SMH on Hired Friends

SMH article 22 Sep 09:

He's best friend you'll never have
Date: September 22 2009





TOKYO: The best man, Ryuichi Ichinokawa, took his place before the wedding guests, cleared his throat and for the next few minutes spoke movingly about the bride and groom. But his speech omitted one crucial fact: that he hardly knew either of them at all.

As a professional stand-in, Mr Ichinokawa is part of a growing service sector in Japan that rents out fake spouses, relatives, friends, colleagues, boyfriends and girlfriends to spare their clients' blushes at social functions.

He launched his agency, Hagemashi Tai (I Want to Cheer You Up), 3? years ago and now employs 30 people.

The number of rent-a-friend agencies in Japan has doubled to about 10 in the past eight years. The best known, Office Agent, has 1000 people on its books.

The rise of the phoney friend is a symptom of social and economic changes, combined with a deep-seated cultural aversion to giving personal and professional problems a public airing.

Demand has surged for bogus bosses among men who have lost their jobs; for colleagues among contract employees who never stay in the same job long enough to make friends, and from divorcees and lovelorn singles.

Mr Ichinokawa's stand-ins charge 15,000 yen ($190) to attend a wedding reception, but extra if they are asked to make a speech or sing karaoke.

His preparation is exhaustive, examining every possible question that, if answered incorrectly or not at all, will embarrass his client.

''I've never once been caught out,'' he said. ''If I'm pretending to be someone's husband, I make sure I know everything about my 'wife', from her mobile phone number to what 'our' kids have been getting up to lately.''