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'Rent-a-person who does nothing' in Tokyo receives endless requests, gratitude

mainichi.jp

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Re: 'Rent-a-person who does nothing' in Tokyo receives endless requests, gratitude

#71

Post by scarmig »

not2b wrote: post #64
Karuma wrote: post #18

A friendly reminder that Japan's rent-a-family industry was completely fake: https://newrepublic.com/article/160595/new-yorker-japan-rent... Everyone loves stories about how weird Japan is (especially the Japanese), so these stories should be taken with a grain of salt.

Has anyone found this guy's Twitter handle? That would be one way to check the story. Probably easier for a Japanese speaker to locate.

Twitter handle:

https://twitter.com/morimotoshoji

Obviously the existence of the Twitter handle is just the first step in some kind of real verification. But it does confirm that, if it's a con, it's a long lived, dedicated one.

Re: 'Rent-a-person who does nothing' in Tokyo receives endless requests, gratitude

#73

Post by quesera »

hitekker wrote: post #24

> Morimoto receives words of gratitude from customers who state that "the act of doing nothing serves as support." However, he remains nonchalant about the praise, saying, "I'm not doing it for that purpose, so my only response is, 'Oh, really?'" He also doesn't want his work to be seen as an act of charity. > "I'm not a friend or an acquaintance. I'm free of the bothersome things that accompany relationships, but ca…

This reminds me of a Haruki Murakami story.

Not any specific Haruki Murakami story, but basically all Haruki Murakami stories ever.

I'm not sophisticated enough to know how much of this imagery is manufactured for export, but my gaijin self does enjoy it.

Re: 'Rent-a-person who does nothing' in Tokyo receives endless requests, gratitude

#74

Post by PrefixKitten »

technofiend wrote: post #19

Once again Mike Judge accurately predicts the future: "Michael? I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing and it was everything that I thought it could be." - Peter Gibbons, Office Space (1999).

Now if only I could make money doing two chicks at the same time..

Re: 'Rent-a-person who does nothing' in Tokyo receives endless requests, gratitude

#75

Post by ravenstine »

Karuma wrote: post #18

A friendly reminder that Japan's rent-a-family industry was completely fake: https://newrepublic.com/article/160595/new-yorker-japan-rent... Everyone loves stories about how weird Japan is (especially the Japanese), so these stories should be taken with a grain of salt.

Yeah if you just read all these articles about Japan, you'd think that all young men beat off to hentai all day at their parent's home, and that everyone is visiting "love hotels", or buys used panties from vending machines. The media loves to spin up an image of Japan to naive westerners by exaggerating its quirks.

It reminds me of HN. If you read HN too much, you might think that you can only write applications in Rust and Go using K8s, no JavaScript but Typescript only, but in reality the vast majority of apps being written are using boring technologies to implement CRUD around a relational database.

Re: 'Rent-a-person who does nothing' in Tokyo receives endless requests, gratitude

#76

Post by bitbuilder »

andygcook wrote: post #48

Listening intently without injecting criticism, condemnation, or your own complaints/opinions is extremely difficult. In fact, that skill is one of the major tenants of the timeless classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People. This quote is straight from the book: “Any fool can criticize, complain, and condemn—and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.” With iso…

>With isolation becoming a major issue during the pandemic, I'm not surprised people want to hire someone with these skills to just listen to their ideas and stories.

I think you make a great point, but at the same time it feels like you're also describing conventional talk therapy. And if you have good insurance, it's free. If you don't, it still doesn't break the bank.

I frequently joke with my friends that I'm only paying for a therapist to have someone to vent to. I pay them, and they listen my bullshit without judging me. (There's more to it than that of course, but it's a lighthearted way to suggest therapy to someone you feel could benefit.)

I've even found myself rambling about side project ideas with my therapist, which was surprisingly helpful when they pushed back against the inevitable "but it's a stupid idea of course, so I probably wont do anything with it."

Re: 'Rent-a-person who does nothing' in Tokyo receives endless requests, gratitude

#77

Post by colinj2 »

dstick wrote: post #21
chickenmonkey wrote: post #9

Ultimately, perhaps some of these people are really looking for a therapist.

Is it therapy though? It feels more like they’re buying slim verticals you’d normally “get” in a romantic relationship.

A close personal friend is also a good stand-in for this type stuff.

Re: 'Rent-a-person who does nothing' in Tokyo receives endless requests, gratitude

#80

Post by hospadar »

Isn't this just describing a therapist? I don't mean that to belittle this (whether it be real or fake), I think therapy is great, and I often feel like therapy could (and does, I suppose) exist in many more formats than just sitting-on-couch-in-quiet-office (rent-a-friend, good psychics, good religious leaders, bartenders, etc, etc).

Whether real or not, I think the fact that it _sounds_ plausible [at least enough to be a good satire] suggests that there's probably something to the idea that having a fairly neutral companion is pretty valuable.

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