Notes from a Japanese man who gets paid to do pretty much nothing

A 38-year-old Tokyo resident, Shoji Morimoto, defies all expectations and makes a living out of what he loves to do the best, doing nothing. How is this even possible?

Dubbed as “Rental-san,” the Japanese man offers his companionship services to a wide range of clients and gets paid ¥10,000 per booking. In an interview with Reuters, he describes what he does and says, “Basically, I rent myself out. My job is to be wherever my clients want me to be and to do nothing in particular.”

Through his well-followed Twitter account called “Do Nothing Rent-a-Man”, Morimoto finds his clientele and embarks on different bookings. The range of people who availed his services is surprisingly diverse, there was once a young man stuck in a life-sucking office job who asked to meet him on the swings after work to simply relive the joy of being alive; a struggling street musician who needed an audience in the freezing cold; a healthcare worker who wanted to talk about the detrimental effects of the pandemic; and such.

In an interview with CBS News, he shared, “Some people are lonesome. Some feel it's a shame to go somewhere (interesting) alone -- they want someone to share their impressions with."

Pretty much, his work is considered wholesome in the sense that he doesn't take on any sexual requests. He also turned down other offers such as doing laundry, posing nude, cleaning houses, and becoming a friend. Merely poses himself as an individual doing his job without attachments. He admitted, “I lend myself out to do nothing, which means I don't make any special effort.”

He also said in an interview with Japan's Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, “I'm not a friend or an acquaintance. I'm free of the bothersome things that accompany relationships but can ease people's sense of loneliness.”

Having started this business in 2018, Morimoto has truly mastered the art of doing nothing while making a living and being able to provide for his wife and child. He shared in an interview with Reuters, “People tend to think that my 'doing nothing' is valuable because it is useful (for others) ... But it's fine to really not do anything. People do not have to be useful in any specific way.”

Equipped with the experience of handling 4,000 sessions in the past four years, Morimoto realizes, “I think when people are feeling vulnerable or are in their intimate moments, they become more sensitive toward people that are close to them, like how they will be perceived, or the kind of actions they will take for them. So I think they want to just reach out to a stranger without any strings attached.”

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