Rental Person Who Does Nothing by Shoji Morimoto

It seems simple: accompany someone doing something, listen, and don’t give advice – in other words, do nothing. Shoji Morimoto’s memoir, Rental Person Who Does Nothing, reveals what it is to do nothing: dissatisfied after enduring years of stressful, meaningless work, in 2018, Morimoto begins renting himself to people who wish for a passive companion. Sharing food with clients in cafés, greeting others at airports, or sitting with people struggling to socialise, all Morimoto does is eat, drink, and give simple responses.

'Do nothing' determines not only Morimoto’s service, but also the book’s style and structure, written in simple responses to questions posed by an editor and author. The result is a dry, direct prose, paralleled with a seemingly detached attitude to his client relationships. The anecdotal, descriptive style emphasises unique observations Morimoto gleans as an observer into the private, intimate lives of his clients. Accompanying a woman through her divorce proceedings, for instance, she requests he calls her by her married name when they meet, and by her maiden name when they part ways. “I felt I’d accompanied her from one stage of life to the next,” Morimoto reflects.