The students completed the experience of the hug by including a set of headphones wired to the coat, which allows the wearer to hear footsteps running from behind with a female voice saying girlfriend-like things such as “sorry, I’m late” in an anime voice.
The name of the coat, Riajuu, is a combination of two words, ‘riaru’ (Katakana for Real) and the kanji Juu, which means reside. Taken together, this term refers to a ”fulfilling real life.” This term is often used in Japan as the direct social opposite to the negative social connotations of being an otaku.
This is due to the strange way the term otaku have manifested itself in and outside of Japan. Outside of Japan, the term otaku signifies a person who have a niche interest in Japanese popular culture. However, the same term has acquired a socially negative meaning that is closer to ‘closeted freak’ back in Japan. Thus, otaku in Japan are seen as people without a “real and fulfilling life.” In naming the coat a Riajuu Coat, it is rather tongue-in-cheek, suggesting that the coat is intended to provide otaku with an experience of the Riajuu life.
There are no plan to commercially release the coat at this point of time. Netizens have dubbed this as the “Forever Alone Jacket,” while others have suggested that the addition sensation of soft breasts on the wearer’s back would truly complete the experience. Personally, I think that this is an interesting invention as well as a social statement into the way social life have been increasingly cyborgized. It should not be caught up in the mindless language of forever alone, otaku or even Riajuu. Instead, is it not better to think of this as an elaborate teddy bear/body pillow that provides people with some comfort when comfort is lacking?
The simple embrace of a loved one can provide some serious stimulation as you can feel all warm and good from something as simple as a hug. But there are people out there who have yet to know the joy of what it’s like to get a hug from a girlfriend or boyfriend as well as a sweet nothing into your ear, which is why a bunch of Japanese students decided to let technology give them the embrace they need.
Students at the University of Tsukuba created a coat that would give the wearer the sensation they are being hugged from behind by their girlfriend. The Riajuu Coat, as it’s called, uses a combination of a jacket, headphones and a belt that tightens around the wearer’s waist in order to get the feeling of a hug at that location. Judging by the sound of the virtual girlfriends included in the attached video, we have a feeling these Japanese students might have seen one too many animes.
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