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Paper short abstract

As of 2025, nadenade (head-patting) is central to Japanese VRChat culture. Performed via cute avatars, mainly by male users, it offers iyashi (healing) through visually mediated communication of touch in VR. This paper presents social contexts and motivations based on ethnographic fieldwork.

Paper long abstract

As of 2025, users define nadenade—head-patts—as a central aspect of Japanese VRChat culture (Waruiko, 2025). While physical touch is described as rare offline, users report feeling closer to one another in virtual reality (Virtual Girl Nem, 2022). With their cute avatars, the majority male users engage in nadenade across different VRChat spaces and social contexts, following platform guidelines and community etiquette. Access to these environments is technologically stratified: spaces are typically restricted for high-end VR equipment users, despite one-third of VRChat users identifying as low-income (Nem x Mila, 2025).

Nadenade is said to foster intimacy and friendship (Iwasa and Matsuyū, 2022) and to express a desire to access healing (iyashi) (Irie-san, 2023). Informed by my previous research on “sweet relationships” (Bredihina, 2022), this presentation aims to extend existing scholarship on iyashi (Plourde, 2014; Robinson, 2019; Yumiyama, 1995) by focusing on nadenade as a more-than-human and non binary affective practice mediated by cuteness. This presentation examines 1) social contexts, 2) iyashi performance, and 3) users' latent motivations. It builds on findings previously presented in a poster session at Virtual Gakkai and in an upcoming publication. An ongoing ethnographic fieldwork has been conducted since May 2025, including participation in events and themed worlds, as well as involvement as both staff and cast.

Bredikhina, L. (2022). Virtual “sweet relationships” in Japan: Navigating affection through technology. Communal practices, behaviours, and latent socio-cultural meaning. Comunifé, 22, 53-62.

Irie-san. (2023a). なでなでこそVRChatならでは説 [Nadenade koso VRChat-naradeha-setsu]. Note. https://note.com/dpc_fish/n/nc1973d5e3fcd [Accessed November 23, 2025]

Iwasa, T., and Matsuyū. (2022). VRChatガイドブック—ゼロからはじめるメタバース [VRChat Gaidobukku — Zero Kara Hajimeru Metabāsu]. Futabasha.

Nem × Mila. (2025). メタバース経済：ソーシャルVRライフスタイル調査2025 [Metabāsu keizai: Sōsharu VR raifusutairu chōsa 2025]. Note. https://note.com/nemchan_nel/n/na1bafd336399?magazine_key=mec378e2a9ad9 [Accessed November 28, 2025]

Plourde, L. (2014). Cat Cafés, Affective Labor, and the Healing Boom in Japan. Japanese Studies, 34(2), 115–133.

Robinson, A.S. (2019). Finding healing through animal companionship in Japanese animal cafés. Medical Humanities, 45, p. 190-198.

Virtual Girl Nem. (2022). メタバース進化論 [Metabāsu shinka-ron]. Gijutsu Hyoronsha.

Waruiko. (2025, July 8). 撫でを知らない [Nade o shiranai]. Note. https://note.com/warueecol/n/n390f8446d1a1 [Accessed November 10, 2025]

Yumiyama, T. (1995) Varieties of Healing in Present-Day Japan, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 22(2-3), 267-282.