Dakimakura

A dakimakura is a type of Japanese comfort pillow, similar to Western orthopedic body pillows, and is mainly used by Japanese youth as security objects.

The word is often translated into English as “body pillow”. “Dakimakuras” can also be sometimes called “dutch wife”, but the original definition of the word is closer to “bamboo wife”.

On the pillows, it usually features printed images of bishōjo (Japanese term for beautiful girl) and bishōnen (Japanese term meaning beautiful boy) in lying poses from various anime or bishōjo games.

Rem Dakimakura

During the late 90s and early 2000s with the popularity of the “otaku” culture, bigger companies started to produce “drakimakuras” with printed pictures of anime characters on them.

Many of the first “drakimakuras” and covers were made by a Japanese clothing company, Cospa, which still to this day continues to release official “drakimakura” covers.

In 2015, a former researcher of Kyushu Institute of Technology, Koichi Uchimura invented the first ever talking body pillow, so it not only gives safety for the customers but it can also interact with them.

There is also a subset of “drakimakuras” called “love pillow”. It usually portrays life-size pictures of characters in suggestive poses.

They may portray anime characters, furry characters, or pornographic film actors.

• Good Night’s Rest – What’s a Dakimakura?