Take , a pop star who does not exist. She is a "Vocaloid" software voicebank projected as a holographic 16-year-old with turquoise pigtails. She sells out stadiums. Her concerts are attended by thousands of weeping, cheering fans. This would be dystopian sci-fi in the West, but in Japan, it is merely an extension of the cultural comfort with virtuality —the idea that the simulation is as real as the physical object.