Much of what goes on in Japan is strange or borderline incomprehensible to Westerners, so much so that it has become somewhat of a running. If you want an example of something that can only happen in Japan, just look at the recent wedding in the country that saw two robots joined together in holy matrimony. I’m not kidding, while people in America have been celebrating nation-wide marriage equality, Japan is having robot marriages.
True love knows no bounds, except maybe battery life. While same-sex couples across America celebrated their right to marry this weekend, festivities of a more mechanical sort were happening in Tokyo. On Saturday, robot groom Frois and robot bride Roborin were married. In a ceremony officiated by the emotional humanoid robot Pepper, the two formalized things and even shared a kiss, the Daily Mail reported. The wedding was organized by Maywa Denki, an art collective conceived by two brothers, Masamichi and Novmichi, according to the company biography, that make nonsense machines and even musical instruments. The bride, Roborin, was created by robot inventor Todo Takayuki, and has a face apparently modelled after the star of Japanese girl group AKB48, Yuki Kashiwagi. Frois was created by Maywa Denki and is described as having “bath chair of the head,” or so says Google Translate. The event and buffet was attended by 100 lucky guests, who paid 10,000 yen (US$81.31) for the privilege.