Dakimakura the Modern Day Pygmalion’s Galatea

Pygmalion was a Cypriot sculptor who fell in love with his own sculpture that he
made out of ivory. He named the sculpture after Galatea which means “she who is white like
milk”. Even though at first he was ‘not interested in women', he spent his days mesmerizing
his fair and realistic sculpture. He was in love with it. Afterward, the city was having a
Venus/Aphrodite's festival and people were making offerings, Pygmalion was one of them.
He wished for the goddess to bring his sculpture to life and his wish was granted. By the time
he returned home, Cupid sent by Venus kissed the ivory sculpture on the hand. At that time, it
was changed to a beautiful woman. Pygmalion then married the ivory sculpture that changed
to a woman with Venus blessing. With the story in mind, I'm going to discuss similar thing
regarding the relationship with a fictional object that had happened in real life.

With the rise of Japanese pop culture, more people are being confronted with the
characters of anime and manga. To be attracted to a 2D character or even idolized them might
seem normal as long as it doesn't go to the extent which you end up thinking to make them an
actual partner. However with the invention of dakimakura or a body pillow with the image of
a cartoon or anime character, it allows many otakus, die-hard fans to marry them. In 2010
there was news published by Metro about a Korean otaku who marry his anime body pillow
or a dakimakura with the image of his favorite heroine Fate Testarossa a magical girl from
the show Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha. Not only that he married his favorite pillow, he also
had taken her out on dates to restaurant and event amusement park.

Dakimakura is usually referred to as a love pillow and used as a sex toy. According to
Urban Dictionary, a user-generated web dictionary a dakimakura is A long body pillow with
an anime character imprinted on it for horny otakus (mostly men) to embrace their sexual
fantasies. Kiss it, hug it, hump it, watch TV and eat dinner with the pillow because you’re
either going to treat it as your ultimate sex slave or only best friend. Owners usually treat
their love pillows with their uttermost respect as if it was an actual person to the point where
they even give them a name. From the psychological aspect, there is the same similarity to
Pygmalion behavior and this kind of otakus. Both of them tend to find an escape from a real
life problem with an inanimate object.

In Pygmalion story, Galatea was able to be alive after Aphrodite granted his wish and
now thanks to technology dakimakura can be slightly alive. The smart dakimakura is able to
respond to their user caress. With sensors placed on the dakimakura, the user managed to
‘interact' with it. It is able to give different responds through different kind of touching styles.
Hitting will provoke negative responses “Stop it!” to “You’re worthless!” if the abuse
continues. Stroking can go from “No way” to “It’s getting hot.” Gentle touches produce
positive replies “I like you” and even heavy breathing, moans, and screams of sexual ecstasy.
The guy inventing the sophisticated sensors which enable the dakimakura to respon with the
user became it's own Aphrodite. If in the story Aphrodite acts as the higher power who
granted Pygmalion's wish, here Koichi invented his own product to allow him to
‘communicate' with his own Galatea.

The reason behind Pygmalion not taking an interest in women was because he loathes
what they do. It was because in Cypres the women prostitutes theirself as a punishment from
Aphrodite for not acknowledging her as a goddess. Once Pygmalion finished sculpting
Galatea he can't help falling in love with it and even treating ‘her' like its his girlfriend. What
Pygmalion is doing is pretty much the same as the deluded otaku's treating their dakimakura
as an object for pleasure. Where as the otakus avoid woman because they are scared of
commitment. In one case published in BBC, a guy named Yuge is dating his virtual girlfriend
because he can have a relationship without having to think about marriage. "With real
girlfriends, you have to consider marriage. So I think twice about going out with a 3D
woman."

In sum, Pygmalion and an otaku similar behaviour which cause them to vent their
pleasure to a fictional object is a result of their personal problems toward women. Both of
them have their own way to make their fantasy into a reality by wishing for Galatea to be
alive and by the invention of the smart dakimakura. They choose to live their life that way as
a mean to escape from the harsh reality that they don’t want to face.
Reference

Jargalsaikhan, B. 2017. Story of Pygmalion and Galatea by Sir Edward Burne-Jones.

Retrieved from://www.dailyartmagazine.com/story-of-pygmalion-and-galatea/

Philips, T. 2010. Man Marries Pillow. Retrieved from http://metro.co.uk/2010/03/09/man-

marries-pillow-154906/

Quigley, J.T. 2015. Otaku Dream: This Smart Anime Body Pillow Responds to Your Caress.
Retrieved from https://www.techinasia.com/otaku-dream-smart-anime-body-pillow-itaspo

Rani, A. 2013. The Japanese Men Who Prefer Virtual Grilfriend to Sex. Retrieved from
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24614830