“People who come to me with crazy problems, they’re usually not people who look like they’re suffering. Everyone, even the ones that seem well, all have their own sets of problems and secrets.”

Read the full story: https://t.co/gIwVDmzyVh

— The Independent (@Independent) March 22, 2022

So this story is all over the internet this week. A 38-year-old Japanese man named Shoji Morimoto who gets paid to do “nothing”. I know, I know – it sounds just like you and your colleagues at work. But this guy literally rents out his time to strangers to simply sit/stand there and be a presence in their lives. He just keeps his mouth shut and hangs out in their vicinity so they don’t feel like the lonely losers they are, and makes £55 an hour doing so.

Here’s an excerpt from the Independent article describing a session paid for by 27-year-old Shirai:

So she rented Japan’s “do-nothing guy”.

Their near-silent lunch lasted about 45 minutes. Shirai ordered her favourite dish and intermittently asked questions. She shared memories of her marriage with the man, and showed him a photo from her wedding. He nodded and gave curt answers, sometimes a dry laugh. He never initiated conversation.

“I felt like I was with someone but at the same time felt like I wasn’t, since he existed in a way where I didn’t have to be attentive of his needs or think about him,” says Shirai, 27. “I felt no awkwardness or pressure to speak. It may have been the first time I’ve eaten in complete silence.”

For years, there’s been a cottage industry in Japan and South Korea of renting strangers to impersonate friends, family members or other acquaintances, as a way to save face at social functions where plus-ones are expected.

But over the past four years, Shoji Morimoto, 38, has built a cult following by offering himself as a warm body who can simply be there, liberating his clients from the social expectations of the spoken and unspoken norms of Japanese society.

Well, I guess it’s better than paying a therapist to hear them yap about how all your problems stem from your evil parents during childhood. Just pay Shoji £55 an hour to sit across from you as you eat and not actually talk back to you. Tell him about your problems. Tell him your deepest, darkest secrets and fears. They’re safe with him because chances are he’s not even listening to a word you’re saying. You get to get everything off your chest and not sit alone like a pathetic loser on your lunch break and Shoji gets paid to provide you with that privilege. It’s a win/win situation. Fair play to Shoji for identifying a gap in the market there and taking full advantage of it. Could be big business for a few more of us the way things are going.

For the man who stabbed himself so he could have a day off work, click HERE.