Virtual partners in Japan

From Wagennar’s paper, we learnt that many elements of japan has been depicted as ‘wacky’

under the framework of ‘wacky orientalism’, in which japan is not given a channel to

represent herself to the west. The same scenario has happened to a holographic artificial

intelligence that lives in a glass tube. In this essay we will discuss how this device become a

epitome of “Wacky Japan” and the reality in japan.

Figure 1The Gatebox, an Alexa-like virtual assistant that also offers digital companionship
Gatebox/Youtube

In 2017, a company named Vincle announced its product called GateBox, a virtual voice

assistant in the form of a holographic character with vivid body movements. Almost

instantly, this product caught the attention of the major news outlets around the globe. When

being asked the intention behind his creation in a interview, the CEO of the company, Minori

Takechi, answered that he wanted to create a virtual partner for many lonely modern

Japanese with life-like interaction. His vision manifested itself when a Japanese man named

Akihito kondo married one of those holograms in November 2018. Ever since, many western

medias have written about this incidence passionately, where many traits of ‘wacky

orientalism’ can be observed in their narratives.

In many of those reports, words that suggest abnormality have been directly used to portray

Gatebox. For example, David (2016) described the voice assistant as “creepy” and “icky”. As

a result, an impression that GateBox is sexualized and users are eccentric and perverted was

hinted at readers. This reinforces the stereotype mentioned in the Wagennar’s paper that

Japanese men are generally queer and overly attached with fictional characters.

Apart from explicit nomination, the fabrication of a dichotomy between Western countries

and Japan to showcase latter’s supposedly “wackiness” is observed in many reports. David

(2016) compared Gate Box with voice assistants from US companies such as Google and

Amazon. Instead of showing the similarity in their functionality, David (2016) extensively

elaborated on the visual difference between the two types. Furthermore, David (2016) also

brought up the social isolation problem in japan, attempting to justify the implication that the

intervention of the Gate Box is a testament of a malfunctioning society and only indigenous

to Japan. Once the dichotomy is established, readers would be misleadingly convinced that

Japan’s social issue has led to its uncommon creation, hence affirming the regularity of their

own societies. Although the increasing fragmentation of the modern japan society is well
documented, the assumption that people of japan has resorted to artificial intelligence for

companionship is still largely inaccurate.

It is shocking to realize that GateBox is not well-known in its country of origin even after the

astounding news of man-and-machine marriage. In a 2019 video titled “Japanese React To

Hologram Girlfriend(interview)” , a few pedestrians was interviewed and they all

demonstrated no awareness of such device. When asked whether they would consider

purchasing GateBox, all answered ‘no’. In conclusion, Gatebox is another victim that has

been subjected to the wacky orientalism where the bias and speculation are emphasized

instead of truth, which leads to an overgeneralisation of a phenomenon to the entire

population.

Bibliography

Morris, David Z. 2016. The Creepy Virtual Assitant That Embodies Japan's Biggest Problem.

December 19. https://fortune.com/2016/12/18/gatebox-virtual-assistant-japan/.