A 38-year-old Japanese man who married a hologram of a fictional character says he and his wife are no longer speaking, after a software update turned her into an error message.
Akihiko Kondo first married the hologram of Hatsune Miku in 2018 in a lavish £13,500 ceremony with around 40 guests.
Hatsune Miku, a computer-generated pop singer that has previously toured with
Lady Gaga, said yes to his proposal immediately.
However, after four happy years of being awoken by Miku every morning, Kondo's marital bliss came crashing to a halt after Gatebox announced it would no longer support Miku's software.
When Kondo, a school administrator, came home from work one night, Miku's image had been replaced by a message saying 'network error'.
To help him get through the grief, Kondo has turned to a range of Miku dolls, including one life-sized doll that shares a bed with him and wears a wedding ring.
Kondo says he is a 'fictosexual', a group of people who are romantically and sexually attracted to fictional characters.
Mr Kondo said he wants love between humans and holograms to be accepted as a sexual minority.
He added: “It’s simply not right, it’s as if you were trying to talk a gay man into dating a woman, or a lesbian into a relationship with a man.
“I believe we must consider all kinds of love and all kinds of happiness.”
Kondo first turned to Miku after being bullied at his job in 2008, and spent around 10 years dedicated to her before getting the hologram.
He told the New York Times that while he knows Miku isn't real, his feelings for her are.
He said: "When we're together, she makes me smile. In that sense, she's real."
Kondo says he hopes to be reunited with Miku some day.
