July 2, 2012 / Bizarre and odd / 2 comments 
Dakimakura, which means “the hug pillows”, are the sort of orthopedic pillows with life-size pictures of anime girls on them meant to be embraced during a bedtime by those who suffer from loneliness. A dakimakura is a type of large pillow from Japan. The word is often translated in English simply as “hug pillow”. In Japanese culture, dakimakura are no different from Western orthopedic body pillows, and are commonly used by Japanese youth as “security objects”. However, from a western perspective, the word “dakimakura” is primarily used to indicate the popularized image of love pillows with graphic illustrations of female characters of a bishōjo style.
