Rental Person Who Does Nothing

This is a memoir from someone who rents nothing and describes themselves as having ‘zero spec’ or no special qualities. In the foreword, Shoji Morimoto says he worked with a writer and an editor, and typically, despite the book materialising, as usual he did nothing. I had to Google him to check it was a memoir, and not a clever piece of fiction, despite it sounding absolutely genuine as I read it. Morimoto has in fact, a graduate degree in physics and used to work for an educational publisher. He found his job mind-numbing and stressful, then chance intervened and inspired him to become ‘Rental Person’.

I was immediately attracted to this concept and memoir, and I read it with great enjoyment. I’m not entirely sure a do-nothing Rental Person would be successful in Australia, given the way the first e-bike rental schemes were unceremoniously trashed (in Melbourne, at least), so it does seem a way of life more suited to Japan. Operating from his Twitter account, Rental Person will agree to do things such as go for a coffee with someone, listen to stories, wave goodbye at the train station or wait in welcome at the airport. He agrees to just be there and do nothing, except perhaps some previously agreed upon minimal responses.

The book is a fascinating rumination on ordinary, day-to-day life. More than that, it was comforting to read about the difficulties of others finding the motivation to tidy up, to focus on tedious jobs, or face difficult neighbours. So often we are exhorted to be extraordinary, to fulfil our utmost potential, to buy a home before we’re 30, or to retire with millions – or we’re reading about others doing that. It was so refreshing to read the opposite.