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More than 37 million people live in the Japanese capital, and its bustling nature can become a lonely place, and even before the Corona pandemic, countless Tokyo residents had difficulty shedding the anxiety of loneliness. Morimoto's services are: he does nothing at all, and he takes money in exchange for his clients not being alone.
The 38-year-old makes a living renting himself to clients who don't want to be alone, and Morimoto, known as "rental-san," or "under-rent-san," earns 10,000 yen ($85) per session.
In June 2018, Morimoto tweeted, "I'm offering myself for rent, as someone who does nothing. Is it hard for you to enter a shop on your own? Are you missing a player on your team? Do you need someone to book a place for you? I can only do the easy things." ".
Morimoto offered his services for free at first, but with the number of applications reaching 4,000, he turned these services into a profession from which he earned his wages. Morimoto is married with a son who is raising him. He earned a master's degree in physics from Osaka University, and repeatedly tried to carve out a career for himself before his new job took over.
He said, "I was always told, 'I don't do enough, or I don't do anything,' so this became a complex for me. I decided to take this and make it a business." This job also fits Morimoto's personality; He is somewhat introverted, and quiet; So getting paid to accompany strangers for a short time seems easy and rewarding.
The young man joins one or two clients every day, learns a lot of things, and meets many personalities and people, but his most prominent clients, with whom he started working, were divorcees and divorcees; He sits with them quietly, as he used to accompany the travelers, before they board the express train, and waves to them from the platform before they leave.
But there were people who had more serious problems; One client asked to join him to visit the site where he attempted suicide in order to get over the trauma, another needed him to be with him while he attended a consultation for hemorrhoids surgery he underwent, and another needed him to listen as he spoke about the murder he witnessed.
As for the reason for the great demand for his company in exchange for money; Morimoto said, “I think that when people feel weak or in their intimate moments, they become more sensitive to the people who are close to them, such as (sensitivity) to the way they will be seen, or the kind of actions that will be taken with them, so I think they want Just communicate with a stranger without any attachment restrictions." According to the statement.
People in Japan and South Korea have provided services like this before; Many have paid money to strangers in order to bring people with them to social gatherings as their guests, or to pretend to be their best friend when they have no friends.
and you: how do you perceive this story? do we have to pay to get compassion? is it genuine?
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