Atami offers Love Plus characters as virtual girlfriends

Visitors to Atami are opting for photos with "augmented reality'' females / AFP Source: AFP

The images are created using a smartphone cameras and a tiny black and white square / AFP

A JAPANESE beach town is attracting male tourists by offering them a virtual girlfriend.

Visitors to Atami are ignoring the bikini-clad girls frolicking on the sand and instead heading straight for a bronze statue to have a photo with "augmented reality'' (AR) females.

The images are created by visitors pointing their smartphone cameras at a tiny black and white square, a two-dimensional barcode that brings to life the object of their desire.

"Look, it's like I'm in a snapshot with her,'' Shu Watanabe, 23, said as he showed off his iPhone display, featuring himself next to the image of a doe-eyed cartoon character named Rinko, a smiling high school girl.

Rinko may only be digital, but try telling that to Watanabe or the legions of other fans of Love Plus, a dating sim or simulation game that is played on handheld Nintendo DS consoles and also boasts AR applications for iPhones.

They have selected 13 romantic locations which can be overlaid with images of Rinko or her teenage friends Manaka and Nene, who have all swapped their usual sailor-style school uniforms for casual summer wear.

Local souvenir shops in the resort town have caught on and capitalised on the love-struck new clientele, selling Love Plus-themed souvenirs, from good-luck charms to steamed buns and fish sausages.

The local Ohnoya hotel even offers traditional rooms to the unusual couples, which feature two sets of futon beds and another barcode panel that allows the men to visualise their girlfriends in a flattering summer kimono.

The popularity of Love Plus has been a welcome shot in the arm for Atami, which has seen visitors decline some 40 percent since its 1970s heyday.

More than 200 Love Plus fans have stayed at the Ohnoya hotel alone, while well over 2000 have visited the resort town for the campaign, which kicked off on July 10 and runs until the end of August.

Atami's business association was at first hesitant and puzzled by the story line, in which a high school girl spends a night at a resort hotel with a man.

"Some people were opposed to taking part in this campaign, saying the game is immoral,'' association member Saiki Ota said.

Konami's Ishihara stressed that the game has no sexual content.

"The virtual girls can kiss you as a way of communication, but nothing happens when she sleeps next to you at the hotel,'' he said.

"We have no intention of trying to sell a product with pornographic elements.

"I think Love Plus fans would get offended if somebody tried to disrespect his girlfriend like that.''

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