Morimoto, who has an average appearance and a lanky physique, has amassed close to a quarter of a million followers on Twitter, where he finds the majority of his customers. One of them has hired him 270 times, making up around a fifth of his clientele.
Morimoto now relies solely on his companionship business to provide for his wife and child. He claimed to visit one or two clients per day, but he would not say how much money he makes. It was three or four every day prior to the pandemic.
"Basically, I rent myself out. My job is to be wherever my clients want me to be and to do nothing in particular," Morimoto told Reuters.
His work required him to accompany a person who wanted to play on a see-saw in a park. Additionally, he waved and smiled through a train window at a stranger who requested a farewell. Morimoto's inaction does not imply that he will take any action. He has declined invitations to move a refrigerator and travel to Cambodia, and he refuses to comply with any requests for sexual favours.
Aruna Chida, a 27-year-old data analyst wearing a sari, and Morimoto conversed briefly over tea and pastries last week as they sat across from one another. Chida was apprehensive about wearing the Indian attire in front of her friends because she thought it could humiliate them. She then asked Morimoto for assistance.
"With my friends I feel I have to entertain them, but with the rental-guy (Morimoto) I don't feel the need to be chatty," she said.
Morimoto worked at a publishing company before discovering his true calling and was frequently criticised for "doing nothing".
"I started wondering what would happen if I provided my ability to 'do nothing' as a service to clients," he said.
Morimoto thought about the strange nature of his job and seemed to doubt a society that rewards productivity and despises futility as he spent a Wednesday doing nothing of importance in Tokyo.
"People tend to think that my 'doing nothing' is valuable because it is useful (for others) ... But it's fine to really not do anything. People do not have to be useful in any specific way," he said.
(With Reuters inputs)
