It’s the sort of thing that’s been the butt of jokes at some of the weddings that I’ve been to, but the Telegraph reports that renting fake friends for weddings and other events is a thriving business in Japan.

It seems that the pressures of modern life in Japan are such that some people are too busy to have a meaningful social life, so they’re hiring actors to come along to important events in order to make it look like they have an extensive and impressive social life.

Changing social habits and lifestyles in Japan mean that many people now have a limited social circle – perhaps just a handful of close friends rather than extensive social network that might include, for example, work colleagues.

But when it comes to an important set-piece event such as a wedding, some people feel that they have to live up to some idealised lifestyle and surround themselves with impressive ‘friends’.

Sadly, the failing economic environment has led to Japanese men being made redundant but not being able to admit this to the outside world, so they resort to hiring older men to come along to social occasions and pretend to be their boss.

In another example reported by the Guardian, a women at her son’s school sports day hired a guy to turn up and pretend to be the boy’s uncle – he even joined the adult & child races. The woman was a divorcee and her 12 year old son was being bullied at school about the absence of his father, so his mother’s desperate rental of a stand-in father-figure makes sense in a society that doesn’t like to air its problems in public.

Sometimes the duplicity exists even between couples at their own weddings: if one half believes that his or her friends & family turnout will be a bit sparse compared to the other side of the church (perhaps not literally), then actors can be hired to make up the numbers.

And not just turn up: it has been known for these ‘friend agencies’ to supply actors to play the role of best man – making speeches in favour of the happy couple etc. Speeches cost extra, and naturally, quite a lot of research must be put in beforehand in order to make the performance look convincing.

Perish the thought of some bizarre sort of arms race: both the bride and groom boast about the number of attendees from their side only to be told that they’re going to be outdone by their other half, so they have to round up a few more actors, and then the bar gets raised and more are added one one side, then the other…

Never mind the social stigma of not having enough friends for your wedding – imagine the social stigma of getting caught renting fake friends!

We say — rentals for weddings are a great idea, but we think that rather than renting best friends for their weddings, brides might like to consider renting a girl’s best friend: diamonds!