I don't think there's anything like this in the United States. In Europe, I have no idea. There's private investigators, but nothing of the sort of forming a months-long flirtation/affair in preparation of divorce.

But there article is very fair...there are LOTS of strange and novel Japanese phenomenon that fascinates people in other countries. Even in this article, they describe hiring actors to appear as family members at events. That certainly doesn't exist in the United States.

Certainly?

Well, it's certainly not common and not thought of as in any way normal.

Regarding hiring actors to appear as family members at events: it's not common nor thought of as normal in Japan either.

There is no need for this in the US because the legal system here fully supports no fault divorces.

Actually the US has 50 legal systems for divorce - one for each state.

That said the last state to support no fault divorces was New York in 2010, so you're right. (Though a no fault divorce option wasn't there for me when I was considering one in 2002.)

"No fault" is useless when there are children. The US has people who hire killers to murder their spouse in order to obtain custody of their children.

Adultery doesn't affect custody battles in the US (at least in the vast majority of states). There is no benefit in getting your spouse to cheat on someone.

Not the vast majority of states.

The list isWisconsin, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Nebraska, Montana, Missouri, Minnesota, Michigan, Kentucky, Kansas, Iowa, Indiana, Hawaii, Florida, Colorado and California. In other states there are no fault divorces available, but you can also file a divorce based on various faults, including adultery.

Ironically, I would have found it weirder if it hadn't been Japan. There's lots of japanese constructs that seem really weird to us on the outside (Hell, there's an anime airing right now about renting a girlfriend), so it's easy to get used to it as Japanese culture just working a bit differently.

> There's lots of japanese constructs that seem really weird to us on the outside (Hell, there's an anime airing right now about renting a girlfriend)

< stares >

< Goes back to watching 'Pretty Woman' >