Shoji Morimoto is so determined to do nothing that someone else actually wrote his memoir, Rental Person Who Does Nothing. Morimoto contributed to the book by answering questions. While the whole concept is fascinating, there are concepts that are very Japanese, and don’t apply to American readers.
Morimoto’s boss constantly told him he contributed nothing to the company, and it didn’t matter if he was there or not. So, he took to his Twitter account, and advertised himself as a do-nothing rental person if followers needed someone to just be there. He asks for no payment, other than transportation from Kokubunji train station, and the cost of food and drink if applicable. Within ten months, Morimoto’s Twitter account went from 300 followers to 10,000. He gets about three requests a day now. And, his actions (or non-action) has resulted in a book, a manga, and TV programs.
What kind of requests does Morimoto accept? One woman said, “I’d like you to come and see the cherry blossoms with me and have a bento meal.” Quite often people ask him to be a plus one. If there’s a restaurant they’d like to try, but don’t want to eat alone, they’ll ask him to go along. Three people asked him to accompany him when the Emperor celebrates his birthday, and waves to the crowd. Morimoto was busy, but someone on Twitter suggested the three people go together, which they did. One woman asked him to accompany her when she had to file for a divorce certificate. Another asked him to wave goodbye at the train station. He once met someone because their dog loved to be made over.
Morimoto has a policy of normally only seeing a client once. Sometimes, he just goes to listen to someone who wants a nonjudgmental listener who won’t express an opinion. And, he doesn’t. He says people can’t talk to others, so they often talk to him about very personal matters.
Japan has customs of gifts and debt that we don’t have. If someone does something for you, you should try to do something even more for the other person. Gifts, and that feeling of owing someone seems to spiral out of control at times. Morimoto discusses this custom in connection with his do-nothing policy.
Shoji Morimoto is married, and has a child. But, at one point he says, “As I don’t have friends…” I found his lifestyle and philosophy to be sad, but he looks it as providing a service. His purpose is to provide a person for a period of time, whether it’s a meal, or a day. I’m glad I read Rental Person Who Does Nothing because I never thought about this concept.
Rental Person Who Does Nothing by Shoji Morimoto.; translated by Dan Knotting. Hanover Square Press, 2024. ISBN 9781335017536 (hardcover), 192p.
FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent an ARC of the book, with no promise of a review.
I have been wanting to read that book. The Chinese have the same kind of system. It took a while to understand the complexity if it but here is a basic explanation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanxi
Release day is tomorrow, so, hopefully you can get it soon, Carol. Thank you for the link!
Thank you, Lesa! It took me a while to figure out what was going on with guanxi and now the book fits in perfectly. It is a complicated system! I have friends and family who follow it.
What an interesting sounding book. I have never heard of this practice, it sounds as if you are renting a friend/ companion for a day. I wonder if this will become more prevalent as people spend more and more time online with virtual friends and less time cultivating face to face friends. Honestly, it sounds sort of sad.
It was sort of sad, Susan. And, I felt bad when the author said he doesn’t have friends. You’re right. They are getting a friend/companion for a day.
The biggest surprise is that he is married with a family. In this country, if such a person existed he would be living in his mom’s basement. The Japanese have some very strange ways of thinking and doing things from our perspective.
You’re right, Jeff. That came as a surprise to me, too. Someone who says he has no friends, and yet he’s married with a child.
These ideas were new to me.
Interesting. As a child of Japanese-Canadian immigrants, I have always been fascinated by the very different cultural norms when we visited Japan.
It was interesting, Grace. You’d probably be more familiar with some of the concepts than I am because of your family and your visits to Japan.
I think it was Woody Allen who said “80% of life is just showing up.” This guy seems to have a fuller life than a lot of people, just showing up.
I hadn’t thought of it that way, Glen, but you’re right.