Janet CollinsThe Best Friends Money Can Buy
September 28th 2009 09:39
We all know about the people who have lists of friends on Facebook or MySpace for all to see, many of whom they don’t even know or know very much about anyway. There was even a company recently that was caught trying to offer friends for sale on these sights for anyone trying to appear a little bit more popular.
Now there’s a new type of “rent-a-friend” service. It is in Japan. Ryuichi Ichinokawa has marketed himself as a stand-in for almost any occasion. The Hagemashi Tai professional rent-a-friend agency which he owns has people on the books who will act as a best friend, an ex, a boss or even a wife.
Ichinokawa himself has been a stand-in best man for weddings where the parents of the groom are unaware he has been rented out for the occasion. For what is equivalent to a $300 fee, Ichinokawa will attend the wedding and reception and even read a carefully prepared speech by the groom as if they have been friends for a long time. His performance often includes throwing in a few stories about uni or school days together.
It is a new booming business in Japan and Ichinokawa isn’t the only one in on the act. There are now ten rent-a-friend agencies in Japan, one that boasts 1,000 people on their books to help anyone out of a tricky situation.
Grand deception? Or is it just smoothing out a difficult situation? However you look at it, there is certainly a sad element there.
Sourced: www.abc.net.au
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Comment by Jason King
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I think Kyle and Jackie O also got busted buying Twitter friends.
Comment by Jason King
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Comment by Janet Collins
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Kyle and Jackie O would need to buy friends I think
Comment by Morgan Bell
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