Who needs a girlfriend when you've got your right hand?

For all the lonely single men out there who desperately want to take cute photos with a girlfriend - there now exists a way to do so. And you don’t even need an actual girlfriend. All you need is your right hand.

Photos of a man taking carefully framed “selfie” photographs have gone viral on the internet, appearing on Japanese, Chinese and Korean blogs. The images make the man, blogger Jinushi Keisuke, appear as if he’s being lovingly coddled and fed by a girlfriend with red-painted fingernails. But in reality, the hand that feeds Jinushi is his own – just carefully disguised and framed to appear like a woman’s.

Jinushi, who writes for the Japanese humour site Daily Portal Z, posted the photoset on August 2 with a detailed step-by-step description of how to re-create the deceptive illusion.

“The act of a girlfriend feeding her boyfriend and making him say ‘ah’ as he opens his mouth is typical of flirting and a symbol of happiness,” Jinushi wrote. “But a man can’t make himself say ‘ah’ alone! A lover is required. But you don’t need a real lover… Your right hand can become your lover! Just remember to push the shutter of your smartphone with your left hand.”

Jinushi’s posts detail how any lovelorn bachelor can create his own “happy photo story” in a similar manner, but he also warns his readers that in order to ensure foolproof photos, they must make their right hand a bit more attractive first.

“I painted foundation and nail polish on my hand,” Jinushi said. “The soft, glittering hand of a woman can be reproduced this way, and it’s perfect if you slip a scrunchie on your wrist afterwards!”