One man’s quiet resistance and fascinating real-world study of human beings and the connections they forge with each other in one of the world’s biggest cities #Tokyo. This highly amusing and entertaining book tells the story of Late-Stage Capitalism from within a series of vignettes. #Capitalism #Biography #Social #Psychology #Experiment #Politics #Relationships #Emotions #Tokyo #Culture #Japan

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Genre: Non-fiction, Social Psychology, Relationships, Connection, Japanese Culture

Publisher: Picador

“Rental Person has been described as “a new-age gigolo” and “a new-age beggar.” I think being a gigolo or beggar are potential ways of relating to people, and the word “new” sounds good, so I feel quite positive about these comments.”

I absolutely LOVED this weird and offbeat non-fiction book. It’s one man’s philosophy, personal journal and anthropological study of what it means to be a human being in our chaotic, atomised, highly transactional and increasingly isolated techno-capitalist society. Although more than this…Rental Person went from being a tiny Twitter account to being a full-blown cultural phenomenon and a manga in his home country of Japan.

This is a book about Japan and Japanese culture from the point of view of a Japanese man – Shoji Morimoto. However, the themes here are universally understood (in my opinion) to any person living in any big city anywhere in the developed world.

The themes that recur are the feeling of being disconnected from others but still curious to understand human beings, with all of the fervour and interest of an alien being dropped down to planet earth.

This curiosity is combined with an unwillingness or wariness towards forming long-term attachments to people in the form of ongoing relationships: friends, work colleagues, lovers, spouses etc.

Did I have any resistance to spending long periods of time with people I didn’t know? The simple answer is “no.” When I was a freelance writer, I used to attend what we called a “philosophy café.” About ten people who didn’t know each other got together for two hours to discuss serious questions like “What is freedom?” “What is love?” and “Can violence be justified in the name of justice?” I enjoyed it. I used to hate talking to people at school or in the company—people who were part of the same fixed community. But when I went along to the philosophy café, I found myself talking readily with people I didn’t know. I felt comfortable in a community that existed just for the moment, with simple, temporary relationships uncomplicated by past or future.”

Some of the requests for a Rental Person are as a stand-in for a partner at a wedding function or as a temporary friend who comes around to have a meal. One of the most poignant requests was when someone asked Shoji to think of them for a moment over the next couple of days.

Even more fascinating is Shoji’s insistence on trying to be a ‘blank slate’ or a chameleon to the people who hire him. I found this really amusing and a bit like an impossible task, how does a person become a utilitarian thing and not a conscious being with their own thoughts and feelings? is it even possible, unless one is brain dead or in a coma?

I’m happy with this do-nothing service. I think I’m suited to it. As I said before, I don’t have much personality, and I’m very ordinary to look at—neither handsome nor ugly, not too stylish or shabby. I’m just a neutral, harmless figure in a crowd.”

“Although it may be an odd analogy, some creatures, such as peacocks and jewel beetles, have structural color rather than fixed color. Instead of pigmentation, they have a physical structure that refracts light to give the impression of color, and this color changes according to the quality of the light. Maybe that’s what Rental Person is like—someone whose appearance varies according to the viewer’s angle or wavelength.”

Shoji gets very deep and philosophical in many points of the book. In many ways this is him quietly railing against and resisting the value that society assigns to people.

I’d like the world to be one where even if people can’t do anything for others, even if they can make no contribution to society, they can still live stress-free lives. This is very important to me because of the gap that exists between the value that I sense in people and the value assigned to them by society.”

He reveals early on in the book the tragic story of his family. His brother and sister were both treated harshly by the system that demanded that they provide productive value. His brother now aged over 40, messed up his University entrance exams and became depressed, has never held a job. His sister had an extremely tough time finding work, this hit her really badly and she killed herself. No doubt that this informed Shoji’s deep motivation to become a ‘Rental Person Who Does Nothing’.

What results in this book is a ‘canary in the coal mine’ type scenario for Late-Stage Capitalism’s daily hypocrisy, inequities and blindspots. Rental Person Who Does Nothing is a fascinating look at our world. From reading it you get the sense of pulling back the curtain to reveal some of the more dark, sad and hopeless aspects of our modern lives that mostly remain unexplored.

However, this book never once made me feel depressed. The little vignettes where Shoji meets people on Twitter and then goes off to meet with different them as ‘clients’ are juicy, upbeat and amusing despite all of the discussion of human loneliness and broken lives. There’s a gossipy, fly-on-the-wall sense of being able to see into their private lives.

“Even if the client hasn’t specified that they want me to listen to them, I often find myself doing just that. They might ask me to join them for an activity—going to a pop concert, a karaoke place, or maybe a pharmacy—and on the way they’ll start telling me about their jobs and interests and what they feel in their daily lives. Perhaps they’re worried I won’t like silence. They remind me of actors on a stage. In reality, of course, they’re just walking or driving a car, but to me they seem to be standing in a spotlight. Even when they’re describing tiny details of their lives, it’s as though they’re telling me a dramatic story. For that moment, they have the magnetism of a real actor on a real stage. Often, I find myself listening so intently that we arrive at our destination without me even realizing. I’ve never felt this kind of thing with people I know”

Sometimes people confess things to him. Like they are cheating on their wife or that they killed someone. Sometimes they proposition him for sex. It’s suddenly like watching a riveting yet trashy reality TV show.

“Actually, I…er…killed someone.”

From the moment I’d first seen him, I’d assumed that he was a professional—a doctor, or something like that. He was well organized and looked successful. I was amazed that a person like him could have killed someone. Somehow it really took me aback to think that a person who cooked so well, who gave an overall impression of competence, could have such a dark past. The incongruity had a real impact on me. In a way, I was very moved.

Since then, I think I’ve looked at people in a different way, realizing that even the most ordinary, upright-looking people may not be what they seem.”

It is understandable why this book became such a big hit in Japan and has been translated to English. There’s a sense of Rental Person being totally of the moment and Zeitgeist for our world, where people move like shadows around each other, neither acquaintances nor friends but something else.

“To give something a name is to distinguish it from other things. It draws a line. Perhaps Rental Person sits somewhere along the line between “friend” and “stranger.” Where exactly Rental Person will be in any particular case depends on what the client wants. It’s up to them. I don’t do anything myself. I don’t trespass on their territory.”

Overall I rate this book a solid five out of five stars, it’s exceptional and unlike any other book I’ve ever read in my life. Totally mind-blowing! Here are some of the more curious, unusual and fascinating observations that Morimoto had while doing this work:

“At first, quite a lot of people sent in very original requests. It was as if they wanted to make it worthwhile for me to spend time with them. Instead of money, they were, in a way, paying me through their creativity. I wonder how different things would be if I’d decided to charge a fee. Many people these days are very conscious of getting a proper return for expenditure. I’d like to think about the role of money in human relations, as well as other factors that are involved.”

“I really want to avoid being thought of as a good person. I’m absolutely not a good person and I don’t want people to expect me to be. So if I feel I’ve been writing too many sentimental, heartwarming tweets (which really means I’m reporting on sentimental, heartwarming requests), I think Hold on! I’m sounding too good…and make a point of writing something that shows me in a more negative light.”

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