This is a book that could have been done better. The concept is interesting - a man decides to quit his full-time, paying job to become a Rental Person. People send him a DM through Twitter and ask him to accompany them somewhere. They pay his travel expenses and he just goes. He doesn't engage in conversation, he doesn't offer advice... he just goes and does nothing.

It's an interesting idea but the book itself was boring. The tweets that the author posted following his assignments were interesting and there were some thoughts on them, but it seems like this is a person who wants to expel minimal effort - in life and in the book. He literally wants to do nothing. The book is a series of the author answering his editor's questions and they are repetitive because there is no effort to add to the stories or make them different or interesting. There is no pontification on life or what this might mean for society. Overall, it is quite boring and doesn't go anywhere.

I had no awareness of this phenomenon until I saw this book listed on NetGalley and I'm glad I had a chance to learn about it, because this memoir reflects so much about human nature, societal expectations, and Japanese culture. Shoji Morimoto's questioning of that which many of us hold to be true--that our worth is somehow tied to how productive we are or what we do-- is necessary. Sometimes we need things to be questioned, and in absurd ways, for us to understand why we buy into it day in and day out. Morimoto left me having to defend some of the beliefs I hold, while also having some big questions in response to his own assertions too. The rental person concept is fascinating, but even more so is what it reveals about all of us.

A fascinating look into the bizarre world of Shoji Morimoto, who for the price of his expenses rents himself out to 'do nothing' with people. Only in Japan!

What it develops into is an intriguing exploration of modern society, on human interaction and what it means to either be or not be a 'good' individual. Quirky and eye-opening, this is a great book. Morimoto doesn't judge, nor are we invited to judge him. It just is, and this acceptance is a wonderfully positive thing.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

This really was a fascinating peek into a very niche culture I don't think I normally would encounter. It was entertaining to see who used the services and why.

I was hoping for more substance. It was very lightweight and had virtually no reflection on anything so it seemed a little flat and repetitive after a while. I wish someone else did this and would write about it!

This book is an interesting concept; a man is paid to hang out with people and do nothing. The things is, the book is just...fine, which I find very fitting.

I got to the middle of the book and realized that it is sort of repetitive and there were no surprises in the book.

If you want to read a book that is just okay, this is it.

Rental Person Who Does Nothing is a memoir about a Japanese man, Shoji Monimoto, who started a rental person business where he does “nothing.” Some of his client requests include accompanying them to dinner, a concert, or listening to the client about their problems. A lot of the clients seek out these requests due to their social anxiety or loneliness. I found it interesting that he doesn't charge a fee except for travel expenses. Also, he tries not to communicate with the client unless needed, and he only offers short, simple responses.

This memoir was weirdly structured. I felt I was reading journal entries blended together, and it was not structured as an actual memoir. It did not help that Monimoto did not write the book himself, and he only offered simple answers while an editor was researching for this book. Much of the book was repetitive, and I felt disconnected from what was written. The only fascinating parts of the book were the client requests and getting to know the Japanese culture.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Harlequin Trade Publishing for giving me a copy of the book.

An interesting book by a Japanese writer who adopts a Bartleby-esque approach to life - "working" as a rental person who does, as the title implies, nothing. The author's insights into why people chose to rent his services were insightful, but I would have appreciated more analysis into the psychological, societal, and cultural influences on this desire for connection.

I had high hopes for this book especially when I read the description... but it was so dull.
I wanted to hear more about how this business came into being. A little humor, some pathos... some deeper thoughts.
It was just blah.

I though overall it was a good book. It was slow starting for me at first and it took several pages to really get into the idea of the author doing "nothing" when writing the book and giving minimal answers. It was interesting to learn what people hired him for and how he is able to sustain himself financially. I'm not sure I enjoyed the ending/prologue, though I can see that it's to emphasize that the author is a person that does nothing.

Rental person who does nothing actually does a lot of things-within his own boundaries. He has his own rules. For example, he won't charge for his time but asks the client to pay his travel expenses to and from "the job", he reserves the right to decline a request, he won't have complicated conversations or give advice to the client, and he won't return to a client twice, unless he is asked and decides to do that. But given that, he takes requests on his twitter feed and honors quite a few of them. Potential clients ask him to accompany them to a restaurant or cafe, or wave goodbye to them from a train platform, or even send a text at 6:00 am to remind them to take their gym bag. His assignments usually take between 2 and 5 hours.
Morimoto's memoir is as unique as his present "career." He had a good job as a creator for math exam problems but found it too restrictive. He accumulated a sizable bank account and uses it to fund his own path and support his wife and young child. And his unique vision of how he should live his life has found a lot of support through his twitter feed, a TV show based around his exploits, and this memoir. I enjoyed reading his spare, matter of fact prose that was combined with actual tweets from him and his clients. It was an honest look at an alternative lifestyle that most people would be afraid to attempt, but would perhaps appreciate.

It wasn’t terrible. I didn’t find it particularly exciting but it wasn’t that bad. The story had a great flow and it was intriguing enough but it was a little repetitive. Which makes sense because he is relaying his experiences with his clients and his thoughts on his services. It just wasn’t all that insightful to me I would have thought that he had more life lessons to proffer to the audience but it was fine. Not the best not the worse.

This is one of those books that is not for everyone, but for those who it IS for, you will love it! Very clever and really, quite a good idea for all the lonely people

Shoji Morimoto's account of how he became Rental Person Who Does Nothing and what the non-job entails makes for an interesting book. I was often frustrated with Morimoto, and skeptical of his motivations, but my feelings changed when he talked about how his siblings struggled with societal expectations around work and success--it provided some insight into Morimoto's thought process and gave me more compassion for him. And, in the end, most of us have had a moment where we just need someone to be there, even if they aren't doing anything at all.

Apparently there is a man in Japan (late 30s with a wife and child) who posted on Twitter that he can be rented to do nothing. He has a large online following and a potential TV show in the works. I hadn't heard about him until this book showed up, but I was intrigued. This memoir, purportedly written by an interviewer because Shoki Morimoto doesn't do anything, talks about his work as Rental Do Nothing man. He gets requests to accompany people places or just to be with them while they do other things and he goes there and does nothing.

The book covers some of the requests, his responses, his feeling about the work, and commentary on interpersonal connection in Japan that lead to the success of this endeavor. The style is strange, in that it is not a cohesive narrative. It is more anecdotes with commentary. They voice felt very disconnected, which seems appropriate since in his conversations with clients he only provides simple answers, so that conversation must also feel disconnected.

A quick read that gave an interesting perspective into this interesting project as well as thoughtful musings on human interactions.

A big shoutout to NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me in return for my candid thoughts.

Diving into this book, I anticipated a touch of the unusual, and it didn't disappoint. However, it also surprised me with layers I hadn't expected. I've encountered other reads that revolve around individuals like Uber drivers - those transient characters who often become silent confidantes to passengers. This narrative mirrors that sentiment.

Despite its brevity, the protagonist comes across as a peculiar yet intriguing figure, seemingly leaving a positive imprint on those he interacts with. Highly recommended for those seeking a different kind of read!

[Transcribed from video.]

This book was awesome. It was so weird reading this book. It was like reading a book written by my own variant from another universe in the multiverse. The way he feels about society, individuals in society, what we owe (and what we are owed) in exchange for our existence. Our worth, our value, what we are forced to do in order to be able to exist, what we have to do according to society in general. Like 90% was just pulled straight from my brain…like, excuse me, get out of there. And the other 10% that wasn’t exactly 100% on par with me was just that much more interesting as a result. Are you kidding me?

Shoji Morimoto is a real dude in Japan who quit his job, where he was constantly belittled by his boss…telling him “Why are you even here? It’s as if you do nothing. I wouldn’t notice if you were here or not,” basically told him this on a regular basis…and he was like “Yeah, you know what? Wouldn’t it be great if I could, in fact, get paid to do nothing, just to exist.” And so he made a tweet, “I’m going to offer my services, for free as long as you cover my travel costs and incidentals. If you’re going to take me out to eat, you pay for the food. If you’re going to take me to an event, you pay for the event. No money comes out of my pocket but you don’t have to pay me to be there. You don’t have to pay me to provide a service or to do a task…because I won’t do any. I will do nothing. I’m just going to be there. I’m just going to exist.” And he accepts or rejects these requests at his own whim and has interesting interactions as a result. I’m fascinated by this.

He talks about requests that he’s accepted, requests he’s rejected, what has happened on some of these requests, what led him to take or reject the requests, responses to the requests from the clients and from random people on Twitter. Because he tweets about it. That’s what he does: he informs his audience. Dude went from like 300 followers with his initial tweet, offering his services, to like 100,000 followers seven months later. He’s been doing this since 2018; he’s fulfilled something like 4,000 requests in that time. I’m just- I’m so into this.

It was so interesting to read about and the whole time, I’m like “Why didn’t I think of this?? Are you kidding me??” I’m so jelly. I’m so wicked jelly. I feel like I would accept and reject very different requests from what he accepted and rejected. Seriously, I’m so jealous. It sounds so cool…and reading about the conception of it, how it works, all of the different instances, what they led to, the results and reactions from people that participate and who read about it, who follow along, and literally how he does it, how he manages to do it, like financially. Because the dude’s not getting paid for it, he hasn’t had a job that pays him for 5 years, and he has a family! He has a wife and a child!

It’s not long; it’s less than 200 pages. I read it on my breaks at work in a couple of days. Do yourself a favor and read it. This guy’s got to be neurodivergent too. There’s no way he isn’t neurodivergent af, okay? I am neurospicy myself and I’m telling you, I identify with him far too much for him not to be. He might be a different kind of neurospicy…he might be a different kind of neuropepper on the neuroScoville Scale, but we are very close. I’m just saying. Too close to call. Oh man, I learned some stuff in there. Just makes me think different things, guys. I love a book like that. Gets them thought processes going. Popcorn popping like POP! POP! POP! Love it. And it’s so chill!

Do you know what my favorite part about it is? His whole deal is he doesn’t do anything, right? He’ll sit there and chat with you but he’s not going to research anything, he’s not going to put forth any great effort; basic answers, that’s it. He didn’t write this book. He is a writer, by the way. Professionally, before he quit and started doing this, he was a writer…and yet, he did not actually write this book. ‘Cause that goes against the whole philosophy of the Rental Person Who Does Nothing. So he literally went and sat in a room with a writer who, for the record, he pointed out was not actually super into him, or what he does…which I think is even more hilarious…and an editor, and the writer and the editor asked him questions as if it was just another one of his requests and he gave basic responses, and that’s how the book got written.

And I have to tell you…the afterword to this book…easily my favorite afterword of any book. I generally think that they’re useless and ridiculous and don’t need to be there. I love this one. If they took it out, I would be upset. Leave it forever. Read this book just so you can get to the afterword because it’s so worth it! I love it.

I give the book no rating. Do nothing.

I really enjoyed reading this book —I flew right through it ! -- As someone who has lived in Japan and understands the stresses of Japanese society — this mans memoir of his job spoke to me. This depicts one aspect of Japanese society — that people feel lonely and feel they can`t burden their friends and family with their requests or needs— or can`t express a side of yourself/ personality to family and friends for fear of being judged. I have heard of these services before and I found the clients requests and situations really interesting. This book really shows how one person even doing nothing has an effect on the world and people around them and can be a catalyst for good and change. This would be great as an audiobook as well — listening to the situations and his feelings on them. Recommended ! —


Thank-you your to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, Hanover Square Press for this ARC. This is my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
I knew going into this book that it would be a bit strange and it was. But there was more to it than I expected. I've read other books about Uber drivers or other jobs like that where people just want to talk things through without getting advice or other feedback. This book is similar to that.
This is a pretty short book. The man seems pretty quirky but it sounds like he makes a positive impact on people's lives.

Fun book. Really enjoyed the scenarios.
Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

Billed as a “memoir”, Rental Person Who Does Nothing is more the story of modern Japanese society than it is truly the story of its purported subject, “Rental Person” Shoji Morimoto. Morimoto gives a vague explanation for why he decided to start this service (something to do with his ex-boss at a publishing company calling him a “permanent vacancy”, saying “it makes no difference whether you’re here or not”), but really, it would seem that when he decided to leave that job and become a freelance writer, he stumbled onto the idea of renting himself out so as to get material for his Twitter account: an account that currently has almost half a million followers and led to a TV series and this book. In keeping with his passive “do nothing” persona, Morimoto didn’t even write this book: Another writer (not a particular fan of Rental Person) and an editor asked Morimoto “simple questions” to which he provided “very simple responses”, and in combination with dozens of client requests copied straight from the Twitter account, they have assembled a pretty straightforward story of what it is that Morimoto provides. And it’s this low effort, straightforward, intentionally impersonal style that makes this a not terribly good read, and that’s too bad, because through the “jobs” that Morimoto is asked to do, this book reveals something really shocking and insightful about Japanese society. Married with a child, Morimoto isn’t offering romance or friendship or engaged conversation — he is literally showing up to do nothing — and it was fascinating to learn the variety of ways in which people are looking for just that. Not a great book, but I’m glad I read it.