JAPAN-SOCIETY-CULTURE-CARTOON-OFFBEAT

This picture taken on November 23, 2012 shows a 33-year-old man, who had introduced himself as Furuta Oribe from a historically famous tea master (R), speaking during an interview after being matched up with a Mickey Mouse masked woman (R) as they wear cartoon character masks during a match-making party in Washinomiya, Saitama prefecture, in the northern suburbs of Tokyo. Self-confessed geeks in Japan who might ordinarily be too shy to ask someone on a date are trying a new kind of matchmaking: wearing cartoon character masks. AFP PHOTO / TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA (Photo by TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA / AFP) (Photo by TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP via Getty Images)