Rental Person Who Does Nothing: A Memoir

What a legendary guy! I love his philosophy and reasons to do nothing.

When he said he feels its injustice to be paid the same salary as another colleague, when for doing the same exact work, he endures and takes mental stress, whereas the colleague enjoys it, I laughed so hard. It makes sense!

Rental person to do nothing is such a fun, bakchod concept. I'd like to try one day, and hopefully meet Shoji in Tokyo this year.

This is really interesting. The multitude of examples Mr Rental Person provides are a good resource to reflect on human behavior in society. Why would someone rent a stranger to just be there and do nothing? I wish there were similar situations elsewhere in the world for us to draw comparisons between different societies. There's really a lot to reflect on in this book.

With all the literary panache of an IKEA instruction manual, begrudgingly written by an author who didn't much like the subject, who resigned himself to doing the bare minimum to get this book off the ground.

But I guess it's in keeping with the anti-capitalist theme of a millennial renegotiating their relationship to the grind. In opposition to hustle culture it's not pro-lazy, just anti-burnout. And Shoji comes by it honestly given his dismissive, bordering on abusive former boss and the fraught relationship to work his siblings have that would eventually lead to a death by suicide for his sister.

Shoji does recount some interesting requests from folks looking for company as they file divorce papers, to have someone wave from the train platform as they move out of Tokyo after ten years, or to simply make a fuss over their dog as they walk in the park. But a page turning manifesto this is not, despite having already been made into a manga and TV series in Japan.