Virtual granny serves up happier meals
It is a melancholy reality faced by single people all over the world: waking up in or returning to an empty home and facing a cheerless mealtime alone. Now a small town in Japan has solved the problem with the invention of ‘‘virtual granny’’, a kindly old lady who will chat warmly to the solitary diner while serving up delicious home-cooked delicacies.
South Awaji in central Japan has come up with the virtualreality character as a way of promoting the hospitality and cuisine of the little-known town on an island in Japan’s inland sea. Users place their smartphones into a headset to view two films which, their creators believe, will alleviate the isolation of dining alone.
In the first, intended for use at breakfast, a smiling, grey-haired ‘‘granny’’ greets the user in a cheerful Japanese living room fitted out with traditional tatami mats and sliding paper screens.
Speaking in the Awaji island dialect, she proffers rice balls wrapped in seaweed, miso soup with crispy lettuce and tiny fish with grated onion. ‘‘Did you sleep well?’’ she asks. ‘‘Eat your fill. You must be eating a lot of fast foods in the city, eh? Eat plenty of fresh vegetables.’’
At one point she adds: ‘‘Grandpa has also been looking forward to seeing you.’’ When the user turns their head a smiling old man is revealed, looking up from a board game.
Virtual dinner is a more elaborate affair, featuring a banquet of local beef, raw Awaji island pufferfish and a cast of 20 cheerful ‘‘friends and family’’.
To enjoy the experience with full authenticity, users are advised to cook themselves a delicious meal from an online recipe book of island dishes to enjoy as they watch.
The makers of the films call them Baachan Riaritii [Granny Reality], which sounds similar to baacharu riaritii virtual reality.
Even within Japan, Awaji is a backwater. Its proudest moment was in legendary times when, as the ancient chronicles record, a god and goddess named Izanagi and Izanami descended to the island and formed a union there. They were the Adam and Eve of the Shinto religion; their offspring became the Japanese people.