This is sad but not remotely shocking. Japan overall is a very lonely society based around distractions, whether that's the bright lights, work, pachinko, mobile games, whatever it may be. So many already replace friends with pretend people such as anime characters. The commoness of people who have huge pillows representing their favourite character that for them is a bedtime friend, that they talk to is far too common.

This isn't made easier for those who do have family and friends. They have minimal physical connections day to day due to societal rules that are arbitrarily restrictive and based in long should have been abandoned historical expectations.

>Japan overall is a very lonely society

Have you been to the local festivals where everyone knows everyone's names? Have you been to riverside bbq parties where multiple families hangout all day together? Have you been a part of company or community clubs? Have you observed how an overwhelming number of people have multiple-times-per-year gatherings with the university friends, middle-school friends and even kindergarten friends? For decades.

I have. And I feel not-the-least lonely, and I owe it to the above in Japan. Not the "decades-long-friendships" because I moved here as an adult. I can't compare it to anywhere else, because I haven't lived anywhere else for this long... but that's a sweeping generalization that about Japan.