These handsome men get paid to make women cry

(This post originally appeared on The Washington Post)

In these days of #metoo it would seem like a bad idea for a guy to do anything that could make a woman cry. But entrepreneur Hiroki Terai doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, he’s making money from it. Terai , successful entrepreneur and the author of eleven books is the founder of a group crying service–yes, crying service.

The sessions are called rui-katsu, or “tear-seeking”–a therapeutic practice for women that is said to relieve stress levels and bring people together. After much research into the benefits of crying, Terai developed his own methodology to induce tears from his clients and finally launched his therapy business in 2015.

There’s a very unique twist to Terai’s model: the therapy relies on handsome men. Why? Because, according to this National Geographic report, handsome men elicit more “emotionally heightened” experiences from women, which can cause dilated pupils, a faster beating of the heart and other emotions that help expedite the crying experience.

Among his most frequent customers are women experiencing divorce. That’s because, Terai believes, the therapy helps program the mind and make it receptive to change. “There is a ceremony on the way into a [marriage] union,” he says, “And without one on the way out, many people feel lost with no sense of completion.” He’s also popular with upwardly mobile Japanese women because, he says, many have high-pressure jobs and no supporting partner to help them through the stresses of the day. So why not cry, right?

Look, the idea could catch on here in America. That’s because an international study on adult crying found that it’s us…Americans…who are the biggest criers amongst the 37 other nationalities surveyed. Sounds like an opportunity for a few handsome entrepreneurial men here in the United States. I guess I better get to work.