Cuddling in Line with Steve Jobs
Apple cofounder Steve Jobs was known to have
a prickly personality. But Japanese internet star
Ayano Tominaga would say that Jobs is cuddly.
Tominaga is a popular tech journalist and IT
consultant in Japan, but she is also a devoted
Apple fan who can be seen at the launch of every
new iPhone, camping out in line at the Apple Store
in Tokyo and clutching a body pillow featuring the
likeness of Jobs. She camped out for two days
with Steve at her side to be one of the first to own
The pictures of her Steve Jobs pillow hit
major newspapers and magazines across the
globe and got even more traction on the Internet.
Her celebrity led to a number of TV and public
Tominaga’s pillow stays in a closet
covered in plastic to keep it pristine until
it’s time to stand in line at the Apple Store
for the next new product. “Three years ago,
I was carrying it around taking pictures,”
Tominaga said. “I had red hair back then and
I could tell people were saying, ‘Who is this
strange girl with the Steve Jobs pillow?’”
Body pillows, or dakimakura, are pop-
ular with young girls in Japan and are usually
adorned with anime characters. But they are
also fetishized by those who seek the com-
panionship of adult film stars in pillow form.
Steve Jobs fits neither category, which
may explain why some people were puzzled
by Tominaga’s pillow. But the pillow attracted
a lot of high fives from other enthusiastic
Apple fans and store employees, requests
for selfies, and, of course, a ton of publicity.