Rental Person Who Does Nothing is a memoir about a Japanese man who ‘does nothing’ for people, spending time with people who contact him on Twitter for things they need someone else for. The book is intercut throughout with tweets that are either requests from people or Morimoto’s own tweets about particular clients, as he explains what he’s done and how he has found being a rental person who doesn’t do anything except be there, not offering advice but just existing.
This short book is both an account of how Morimoto became Rental Person and what he’s done as part of that, and also a consideration of what it means to do nothing for a living and if we should be able to have money to just exist. The stories of the clients are the really memorable elements of the book as there’s a lot of emotional and quietly lovely moments for people, whether it is a prompt that makes them finally do the dishes or someone trying to make the day of filing divorce memorable for another reason. The real variation of reasons that people rent Rental Person to be there with them are fascinating and it gives an insight into human connections and the kinds of transactions between people that happen every day.
Fiendfully Reading 
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