Japanese couples rely on fake friends
Japanese couples, too busy for a normal social life, are increasingly turning to actors to play their friends on the most important days of their lives.
Several agencies have sprung up offering actors to attend weddings or even funerals. The first guest-for-hire company was established about nine years ago and around 10 now send out dozens of pretend friends to family events.
Agencies such as Hagemashi Tai - which means "I want to cheer you up" - charge around £100 for each "guest". Other services such as giving a speech in praise of a bride or the groom cost extra.
The emergence of the small fake friends industry has been linked to social and economic changes in Japan. With lifetime employment a thing of the past, couples feel uncomfortable about inviting work colleagues to their wedding. Increasingly busy and put upon, many Japanese surround themselves with only a very small circle of friends.
When they marry, however, they are under pressure to match the number of their new partner's wedding guests.
Office Agents, the largest provider of pretend friends, makes sure that its employees have done their homework and know all about the bride or groom before the wedding.
Hiroshi Mizutani, the company's founder, said the fake friends he provides must look happy, be well dressed and look like people with good jobs.
愈來愈多的日本夫妻因工作忙錄，而沒時間進行正常的社交生活，因此轉而求助租賃演員，在人生重要日子中假扮自己的朋友。
"租友公司"如雨後春筍紛紛在日本崛起，並提供可參加婚禮及葬禮的演員服務。全日本第一家"租友公司"創始於9年前，而目前約有10家租友公司提供此服務。
租友公司如: Hagemashi Tai - 我想逗你開心，該公司一個賓客需索費100英鎊。
其他服務如: 為新娘或新郎美言致辭，則需另外收費。
這些租友行業的興起和日本社會與經濟的改變脫離不了關係。隨著終身雇用制的消逝，日本人對於邀請同事來參加婚禮，愈來愈感到不安與不樂意。也因為工作愈趨繁忙，壓力負擔變重，很多日本人的朋友圈都很小。
然而，當終身大事來臨，不免面臨雙方賓客數量懸殊的窘況。
日本規模最大的租友公司"Office Agents"，確保員工在"上工扮演"時，要事先做足功課，務必對新郎、新娘雙方情況全盤了解。
此公司的創始人Hiroshi Mizutan說，公司提供的假朋友必須要很敬業，看起來要很開心，穿著得體和工作體面。
