Resort Offers Trip for Men With Virtual Girlfriends

The Japanese resort town of Atami is so desperate for customers that it’s launched a new promotion aimed at providing the perfect romantic getaway for real-life men—and their video game girlfriends. More than 1,500 men have taken the bait, flying to Atami to recreate the ultimate date on the Love Plus+ game for the Nintendo DS, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Love Plus+ is a dating simulator in which players try to land a virtual girlfriend. Earn enough “boyfriend points” and you’ll vacation together (virtually) in Atami. Now, the real Atami is striving to cash in. Hotel staffs, for example, have been trained to treat customers as couples, even if one companion is a handheld video game character. Many men are even paying double—Japanese hotels charge per guest—to further the illusion that they’re not alone. “We've been stunned,” says a hotel owner, “how happy this makes customers.”

The vacations aren't the craziest excess Love Plus+ fans have been driven to, either. Remember this?
(More Love Plus stories.)