date with their videogame character girlfriends.
男人们是真的。女孩子们都是卡通电玩人物。这项旅程也是真实的，而且还很贵。唯一不同的是，宅男们所玩的游戏是独一无二的， Konami Corp.游戏开发公司开发的电子游戏添加了特殊的程序，让里面的女主角和现实世界的宅男们共度美好的假期。
“Atami 永远都是浪漫的圣地，不过现在是新一代日本人的圣地了。”atami的镇长这样说。
The men are real. The girls are cartoon characters on a screen. The trips are actual, can be expensive and aim to re-create the virtual weekend outing featured in the game, a product of Konami Corp. played on Nintendo Co.'s DS videogame system.
"Atami has always been a romantic place, but it is now a romantic place for a modern generation," says Sakae Saito, Atami's mayor.
Love Plus+ re-creates the experience of an adolescent romance. The goal isn't just to get the girl but to maintain a relationship with her.
After choosing one of three female characters—goodie-goodie Manaka, sassy Rinko or big-sister type Nene—to be a steady girlfriend, the player taps a stylus on the DS touch-screen in order to walk hand-in-hand to school, exchange flirtatious text messages and even meet in the school courtyard for a little afternoon kiss. Using the device's built-in microphone, the player can carry on sweet, albeit mundane, conversations.
Konami
Konami Digital Entertainment sells the Love Plus video game with wording reading: "Can't stop loving her ... 365 days. This love gentle, warm and strong like the sun. Together we sail out to the sea of love..."
Akiko Fujita
A game character from Love Plus is superimposed over a cellphone photo of Kanji Nagasawa, the owner of a Korean barbecue restaurant in Atami, Japan, holding a specialty dish created for the game's fans.
If the real-life Romeo earns enough "boyfriend power" points—by completing game tasks like homework or exercise to become smarter and more buff—the reward is a virtual trip to Atami.
In the game, the couple tours the local landmarks. The girlfriend changes into a yukata, a casual summer kimono, to go see the fireworks, and then they stay overnight at the Hotel Ohnoya. It is known for its cavernous, white-columned baths in the style of Ancient Rome.
In his first visit to the real-life Atami, Love Plus+ gamer Shunsuke Kato planned to walk around the city and see the sights familiar to him from playing the game. One small hitch: his girlfriend, Manaka, was giving him the silent treatment.
She was upset that he had been so busy at work that he had been playing the game only 10 minutes a day. "On days off, I spend one to two hours with her. I guess, compared to the people who come here, our relationship is a bit lukewarm," said Mr. Kato.
Located at the bend of the Japanese archipelago and a one-hour train ride from Tokyo, Atami has definitely seen better days.
The number of overnight visitors has dropped by half from the peak in the late 1960s. The main shopping area has many boarded-up storefronts—a lot of them defunct bars, clubs and other remnants of the city's heyday as an entertainment mecca.
The city is going all-out to indulge ardent Love Plus+ fans.
At the real Hotel Ohnoya, which opened its doors in 1937, the staff is trained to check in Love Plus+ customers as couples even if there is only one actual guest. Says Atsurou Ohno, the hotel's managing director, "We try not to ask too many questions because we want them to be able to remain immersed in that game world."
Some devoted fans will go so far as to pay twice the rate—most hotels in Japan charge per guest not per room—to indulge the fantasy that they are not there alone. A night's stay, at most, can cost $500 though many rooms are cheaper.
In Atami, the Love Plus+ fans—mostly men in their twenties and thirties—stand out. Unlike the deeply tanned beach crowd wearing very little, they are often pasty and overdressed for the heat in heavy jeans and button-down shirts.
Tatsuya Fukazawa, a 19-year-old college student, was visiting Atami for the first time on a recent weekend. In a small waist bag, he carried his Nintendo DS. Once he turned on the device, his virtual girlfriend Manaka Takane—a Libra who enjoys making pastries—greeted him in a syrupy sweet voice.
"There isn't a lot of romance in my life and this helps me cope with some of the loneliness," said Mr. Fukazawa with a chuckle.
Adding real elements to the virtual relationships is central to the Love Plus+ series. The games can be synched up to an actual calendar and clock, which means playing the game too late at night might mean that the virtual girlfriend is already asleep. Players are expected to remember important dates like birthdays and holidays.
Local businesses are feeling the love.
Yamadaya, a shop selling processed fish cakes on Atami's main shopping street, started offering special Love Plus+ fish cakes at the end of July. On top of a rubbery square white cake about the size of piece of toast, Yamadaya draws the characters' faces using black squid ink. At 450 yen ($5.30), the store has been selling out its daily allotment of 150 cakes—50 for each girl.
Yamadaya，一家销售电子套餐的小店，7月开始销售电子食物，过程是这样的，客人带着他们的游戏机过来点餐，店主用一根点击棒点一下虚拟女友的嘴巴，然后，450日元，相当于美金5块的费用就由她的男友来付，小店已经卖出去150个这样的套餐了。
Korean barbecue-inspired restaurant Hien says a quarter of its customers are currently game-related. For 5,000 yen, customers get a special Love Plus+ menu of Japanese beef and side dishes.
Kanji Nagasawa, Hien's owner, says he is accustomed to making small talk with customers, but the Love Plus+ crowd often sits in silence and plays the game while eating.
Kanji Nagasawa, Hien' 旅馆的主人，说他曾经尝试和客人们聊聊天，可惜失败了，宅男们完全沉浸在游戏的世界里面和他们的电子情人幽会。"We've been stunned," Mr. Nagasawa said, "how happy this makes those customers."
Alas, the boom ends this month, when the imaginary characters have to go back to school.
Write to Daisuke Wakabayashi at Daisuke.Wakabayashi@wsj.com
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