Overview

Profiled in The Times, The Independent and by BBC Reels 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 that he contributed nothing to the company he worked for and that it made no difference whether he showed up or not. He began to wonder whether a person who 'does nothing' could still have value and a place in the world. Perhaps he could turn 'doing nothing' into a service? With one tweet, Rental Person was born. Morimoto, aka Rental Person, provides a fascinating service to the lonely and socially anxious. He is dependable, non-judgmental 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.

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9781035012800

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

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 *

Author Information

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's been profiled by many media outlets worldwide and has written several books including Rental Person Who Does Nothing, which inspired a Japanese TV series. Morimoto lives in Japan with his wife and son.

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