A Japanese artist is allowing her customers to live out their darkest fantasies in her unusual photography studio.
Leiya Arata, who is in her thirties, holds funerals for sex dolls, encourages people to dress up as murder victims for photo shoots and turns people into love dolls.
The photographer, who set up the fantasy studio at the start of the year in Osaka in western Japan, charges up to £630 for the funerals.
Buddhist monk Lay Kato (right) makes hand signs as she undertakes a ‘funeral service’ for a sex doll named Ran at a photography studio in Japan
She says her customers at Love Doll Funeral are all looking for a place where they are loved, accepted and approved.
Leiya said: ‘They are all great human beings but have 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. I want to be there for that.’
Wearing a decoration he designed on his arm, a Japanese man named Mako plays dead in a women’s dress inside a coffin during a pretend funeral
Megumi Kazuki dresses up as a murder victim at the unusual laboratory where customers can fulfil their darkest fantasies
Ai Kaneko is ‘packaged’ into a product box for a shipment, after being transformed into a sex doll at the Human Love Doll Factory
Leiya Arata (pictured), who is in her thirties, holds funerals for sex dolls, encourages people to dress up as murder victims for photo shoots and turns people into love dolls
Among the services she provides are elaborate funerals for sex dolls which are directed by a transgender porn actress turned Buddhist monk, Lay Kato.
Leiya said of her assistant: ‘I don’t know anyone who understands sex, dolls and their owners, and offers an appropriate ceremony better than her.’
The ceremonies see the life-like figurines placed in coffins, wrapped in burial clothing and decorated with garlands.
Other ‘mourning’ sex dolls watch on during the bizarre service which also has undertakers, candles and prayers.
Leiya Arata (right) and Hiiro (left) pray as they stand over the body of Megumi as she dresses up as a corpse covered in blood at a murder scene
Flowers are placed next to a sex doll named Ran laying inside a coffin during her funeral service at the photography studio
The ceremonies see the life-like figurines placed in coffins, wrapped in burial clothing and decorated with garlands
The funerals are directed by a transgender porn actress turned Buddhist monk, Lay Kato (right) who is pictured praying over a man dressed as a dead woman
Tsukimi poses as she is dressed up as a French maid sex doll at the studio where customers can live out their most unusual fantasies
Leiya takes Ai Kaneko out of a product box after Kaneko, a 39-year-old single nurse, was transformed into a sex doll
Ai poses for a product shoot as she displays her serial number and the name Kokoro after being transformed into a doll
Leiya told Spanish news agency EFE: ‘I started the business because I felt it was a real need.
‘Many owners do not want them to be shredded as garbage, there are many who love them as if they were human members of their family.’
She added that many owners fear being shamed for leaving the dolls in the bin where they may be found by passersby.
Leiya says her customers at Love Doll Funeral are all looking for a place where they are loved, accepted and approved.
Sex dolls named Sayaka (left) and Rinne (right) sit and welcome visitors at the entrance of the bizarre Japanese studio
Other ‘mourning’ sex dolls watch on during the bizarre service which also has undertakers, candles and prayers
Standing next to a makeup artist Hiiro (right), Mako (left) looks on after a funeral service where he played a female corpse
Ai Kaneko says the studio has saved from suicidal thoughts she has suffered for 15 years after finding the body of her boyfriend who had hanged himself
Around 2,000 sex dolls, which cost from $6,000 and can come with adjustable fingers, removable head and genitals, are sold each year in Japan, according to industry insiders
This has even led to the police being called after people mistook the dolls for corpses.
Other services include dressing people up as sex dolls or corpses for photo shoots.
She also allows men to dress up as women and have their own funeral.
Ai Kaneko, a 39-year-old single nurse, travelled to the studios to be turned into a sex doll.
Many sex doll owners fear being shamed for leaving the figurines in the bin where they may be found by passersby
This has even led to the police being called after people mistook the dolls for corpses, leading to the success of her unique funerals
Leiya takes photos of Mako as he plays dead in a coffin during his funeral as a woman, while Lay Kato prays at the side
A Japanese samurai sword, ceremonially given to the dead to protect themselves from evil spirits on their way to the afterlife world, is placed on a coffin
Megumi Kazuki relaxes as she waits to be applied makeup for a ‘murder’ session at Shitai-Labo
During the shoot, Leiya plays a forensic photographer alongside her makeup artist as she takes photos of the apparent victim
Leiya Arata ties Ai Kaneko with a rope to transform her into a sex doll mimicking a bondage woman, during a photo session
She told EPA: ‘I wanted to be beautiful and be possessed by someone. Not to be dominated, but to be loved and cherished, like sex dolls are.’
She says the studio has saved from suicidal thoughts she has suffered for 15 years after finding the body of her boyfriend who had hanged himself.
Around 2,000 sex dolls, which cost from $6,000 and can come with adjustable fingers, removable head and genitals, are sold each year in Japan, according to industry insiders.