Morimoto, Shoji. Rental Person Who Does Nothing. New York: Hanover Square 2023. Print.
I am starting a service called Do-Nothing Rental. It's available for any situation in which all you want is a person to be there...I only charge transport (from Kokubunji Station) and cost of food/drink (if applicable). I can't do anything except give very simple responses.
Description:
Morimoto is inspired by a blog from a health counselor, Jinnosuke Kokoroya, who stated:
People should be paid for just being there...people have a value even if they do nothing.
Another inspiration for him was Pro-Orgorareya, a "professional guest," whose job "is having meals with people.
He just asks people on Twitter to give him food and somewhere to stay. Of the offers he gets, he chooses the ones that look most appealing.
It seems an incredible concept. Yet author Morimoto, a real-life person, has gained many clients over the past few years via his "Do-nothing Rental" Twitter site. Over 4,000 clients have hired him (at relatively no cost except for travel and food) for such opportunities as:
- Going to a restaurant with someone who doesn't feel comfortable going on their own;
- Watching a drama rehearsal;
- Petting a person's pet dog who loves strangers;
- Walking through the streets of Tokyo;
- Sitting with someone while they scan through dating apps looking for a husband;
- Watching someone doing household chores;
- Passively listening to people (without giving advice)
He never performs activities like other advertised "doing something" services, such as waiting in line for tickets, running errands, give advice, etc. He judges his requests received from his Twitter account on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes he finds he dislikes the job during the experience, gets fed up with what he is expected to do, and simply walks away. He avoids anything that might be stress-inducing. He rarely performs the same situation twice unless somehow the encounter will be interesting to him the second time.
The book contains many example taken from his Twitter postings about requests, the encounters themselves, and his comments about the experience, both positive and negative. Names are kept confidential as are other key elements that might identify the requestor.
Morimoto actually is married to an understanding wife and has a child. His wife supports his occupation and sometimes offers her opinion of potential jobs. She nixed the request to watch people have offline sex. Morimoto is obviously not the big bread-winner of his family.
Although I did think about charging fees, I gave up the idea very quickly....I didn't like the idea of an hourly rate. I hated the feeling that someone would be swapping money for my time. I prefer being paid for getting something done, for achieving certain goals -- payment by results.
At the moment, I'm living on savings. What I do isn't really a business. Maybe it's best to think of it as something I'm doing for fun (like a trip abroad I've saved up for).
Whew! A completely unique concept that Morimoto actually has brought to reality. Rental Person Who Does Nothing is an intriguing read as he quietly, thoughtfully recounts incident after incident and the philosophy behind his decisions. Through these fascinating pages, he shows that he has achieved his "wish to live without doing anything."
People tend to be driven by a feeling that they must "do something." And once they've done it, they feel they must do more -- better and faster. But when I started connecting with people as Rental Person, I realized that a surprising number were after something rather different.
Happy reading.
Fred
If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
Jacobs, A.J.. My Life As an Experiment.
Jacobs becomes a human guinea pig by offering himself up to real-world experiments like outsourcing all his tasks to a company in India and joining Radical Honesty group where he is not allowed to lie. Very wry, dry, and awfully fun to read. (previously reviewed here)
