Woman tries Japan’s ‘rent-a-dad’ service and finds goodbye unexpectedly hard

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 JapanJapan is living in the future, not just in terms of technology and infrastructure, but also in how it redefines human connection.