Rental Person Who Does Nothing: A Memoir

by Shoji Morimoto

Overview

***Now an International Bestseller!***

"Distinctively Japanese musings on meaning and connection."—Observer

I'm starting a service... available for any situation in which all you want is a person to be there. Maybe there's a restaurant you want to go to, but you feel awkward going on your own.

Maybe a game you want to play, but you're one person short.

Or perhaps you'd like someone to keep a space in the park for your cherry blossom viewing party...

Shoji Morimoto was constantly being told by his boss, "It makes no difference whether you’re here or not," and that his presence contributed nothing to the company. Morimoto began to wonder whether a person who "does nothing" could still have actual value and a place in the world. Perhaps he could turn "doing nothing" into a service? With one tweet, Rental Person was born.

Rental Person provides a fascinating service to the lonely and socially anxious. This book details thousands of his true-life adventures:

• Accompanying a divorcee to her favorite restaurant
• Waving goodbye to a client from the train platform
• Sitting in the courtroom during a client’s trial
• Supporting a client during a difficult surgery

Rental Person is dependable, nonjudgmental and committed to remaining a stranger, and the curious encounters he shares are revelatory about both Japanese society and human psychology.

In Rental Person Who Does Nothing, Morimoto chronicles his extraordinary experiences in his unique line of work and reflects on how we consider relationships, jobs and family in our search for meaningful connection and purpose in life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781335017536
Publisher:	Hanover Square Press
Publication date:	01/09/2024
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	108,997
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Shoji Morimoto was born in 1984. He began working as a rental person who does nothing in 2018 and has since been hired by more than 4,000 people. He has been profiled by many media outlets worldwide and has also inspired a TV series. Morimoto lives in Japan with his wife and son.

Editorial Reviews

11/13/2023

This meditative debut from Morimoto reflects on what he’s learned about work and life from his “rental person” service. In 2018, he tweeted that he was starting a project in which he would show up for clients at designated times and places but would do virtually nothing once there “except give very simple responses,” charging only for travel and the “cost of food/drink (if applicable).” Requests began pouring in; Morimoto describes accompanying to dinner a woman who was tired of having men pay for her meals, listening to another woman who hadn’t come out to her friends talk about her girlfriend, and greeting at the airport a student hoping that a friendly face would mitigate the grief she anticipated upon returning to Japan for the first time since her grandmother died. Lamenting work’s outsize role in people’s lives, Morimoto reveals that his sister killed herself after “she didn’t get the job she wanted.” In serving as a rental person, Morimoto intended to push back against the notion that an individual’s value is tied to their productivity: “people have a value even if they do nothing.” The client anecdotes amuse and provide unexpectedly perceptive insights into the nature of work and individuals’ self-worth under capitalism. This is worth seeking out. Photos. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

For all his wry humor, Morimoto makes some trenchant points about social and cultural issues like friendship, the elusiveness of human connection, artificial intelligence and the role of money.”—Bookpage

“Undeniable poignancy… a narrative that transcends cultural borders… An eccentric, charming book, showing how humans can connect in the strangest of circumstances.”—Kirkus STARRED review


"Distinctively Japanese musings on meaning and connection."—Observer

"A beguiling kind of picaresque."—The Times

"Lays bare the bathos and banality of contemporary life... Morimoto, though still elusive, emerges as a modern Bartleby, an inadvertent dissident, someone who has come to see his practice as being 'about enjoying the absurdity of swimming against the tide of efficiency.'"—Guardian

"Shoji Morimoto's unique memoir tracks the author's life as he refuses work and rents himself out as a passive companion."—The Skinny


"Shoji Morimoto raises questions about work, productivity culture, and companionship in this unique account of his service called 'Do-nothing Rental.'"—Booklist

“A fascinating and oddly endearing memoir.”—Library Journal

“Rental Person is affirmative of the human experience. The client case stories in this book and Morimoto’s quasi-philosophical approach to them are shining attestations of the ineffable value of human fellowship.”—Brooklyn Rail

From the Publisher

12/01/2023

In 2018, when 35-year-old Morimoto left an unsatisfying job in Japan where his boss derided both his work and his personality, he decided to change careers, but it was hard to find the perfect fit. Inspired by a blog post by therapist Jinnosuke Kokoroya, who argued that people have value even if they do nothing, he developed a service in which he could be hired by strangers who simply needed someone to be there with them. For a fee and the reimbursement of costs, Morimoto will fulfill any request, as long as he doesn't have to "do" anything—the Rental Person can be hired to see someone off at the airport and wave goodbye, sit in the park and share a drink, or accompany a patron when they file divorce papers. Here he writes about his experiences as Rental Person and speculates about what his presence meant to the 4,000-plus people who've hired him so far. VERDICT A fascinating and oddly endearing memoir.—Rebecca Mugridge

Library Journal

★ 2023-09-23
An enjoyable exploration of how, sometimes, doing nothing can mean doing a great deal.

At first glance, this is an odd book. However, there is undeniable poignancy, and even a thread of comedy, in a narrative that transcends cultural borders. As he recounts, Morimoto held several jobs that he disliked; when he thought about it, he realized that his favorite activity was doing nothing. Beginning with a tweet in 2018, he started a business where people could hire him to do, well, not much. The author chronicles many of the requests he has received: accompanying a woman who was filing divorce papers, having an ice-cream soda with a businessman, or visiting someone in the hospital. Some clients seek an anonymous confidant to tell a secret to, or simply a bit of quiet company for a few hours. Morimoto tries to be as innocuous as possible, nodding in agreement and making simple responses. He often does not charge clients for his mere presence—although he requests travel expenses—but if he performs a specific service, he charges a small fee. It provides enough money for him to live comfortably; more than that, he is satisfied with the life he is leading. He demonstrates how his “job” is a way of helping people, and since he started, he has been hired over 4,000 times. It makes one wonder if a similar service could help ease the epidemic of loneliness and isolation that is gripping the U.S. “I don’t ever get fed up with my do-nothing role, and there’s no stress,” writes the author. “Why? I could come up with several answers to that, but the simplest one is that there’s variety; the people and the situations are different every time.”

An eccentric, charming book, showing how humans can connect in the strangest of circumstances.

Kirkus Reviews