Shoji Morimoto loves his job, but he doesn’t try very hard at it.
That, in fact, is exactly what makes him so good at it.
The 38-year-old Japanese man offers his services — or lack thereof — as a so-called “rent-a-man.”
Shoji Morimoto has been advertising himself as a person who can “eat and drink, and give simple feedback, but do nothing more,” since June 2018, and has received over 3,000 requests. He has about 270,000 followers on Twitter. Initially he had offered his “rent-a-person who does nothing” services for free, but he now charges 10,000 yen (roughly $96) per request.
People pay him to join them in activities ranging from the mundane, like having a meal, to the extreme, like listening to a murder confession.
He’s constantly amazed at the “huge variety of personalities, circumstances, and situations” of his clients.
“Some people are lonesome,” he said. “Some feel it’s a shame to go somewhere (interesting) alone — they want someone to share their impressions with.”
He books up to three gigs a day and has completed more than 3,000 so far.
His past gigs include sharing a coffee in silence, listening to a busker, sharing cake with someone on their birthday, accompanying people to restaurants and shops, and joining a client on a swing set. Some of the requests he has turned down include cleaning houses, doing laundry, posing nude, and becoming someone’s friend.
Follow Warm 106.9 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @warm1069