Many would argue that money cannot buy happiness, but Anna Malygon would beg to differ. Money can sometimes bring the kind of joy that one would never expect to find in a transaction. The 23-year-old model and fashion influencer from Kharkiv, Ukraine, currently based in LA, decided to rent a dad while she was in Japan. What started as an attempt to make a viral video transformed into something else. The experimental experience turned out to be one of the best moments of her life. She felt a real connection that also made 5.3 million people stop scrolling and actually feel something. She felt like a daughter. “Saying goodbye was harder than I expected.”
The ‘rent a dad’ experience in Japan
Japan is living in the future, not just in terms of technology and infrastructure, but also in how it redefines human connection. The rental companion industry is booming, and it is no secret that you can rent a boyfriend, girlfriend, or even a parent in Japan. It is absolutely legal, platonic, and regulated. Japan’s rental family services emerged in the early 1990s, born from a specific kind of pain. The country was filled with people who had been given everything except what mattered most: actual connection.While Anna Malygon was in Japan navigating the streets alone, she thought having a guardian figure would be nice. That’s how she ended up ‘renting a dad’ in Japan. She documented the experience, and it has received over 5.3 million hits on Instagram since then.
How an experiment turned into actual connection
When Malygon decided to rent a dad, she was only looking for a companion to beat the boredom. But soon, it started to feel real.“I’m in Japan, I’m bored, and I decided to rent a dad. In Japan you can rent almost anyone, a friend, a boyfriend, and even a dad,” the woman said in the viral video.Upon meeting, the ‘rental dad’ asked, “How’s your school going?” She responded that she had graduated five years earlier. The ‘dad’ apologised and asked her if it was okay if he got a beer. She approved and asked if she could have one. The dad’s response mirrored a real parent’s: “No, too young,” he said, and instead ordered her an ice cream.The dad also got her a gift, a steamer. As they roamed the city, she opened up about her real life. She told him about not having a father in her life while growing up. “I didn’t really have my dad when I was growing up, so…” she said. The rental dad said the real one was a ‘loser’ for not having this daughter.What started as a bit for content became real. Somewhere between the ice cream and the gift, Anna felt something click. She wasn’t performing any more. “I thought it would be just a funny video, but along the way it started feeling real,” the woman confessed.When she told the man she was feeling chills, he even offered his jacket. “Oh, are you cold? Are you all right?”She felt the connection, and it was real. “For the first time I kind of felt like a daughter.” When it came time to say goodbye, her tears weren’t staged. Neither were his. “And honestly, saying goodbye was harder than I expected,” she said.The man also acknowledged that he had never had a daughter. “I’m so happy today,” he added.The connection felt real; she enjoyed her ‘rent a dad’ experience, but will she be up for another? It turns out she is. And she would do it without a second thought. “Thankfully, I have infinite money, so I can just rent him every day,” the woman said.There are services like Family Romance, which employ over 1,200 actors who fill roles from stand-in fathers for weddings to missing dads and long-lost sons. It sounds dystopian when you put it that way. But zoom in on the individual moment, and it’s just two people, one of whom desperately needed to feel seen, and the other could simply fulfil it.
