Citing rising danger for women living alone in Tokyo, a company in Japan is providing a "shadow boyfriend" service to trick criminals.

Leo Palace 21, an apartment management company in Japan, is launching a product called the "Man on the Curtain" security system which projects a loop of an active man's silhouette onto a curtain to give the illusion that an apartment's tenant is not actually living alone. The company claims that as the number of women living alone in Tokyo is increasing, so are home invasions and crimes targeting them specifically. A promotional video (you can use their English website for help) explains the concept below.

The system uses a smartphone reliant projection kit to cast a looped video of a moving male silhouette onto curtains, giving an appearance from the outside that a man is at home to try and dissuade would-be-burglars and assailants. While one may doubt just how well the system would guard against more determined criminal, Man on the Curtain (which could very well work as an old timey silent film title) has a total of 12 thirty minute looping projections of a silhouette doing various actions to make the charade seem more realistic. These include a man shadowboxing, practicing karate, and lifting weights, but there are also more practical versions such as silhouettes of men doing chores. A total of six projections can loop for six hours.

Karate

Shadowboxing

Laundry

Weightlifting

Cleanup/Chores

Yoga

Leo Palace appears to be pursuing the project as a way of promoting existing security measures in their apartment units, but has been raffling off five prototype units with a commercial release yet to be determined.