A new wave of ambitious career women is shaking the foundations of Japanese culture, postponing marriage, delaying motherhood, working late–and falling in love with small rubber dolls. As Sarah Bright reports in Civilization (Aug./Sept. 2000), some 10 million young women are enjoying “commitment-free companionship” with Primo Puel, a doll resembling a “small, boyish fairy” that responds to touch and conversation with a 250-word vocabulary, including such endearments as “I’ll miss you” and “Welcome home! But aren’t you too late?”
Civilization(Aug./Sept. 2000)
