Clearly, I’m in the wrong line of work.
Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do: I work from home, surrounded by my books and music. I can nap when I feel like it and drink on the job without getting fired. I can take a break to play some bad guitar without annoying my co-workers (although my dog often seems to vote with her paws).
Now I read about a guy who gets paid to do literally nothing at all — and here I am, sitting at my computer like a jerk!
Yes, 38 year old physics postgrad Morimoto Shoji is making a living by hiring himself out to do nothing at all.
The 38-year-old has made a living by renting himself out to clients who don’t want to be alone. Known as “Rental-san,” Morimoto charges 10,000 yen (or $85) per session. According to The Independent, he’s done it all — from quietly accompanying divorcées to lunch to waving goodbye as a client boarded his bullet train.
“I offer myself for rent, as a person who does nothing,” he tweeted in June 2018. “Is it difficult for you to enter a shop on your own? Are you missing a player on your team? Do you need someone to keep a place for you? I can’t do anything except easy things.”
Beats being a salariman, I guess. In fact, it was the grind to get ahead in Japan’s notorious workaholic culture that set Morimoto on the path to his new career.
After being constantly told that he lacked initiative, however, he realized that doing nothing could be a skill.
“I was often told that I wasn’t doing enough, or that I wasn’t doing anything, so this became a complex for me,” he said. “I decided to take advantage of this and make it into a business.”
According to The Washington Post, the self-made gig suits Morimoto rather well. Fairly introverted and quiet when he isn’t working, being paid to listen or accompany strangers on errands is both easy and rewarding. In his signature blue baseball cap and a hoodie, he joins one to two clients per day — and learns a lot.
While this may sound weird, it makes a lot of sense. We live in an atomised and increasingly lonely culture — and Japan is way ahead of us on that curve. In fact, many years ago, when I was contracted to do a website for a, ahem, “male companion” service, the client specified that many of their clients were rich and corporate types who were often hiring a companion as much for dinner and social company as for anything else. Lost in Translation was premised on the loneliness of Tokyo for an outsider. But it seems that it’s often not much better for a local.
Japan and South Korea have spawned services like this before. Many have needed a paid stranger to bring along on social gatherings as their plus-ones or pretend to have a dear friend when they don’t. One man even touts himself as ugly — and rents himself out to make clients look more handsome in comparison.
Morimoto, however, doesn’t have a gimmick. He’s turned down requests to pose nude or clean people’s homes and only accepts genuine asks, according to CBS News. When divorcée Akari Shirai wanted to eat at her favorite restaurant without thinking about her ex-husband, for instance, she hired him to quietly join her.
Famous sex worker Cynthia Payne, immortalised in films like Personal Services and Wish You Were Here, has remarked that many of her clients enjoyed a cup of tea and a chat as much or more than sex or bondage. Similarly, Morimoto is helping people just by being there: no demands, no pressure.
“I felt like I was with someone but at the same time felt like I wasn’t, since he existed in a way where I didn’t have to be attentive of his needs or think about him,” she said. “I felt no awkwardness or pressure to speak. It may have been the first time I’ve eaten in complete silence” […]
Others, meanwhile, have had more serious issues to navigate. One client asked Morimoto to join him as he revisited the site of his suicide attempt to process the trauma. Another needed company during hemorrhoid surgery consultation, while another needed someone to listen about a murder they had witnessed.
“Even if people look normal and fine on the surface, they often have shocking pasts or secrets, or impossible problems,” he said […]
Since he first offered his services, Morimoto has tended to healthcare workers fatigued by the pandemic, cheered clients on at marathons, and waved people goodbye as if they were best friends. Rather than judge clients for their perceived weaknesses, he lends them company — and learns something new every day.
All That’s Interesting
Much worse people get paid far more for doing infinitely shabbier things, I guess.
