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

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

#121

Post by TravelPiglet »

Tade0 wrote: post #54
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.

I started questioning the western narrative about Japan when I learned that the fertility and suicide rates are actually worse in my country. Turns out a lot of "exotic" problems in this country are all too familiar.

As long as people don’t ruin my view of Germany being the EU version of Japan kinky preferences and all

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

#122

Post by stickfigure »

Blikkentrekker wrote: post #100
ravenstine wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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. Firstly, love hotels are a sign of not being lonely. They do not offer a prostitute; those batteries are not included Secondly, I do not gain the impression from that that all do it, merely tha…

> Firstly, love hotels are a sign of not being lonely.

My observation from travel is that love hotels are a sign of multigenerational housing. Young adults need somewhere to go without their parents watching.

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

#123

Post by lhorie »

perennate wrote: post #107
lhorie wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pinned tweet explains the service. Auto-translation is a bit broken, but should translate roughly to this: "I'm starting a service called 'rental person who does nothing'. [For example] for stores where entering alone is difficult[0], for matching the number of players in a game, to hold a hanami[1] spot. Please only use it for cases where one person is needed. I charge 10,000 yen, plus transportation fare from K…

The translated tweet matches the impression I got from the article. The article didn't make me think that it is specifically a "listening service". > "People rent him for various reasons. At times he will participate in a gaming session to make up numbers, turn up to send off people who are moving away, accompany those filing for divorce, or listen to health care workers who have become mentally unwell due to their e…

> The article didn't make me think that it is specifically a "listening service"

Yeah, I agree, but it seems like people are drawing parallels to emotional support things like that rent-a-family thing. While they are both extremely unusual gigs, it seems like this guy's interactions would at best be just nodding along, rather than reciprocating (even if in a fake way).

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

#124

Post by sandworm101 »

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.

>> about how weird Japan is (especially the Japanese)

Like countries where you can rent young girls to help launch your latest computer game? There are people in LA that can provide babies for TV/film appearances, preferably twins, with only a few hours notice. That's how the Olsen twins got started. The entire entertainment industry, from strip clubs to hollywood, is premised on renting people to pretend to be something they aren't, to provide personal appearances in places they would otherwise not. It only become weird when you describe it in non-industry terms.

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

#126

Post by cferr »

PrefixKitten wrote: post #74
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..

I imagine if you had a million bucks you could set something like that up.

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

#127

Post by andygcook »

bitbuilder wrote: post #76
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 onl…

Agreed with you. When I read the article, the last parts of the quotes below stood out to me that he's basically acting as a stand-in for a licensed therapist:

"At times he will participate in a gaming session to make up numbers, turn up to send off people who are moving away, accompany those filing for divorce, or listen to health care workers who have become mentally unwell due to their exhausting work."

Also, "She asked him to stay beside her when meeting a man for the first time, and also had him listen to her talk about her views on love, which she could not divulge to her friends..."

I've seen a therapist off and on over the years and can't recommend it enough. I also found it pretty helpful as a startup founder/CEO for pushing back on my assumptions/biases.

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

#128

Post by 3np »

Blikkentrekker wrote: post #100
ravenstine wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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. Firstly, love hotels are a sign of not being lonely. They do not offer a prostitute; those batteries are not included Secondly, I do not gain the impression from that that all do it, merely tha…

BBC loves to fetishize Weird Japan. I know where you come from, but from what I’ve seen this one checks out as western.

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

#129

Post by manbash »

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.

It doesn't mean that it's nonexistent. The news story is about one company that provided fake sources for a past article.

Rent-a-friend/family in Japan seems like a real thing.

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

#130

Post by uhtred »

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #52
uhtred wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a second read that sentence became even funnier.

My humor-detector is going wild, but I can't figure out the joke(s). I really hope I just need more coffee.

I found it funnier off the back of reading the whole article and seeing his picture - he just came across as having a dry sense of humor. Being told to "keep on trying" is very frustrating, like, what do you think I've been doing all this time?! Also this: "Morimoto got a job with a publisher after finishing a graduate degree, but found it hard to fit in and left. His boss said sarcastically, "It doesn't matter if you're here or not." I get the impression he sees the comedy in being told that.
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