Meet the Japanese man who will get paid to do ‘nothing particularly’ | World News

Shoji Morimoto has what some would see as a dream job: he will get paid to do just about nothing.

The 38-year-old Tokyo resident fees 10,000 yen ($71) per reserving to accompany purchasers and easily exist as a companion.

"Mainly, I lease myself out. My job is to be wherever my purchasers need me to be and to do nothing particularly," Morimoto informed Reuters, including that he had dealt with some 4,000 periods prior to now 4 years.

With a lanky construct and common appears to be like, Morimoto now boasts almost 1 / 4 of one million followers on Twitter, the place he finds most of his purchasers. Roughly 1 / 4 of them are repeat prospects, together with one who has employed him 270 occasions.

His job has taken him to a park with an individual who needed to play on a see-saw. He has additionally beamed and waved by a practice window at an entire stranger who needed a send-off.

Doing nothing does not imply Morimoto will do something. He has turned down gives to maneuver a fridge and go to Cambodia, and does not take any requests of a sexual nature.

Final week, Morimoto sat reverse Aruna Chida, a 27-year-old knowledge analyst clad in a sari, having a sparse dialog over tea and desserts.

Chida needed to put on the Indian garment out in public however was nervous it would embarrass her buddies. So she turned to Morimoto for companionship.

"With my buddies I really feel I've to entertain them, however with the rental-guy (Morimoto) I do not really feel the have to be chatty," she stated.

Earlier than Morimoto discovered his true calling, he labored at a publishing firm and was usually chided for "doing nothing".

"I began questioning what would occur if I offered my skill to 'do nothing' as a service to purchasers," he stated.

The companionship enterprise is now Morimoto's sole supply of earnings, with which he helps his spouse and youngster. Though he declined to reveal how a lot he makes, he stated he sees about one or two purchasers a day. Earlier than the pandemic, it was three or 4 a day.

As he spent a Wednesday doing nothing of observe in Tokyo, Morimoto mirrored on the weird nature of his job and appeared to query a society that values productiveness and derides uselessness.

"Individuals are inclined to assume that my 'doing nothing' is effective as a result of it's helpful (for others) ... However it's superb to actually not do something. Individuals do not need to be helpful in any particular approach," he stated.