When Japanese Shoji Morimoto was fired from his job in 2018, his boss criticized him for a lack of initiative, telling him he “did nothing” for the company. But he himself has a profitable career today, doing absolutely nothing!

Known as the guy who “does nothing” in Japan, Morimoto’s day job is charging people who just want someone to hang out with!

The requests he receives range from waiting for a marathon runner at the finish line or video calling a client who is renovating or cleaning her house and wants someone to hang out on the phone.

In fact, once, a client who was unable to attend a concert with a friend hired Morimoto to take his place.

The 41-year-old is paid to appear on occasions without doing anything more than what is asked of him. Sexual favors are excluded from his services.

“I have been in objectively difficult situations, such as standing in line under the hot sun, standing for hours in the bitter cold, attending parties with only strangers, and standing alone on a stage in front of a large audience doing nothing », Morimoto, father of a 7-year-old, told CNBC Make It.

“However, whatever misfortune I’ve experienced, I feel like it’s something special that happened just because I’m doing this job, so I appreciate it,” emphasizes.

Morimoto’s longest-running work was a 17 hour train journey. There were also quite a few requests for him to simply hear about the bad days his customers were having. However, when it comes to discussions, Morimoto offers the bare minimum and simplest answers. In other words, he nods and listens carefully, but he cares not to be played by a psychologist.

Give what you want!

As he tells CNBC, he receives about 1,000 requests a year and lets his clients decide how much to pay him.

He used to charge between 10,000 and 30,000 yen ($65 to $195) for a two- to three-hour session and earned about $80,000 last year. Morimoto introduced the pay-as-you-wish model late last year, and as he emphasizes his goal is not to make a living or support himself, but to “simply live life and enjoy it”.

To test his services, CNBC Make It accompanied Morimoto for two hours, taking him to a pig cafe in Tokyo where customers can have a drink and interact with piglets.

“Originally I had planned to go alone, but walking into a crowded cafe and seeing the customers in pairs and small groups I felt a dose of relief that I had Morimoto’s company”writes the columnist.

Although there are no official statistics tracking the personal rental industry in Japan, the country is home to a plethora of rental services for temporary girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, and even family.

This service matches the needs of the Japanese, who they are not looking for love or marriage and they don’t want the hassle of such relationships, but they want someone they can casually date or have dinner with, Ai Sakata, a consultant at Nomura Research Institute, told CNBC.

Is loneliness to blame?

Loneliness may be one reason some pay for such services, but it’s not the only one.

Some people may crave companionship, but others may just be a little “socially awkward,” said Hiroshi Ono, a professor of human resources at Hitotsubashi University.

Most Japanese do not necessarily deal well with confrontation or even direct communication, the professor added. “People are probably too embarrassed to say, ‘will you be my friend?’ And so to avoid that embarrassment, they’re willing to pay for it.”he explains.

As Morimoto recounted, a woman once paid him to sit in a corner of a cafe, in her field of vision, while she was signing her divorce papers.

The signing of the documents went smoothly, and Morimoto said the divorced woman took an extra dose of courage from having someone she knew near her.

His presence acts as a kind of “security blanket”, temporarily socializing those they feel uncomfortable in some environmentsremarked the 41-year-old.

“There are many different favorite moments in this job, like when I get an offer message, when I meet a client, when I accompany a client to an unknown place, when I just listen to a story, and I feel happy in every moment”says Morimoto. “There was nothing else I really wanted to do”he emphasizes.