#Artist hosts sex doll funerals for heartsick owners: ‘There was a real need’

An enterprising Japanese artist is catering to heartsick kinksters by holding memorial services for sex dolls that have outlived their use.

Many “love them [sex dolls] as if they were human members of their family,” according to Leiya Arata, the 30-something founder of the Love Doll Funeral services in Osaka.

For roughly $800, customers can have their synthetic sweethearts placed in caskets, swaddled in burial attire and adorned with garlands, reports the Daily Mail. Presiding over the mannequin memorials is transgender porn actress-turned-Buddhist monk, Lay Kato, who Arata describes as the foremost authority on “sex, dolls and their owners.”

No one “offers an appropriate ceremony better than her,” according to Arata.

In fact, the funeral — complete with candles, undertakers and even “mourning” sex dolls — is so authentic that passers-by have called the police after mistaking the dolls for cadavers.

Naturally, some might balk at the idea of interring inanimate objects. However, the unconventional visionary started Love Doll Funeral because she felt “there was a real need.”

“Many owners do not want them to be shredded as garbage,” said Arata, adding that many “action figure” trustees fear being shamed for discarding dolls in the dumpster where they could be discovered.

Along with throwing burials for dummies, the porn fantasy purveyor also dresses people as corpses for photo shoots while men can cosplay as female corpses for pretend funerals.

One 39-year-old single nurse, named Ai Kaneko, was even able to realize her dream of becoming a sex doll herself.

Speaking about her makeover, the doll-pelganger said she wanted  to “be loved and cherished like sex dolls are.”

Kaneko’s pastime might sound creepy, but playing dead literally saved her life. Kaneko said her experience at Love Doll Funeral made her forget the suicidal thoughts she suffered for 15 years after discovering the body of her boyfriend who had hanged himself.

Arata summed up her patrons as “great human beings” with “very low self-esteem.”

“Their desire to change or be accepted and loved is so strong, and this is the only place for many of them,”  she said. “I want to be there for that.”