do-nothing man for hire

[mdchachi]

Meet Japan's very busy "Do Nothing Rent-a-Man"

People always told Shoji Morimoto he was a slacker, so he dedicated himself fully to the pursuit of doing nothing, with others, as required.

www.cbsnews.com

In 2018, unemployed, on a whim, the self-described slacker opened a Twitter account under the moniker "Do Nothing Rent-a-Man," and began offering his diffident companionship — but not a drop of sweat equity — to the world.

"I lend myself out to do nothing, which means I don't make any special effort," he told CBS News while seated in a local park, between gigs. He schedules up to three appointments almost every day. "I don't initiate conversation. I reply to chitchat, but that's it."

He has turned down requests to help clean houses, "be a friend," do laundry, make scintillating banter, visit a haunted house, and pose nude. But he has stood in the freezing cold to be an audience for a struggling street musician, accompanied the painfully self-conscious on outings to shops and restaurants, and even shared cake with a lonely soul on a birthday.
...
Morimoto has sparked scores of copycats, but he's just getting started. He resents inferences that this is anything like a real job. Nothing's more fun, he says, than doing nothing.

If only they offered a work visa for this job category. I could totally do this. I'm very good at slacking. And I'm a good listener.

On one occasion I sort of did something like this. I met a friendly girl on a ski gondola in Furano (Hokkaido ) and after coincidentally meeting again in the lodge during lunch we exchanged contact information when she learned of my plan to tour Japan by motorcycle in the summer. So the next summer I stopped by on my motorcycle trip to her house in Asahikawa where she kindly put me up for the night. She was a バツイチ single-mother with a 12-year-old son. The next day we went to famous Bie and it was there that she wanted to hold hands while we walked around! She knew I had a fiance and there had been no inclinations of romance or flirting. But then she said うそでもいいから so I acquiesced and we held hands while we walked around the famous, scenic area. So that one time I essentially provided a similar service that this guy does. She offered for me to stay another night but I elected to move on.

 

[johnnyG]

She offered for me to stay another night but I elected to move on.

At the end of classic westerns the reluctant hero typically rides on out of town. (into the sunset)

 

[johnnyG]

For foreigners copying this, apart from PR/spouse, I wonder what the visa status would be?

 

[mdchachi]

For foreigners copying this, apart from PR/spouse, I wonder what the visa status would be?

I don't think there's a legal status for it. It would have to be a side hustle.

 

[johnnyG]