And You Must Be... Mom?

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By Ned Zeman

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How sweet. In Tokyo, a company called Japan Efficiency Headquarters gets hired to arrange wonderful family reunions. There's just one little catch: the events are staged among lonely old people and actors hired by younger relatives too busy to drop by themselves. JEH says older people love to hold a young child or give sage advice to a newlywed couple even though the doting loved ones are really just rent-a-relatives who are paid $1,200 a pop for their services. "We fill a hole in the heart," says JEH president Satsuki Oiwa, who claims she currently has a very long client waiting list. And, yes, Oiwa adds, the ebullient elders "know very well the relatives are fake."

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